KHTS
By. Tim Smith

To read the full article click here.

On Tuesday, Congressman Mike Garcia, R- Santa Clarita, interviewed live on-air with KHTS to discuss U.S. national defense, Santa Clarita’s aerospace industry and military technology.

This week, national defense funding, military technology and Santa Clarita’s economy in the aerospace and defense sector were discussed by Congressman Garcia live with KHTS.

“The [FY2022] NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act, is basically the way we pay for our military every year,” Garcia said. “This is where purchasing equipment, giving our troops pay raises, investing in bases, these are where all these decisions and investments are reflected.”

Garcia discussed what he believes is the defense budget that is appropriate for the FY2022 NDAA.

“When I was running for office, I always talked about how we need an NDAA and a defense budget that’s over $750 billion,” Garcia said. “When you look from 2010 to 2016, we saw NDAA budgets get down to about $650 billion, and this is when we were having some of our major readiness issues.”

The final FY2022 NDAA currently includes funding for several programs that create hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact in California’s 25th district every year, according to Garcia’s office. 

“A lot of people don’t realize this, but actually the biggest economic driver for California’s 25th District…is actually aerospace and defense,” Garcia said. “When you go up to, say, Palmdale, there’s a place called Plant 42. This is where the newest stealth bomber is being developed and tested.”

Examples of funding contained in the final FY2022 NDAA that creates jobs in communities like Santa Clarita and Palmdale are:

- funding for the procurement of 12 additional Super Hornets
- funding for the procurement of 11 additional CH-47F Block II Helicopters 
- funding for the procurement of 85 additional F-35s
- funding for the procurement of 30 Apache Helicopters

“The stealth bomber, the B-21…is going to be going to the airforce, the Super Hornet, the F-18’s are going to be going to the U.S. Navy, the CH-47 helicopters and then the Apache helicopters are going to be going to the army, and then the U-2 is used by the airforce,” Garcia said. “And then the classified programs go to various customers, and you know, we’re not allowed to talk about them.”

The discussion with Garcia shifted to other elements of the FY2022 NDAA bill on which the Congressman shared his views.

“To be honest, this is a place where we need to do better,” Garcia said. “This year’s bill has a 2.7 percent pay raise for our troops…That’s nothing, honestly, most civilian counterparts are getting pay raises between five and ten percent. With inflation as bad as it is right now, 2.7 percent is actually like a negative five percent, in California especially.”

The NDAA passed the House of Representatives last week, and is now going to the senate.

Garcia finished the interview with a discussion of his recent charity toy-giveaway for the ‘Foster Unity’ program, designed to bring Christmas gifts to foster children.

“This last Saturday, we were supporting an organization called ‘Foster Unity,’” Garcia said. “To see these kids’ faces light up when they got these gifts, to see the parents just so thankful that they can give wrapped gifts to their kids…One of the highlights of the year for sure, in terms of our charity Saturdays of Service.”

To listen to the complete interview with Congressman Garcia, click here.