Supporting Fort Bragg
Friends,
We all know how important Fort Bragg is to our region and state. But did you know Fort Bragg is the only Joint Strategic Deployment Platform that allows our nation to respond to a threat within hours, versus days or weeks? This capability is critical for our country's defense, and I am determined to maintain it.
As Fort Bragg's Congressman, I am working to make sure every other Member of Congress understands the importance of Fort Bragg – especially those in charge of supporting and funding the base and our troops. As part of that work, last week I hosted a bipartisan group at Fort Bragg that included leadership of the House Armed Services Committee. For two days, Members of the Committee were able to better understand what makes our Airborne and Special Operators soldiers so special.
This experience was vital for Members to help understand the importance of fully funding Fort Bragg. While the base is critical for our national defense, since 2014, Fort Bragg has only received one military construction funding project for our conventional forces. I believe that is unacceptable.
That's why I was proud to host these Members last week, in addition to advocating for increased funding for the base. However, supporting Fort Bragg is not just about supporting our military. It's also about supporting our region. That's why following our work on base, we joined leaders from the community so the delegation could see how Fort Bragg impacts our entire region.
Working to support Fort Bragg and the soldiers stationed there, as well as their families, is one of my top priorities. As we return to Washington this week, I will continue to ensure Congress understands and supports the priorities of Fort Bragg and our service members.
While our National Defense Authorization Act for our military will not be debated for several months, I was proud to secure a win for Fort Bragg just a few days ago. On July 5, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill I introduced to consolidate Fort Bragg into one federal judicial district. Cosponsored by Congresswoman Deborah Ross, a Democrat from Raleigh, this bill will help families at Fort Bragg by ensuring all court cases stemming from the base can be heard in the Eastern District's nearby courthouse in Fayetteville, as opposed to having to drive up to two hours away to a different district. Securing this law is a reminder that we can still work together to get things done in Washington by putting forward commonsense solutions.
Around our country, inflation, crime, and illegal border crossings continue to rise. We need to get Americans back to work and our kids back in school. As we tackle these problems and many others facing our great country, rest assured I will continue to seek out commonsense and bipartisan solutions to help you and your family. Like Fort Bragg, I believe we can support our economy, our schools, our environment, and our neighborhoods if we work together. I'm honored to be your congressman and will never stop working for you.
Until next week,
Richard Hudson
Member of Congress