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New defense bill provides nearly $30 million in child care investments at Wright-Patt

88th Air Base Wing ‎Air Force Research Laboratory 88th Air Base Life Cycle Management Research Laboratory Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Air and Space Intelligence Center 445th Airlift Wing   Air Force Institute of Te
Jess Mador
/
WYSO
Wright-Patterson Airforce Base

The U.S. Senate and House have passed a new defense budget. It includes over $50 million in military development projects in the Miami Valley.

US Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has announced more than $50 million for Miami Valley in a key defense bill.

As part of the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act, $29 million will go toward a new child development center at Wright Patterson air force base.

Wright-Patt is the largest single-site employer in Ohio with over 30,000 employees, and many have growing families. Wright-Patt officials say child development centersare integral in keeping a thriving mission at the base.

Senator Brown aemphasized the need for child care investments at the base. He said the focus on the new child development center answers a very important public need for public servants, both military and civilian, that work at Wright-Patterson .

“Too often when we think about the military, we think about weapons. But we don't often think enough about the families that serve our country," said Brown. "They're dedicated as much to their families as anybody else”.

Other provisions in the act include $4 million to support the Human Performance Wing Lab and $16 million for Army Reserve Maintenance support at Wright Patterson.

The House-Senate NDAA will now be passed to President Biden's desk to be passed into law.

Ngozi Cole is the Business and Economics Reporter for WYSO. She graduated with honors from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York and is a 2022 Pulitzer Center Post-Graduate Reporting Fellow. Ngozi is from Freetown, Sierra Leone.