IFPTE Weighs In on House Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act
As the House of Representatives prepared to consider the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), IFPTE sent a letter to all House lawmakers outlining the Federation’s support for the underlying bill, as well as providing positions on several proposed amendments filed as a part of the bill’s consideration.
Among the amendments that IFPTE urged lawmakers to oppose was one that allows the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) the authority to solicit gifts – including services, property, and material – to perform the agency’s mission, as it is contrary to anti-deficiency principles, opens the door to unethical practices, and may allow for the privatization of functions that should be considered inherently governmental.
IFPTE also weighed-in in support of several other amendments, including a bipartisan amendment offered by Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) to protect federal workers from unilaterally be reclassified to excepted service positions that lack Title 5 civil servant worker protections. Other amendments IFPTE asked Representatives to back include provisions to require the Department of Defense to prefer defense contractors with a unionized workforce and for the union to certify that a defense contractor in compliance with collective bargaining agreements and bargaining in good faith whenever that contractor has been found to violate labor law in the past three years.