Andy Barr is Getting Results

• In July 2019, the House adopted Andy’s amendment to include the Otto Warmbier North Korea Nuclear Sanctions Act in the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Andy’s amendment imposed secondary sanctions on foreign financial institutions that do business with virtually anyone that trades with North Korea, and would cut off Pyongyang’s ability to earn hard currency through North Korean laborers working abroad. The legislation is named in honor of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died after being returned to the United States in a coma after more than a year of being held by the North Korean regime.
• Andy voted in favor of the bipartisan Conference Report to Accompany S. 1790 – the FY2020 NDAA. The annual defense policy bill that sets policies for the military and authorizes funding overwhelmingly passed the House. The FY2020 NDAA included a number of priorities important for Kentucky. Andy supported the 3.1% pay raise for servicemembers to ensure that those serving our country are able to support themselves and their families. The defense bill also included a three-year phased repeal of the Survivor Benefit Plan/Dependency and Indemnity Compensation offset, more commonly known as the military widow’s tax, removing an unfair and burdensome penalty from families that have already sacrificed so much for this country. Additionally, the conference agreement takes a momentous step in providing 12 weeks of paid parental leave to all federal civilian employees.
• For the Sixth District, the FY 2020 NDAA provided authorizations for citizen-soldiers serving the Commonwealth and the Nation in the Army and Air National Guard at the Boone National Guard Center in Frankfort. The bill also allows the United States to meet its international obligations to destroy chemical weapons by authorizing continued chemical agent and munitions destruction activity that occurs at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Madison County. Supporting the partnership between the National Guard and local authorities, the NDAA authorizes funding for drug interdiction and counter-drug activities in Eastern Kentucky.
• Andy voted for vital funding to rebuild our nation’s military, increase readiness, bolster our Naval forces, increase end strength of our Armed Forces and provide the largest pay raise for our troops in a decade.
• Andy has led efforts to recapitalize and secure 16 new C-130 J aircraft for the Air National Guard and is currently working with leadership of the U.S. Air Force and National Guard Bureau to secure a squadron of new J model aircraft for Kentucky’s Air National Guard.
• As a member of the National Guard Caucus, Andy was awarded the 2017 Charles Dick Medal of Merit from the National Guard Association of the United States for distinguished service in providing “exceptionally strong support” to the National Guard.