July 13, 2022

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515 

Dear Representative,

            You will soon be considering H.R. 7900, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year (FY) 2023.  On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to support amendment #569, offered by Reps. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), to allow the Navy to retire nine Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs). 

            I urge you to oppose the following amendments:

            Amendment #369, offered by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.), which increases the National Defense Education Program by $5 million to strengthen and expand STEM education opportunities and workforce initiatives targeted at military students. 

            Amendment #865, offered by Reps. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), and Nicole Mallitokas (R-N.Y.), that establishes a grant program to coordinate and fund restoration activities that increase coastal resilience, promote healthy fish and wildlife habitats, improve water quality, increase public access, and support monitoring and research in the New York-New Jersey Watershed, and authorizes $20 million per year for Fiscal Years 23-28. 

            Amendment #795, offered by Reps. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) and Nicole Mallitokas (R-N.Y.) that amends Section 308703 of title 54, United States Code, to authorize the appropriation of $10,000,000 for the National Maritime Heritage Grant Program for FY23 and FY24.

            Amendment #504, offered by Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Jody Hice (R-Ga.), and James Comer (R-Ky.) that codifies the FedRAMP program and enhances it through: (1) accelerating the adoption of secure cloud solutions through reuse of assessments and authorizations; (2) achieving consistent security authorizations using a baseline set of agreed-upon standard for cloud product approval; and (3) ensuring consistent application of existing security practices.

           Amendment #118, offered by Reps. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), that authorizes $30 million for the Small Shipyard Grant program and authorizes $30 million for the Centers of Excellence for domestic maritime workforce training and education program to prepare the next generation of maritime workers.

            Thank you for your consideration of our views on the NDAA.  All votes related to the NDAA may be among those considered as part of CCAGW’s 2022 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely, 

Tom Schatz 
President, CCAGW 

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