(Just The News)—Pay raises, improved access to child care, and more than one-quarter of a billion dollars in projects helping the readiness of American troops stationed in North Carolina were signed into law Monday night by President Joe Biden.
The $895.2 billion Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025, as House Resolution 5009 is formally known, pushes back the retirement of the F-15E Strike Eagles at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. Job savings and direct economic benefit to Wayne County is 520 jobs.
The Senate last week favored the bill 85-14 and the House of Representatives a week earlier sent it forward 281-140. Three of the nays were North Carolina Democratic Reps. Deborah Ross, Valerie Foushee and Alma Adams.
For the measure from North Carolina were Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd; Democratic Reps. Don Davis, Kathy Manning, Wiley Nickel and Jeff Jackson; and Republican Reps. Dr. Greg Murphy, Virginia Foxx, David Rouzer, Dan Bishop, Richard Hudson, Patrick McHenry and Chuck Edwards.
Hudson is the representative of the world’s largest military base, the Army’s Fort Liberty that was previously known as Fort Bragg and touches six counties in the Sandhills. Seymour Johnson is in Davis’ district.
Junior enlisted servicemembers are slated for a 14.5% pay raise; it’s 4.5% for all other servicemembers. Access to child care for the 63,700 children of North Carolina military families is also part of the bill.
The Air Force was going to take away 26 of the aircraft next year from the 335th Fighter Squadron.
Eight military construction projects in North Carolina are authorized, spending $296 million.
The defense spending plan authorizes supporting $41 million to construct a Combat Arms Training & Maintenance Complex at Seymour Johnson, famed home to the 4th Fighter Wing.
At Marine Corps Air Base Cherry Point, the bill authorizes $53.52 million for an aircraft maintenance hangar, $50 million for the F-35 Sustainment Center, and $20.02 million for the composite repair facility.
The bill provides $47 million in military construction projects at Fort Liberty, including a Special Operations Forces Arms Room Addition and Special Operations Forces Operations Facilities. It also prevents cuts to the Special Operations Forces troops. The base is home to the 82nd Airborne, Special Operations Forces, and known colloquially as the place getting “the 911 call” of presidents.
At MCAS Camp Lejeune, there is authorization of $57 million for the Special Operations Forces Information Maneuver Facility, and for $27.5 million for the Special Operations Forces Armory.
There is language included restricting the Pentagon’s TRICARE health insurance plan covering costs for gender dysphoria treatments for children of service members under age 18. New Defense Department positions related to diversity, equity and inclusion are also prohibited, according to the bill language.
In Biden’s message on the measure Monday, he objected to the gender dysphoria treatment restriction. He wrote, “No service member should have to decide between their family’s health care access and their call to serve our nation.”
Trump Denies “Fake News” Report on Changes to Economic Plans
by Publius
President-elect Donald Trump has refuted a Washington Post report suggesting his aides were considering a more restrained tariff policy. The report claimed that Trump’s transition team was contemplating a tariff plan that would be less extensive than his campaign promises, targeting only imports deemed critical to national or economic security….
Gold Breaks Out With Central Bank Surge and Interest Rate Drops Expected
by Sponsored Post
Precious metals are seeing gains once again following the post-election dip, just as many economists had expected. Even China, which had been holding back for five months, returned to purchasing massive quantities of gold. “Falling U.S. interest rates and ongoing solid demand from central banks are supporting the gold price,”…
JPMorgan: “Debasement Trade” Into Bitcoin and Gold Is Here to Stay
by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
(Zero Hedge)—The so-called “debasement trade” into gold and Bitcoin is “here to stay” as investors brace for persistent geopolitical uncertainty, according to a Jan. 3 research note by JPMorgan shared with CoinTelegraph. Gold and BTC “appear to have become more important components of investors’ portfolios structurally” as they increasingly seek to…
Hochul to Increase Payments to a Program That Serves Illegals
by Independent Sentinel
Welfare champion Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York has proposed a huge expansion of the state’s child tax credit. People here illegally can collect. New York is a one party state and Hochul runs it like a dictator. Hochul wants taxpayers to pay for an increase in the maximum credit…
More Details Emerge Regarding the Plan to Kill a Supreme Court Justice
by Zachary Stieber, The Epoch Times
(The Epoch Times)—A California man allegedly told authorities that he flew to the East Coast to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, according to newly filed court documents. Nicholas Roske flew across the country from California to Virginia on June 7, 2022, landing just before midnight. He got into a…
Kevin O’Leary Wants to Save TikTok by Buying It and Rewriting Its Algorithm
by The Blaze
“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary said that he was working on a deal to save the popular TikTok social media platform from being banned in the U.S. over privacy concerns. Republican lawmakers have banned TikTok from being used by state and federal employees after numerous reports that the platform collects…
AI Chatbots Credited With Surge in US Holiday Sales
by Valuetainment
AI-powered tools, particularly chatbots, significantly boosted online holiday sales in the US to $282 billion in 2024, a nearly 4% increase from the previous year, according to Salesforce. Globally, online sales reached $229 billion, up from $199 billion in 2023, as retailers utilized targeted promotions and personalized recommendations to attract…
Dana White Has Joined Meta’s Board of Directors
by Cactus Williams, Discern Report
UFC CEO and long-time friend of Donald Trump, Dana White, has joined Meta’s board of directors alongside Charlie Songhurst and John Elkann. This is just the latest in a series of decisions Meta has made following Trump’s historic electoral victory which seemed to be aimed at cozying up to the…
The Biggest Sale on Beef With 25-Year Shelf-Life EVER
by Sponsored Post
Let’s cut to the chase. Prepper All-Naturals is offering an unprecedented 40% off for its “Beef Steak” survival bags with promo code “steak40”. With a 25-year shelf life and a single ingredient (beef, of course), our most popular product is available for a very limited time with the biggest discount…
McDonald’s to Abandon Diversity ‘Goals’ in Hiring, to Stop Participating in Woke Non-Profit’s ‘Corporate Equality Index’
by The Post Millennial
Filmmaker and cultural commentator Robby Starbuck has gained another scalp in his effort to flip US corporations away from woke agendas focused on DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion. “BIG news,” Starbuck reported on X. “McDonald’s is ending a number of woke DEI policies today. Now let me tell you what’s…
