The construction of a new Child Development Center at Naval Air Station Whiting Field will be made possible by $4.1 million of the $895 billion National Defense Authorization Act legislation that President Joe Biden signed into law last month.
The money was hailed as a trademark accomplishment by U.S. Senator Rick Scott of Florida, a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Personnel Subcommittee.
In a news release following the passage of the final NDAA by Congress, Scott stated, “We know how important it is to our military families with children to have access to quality childcare, especially our dual-military families.”
Scott also revealed that the Senate had approved an extra $6.9 million for the design of a Child Development Center at NAS Jacksonville, in addition to the Whiting Field appropriation.
“Expanding childcare access for military families has been a priority for me in the NDAA for several years,” according to the release.
In actuality, Whiting Field’s $4.1 million is almost a third more than the initial amount authorized for distribution. Scott said in June that $3 million had been allocated by the Senate Armed Services Committee for the Whiting Field Child Development Center’s design.
“This year’s bill is a massive accomplishment that reflects the priorities of Florida families,” Scott said when he announced the final appropriation. “Each year, I have fought to include big wins for Florida and U.S. national security in the NDAA.”
According to a U.S. Navy website, Whiting Field bills itself as “the busiest aviation complex in the world,” with more flight hours than Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. It teaches all helicopter pilots in the Coast Guard, Navy, and Marine Corps and produces 1,200 pilots a year.
According to the website, every Coast Guard, Navy, and Marine Corps helicopter pilot receives their first rotary winged instruction at NAS Whiting Field, which also handles more than 60% of all primary flight training.
Whiting Field is home to over 2,500 active duty members and their families, in addition to more than 300 civilian staff members. 54% of the economies of Santa Rosa and Escambia counties are fueled by NAS Whiting Field and NAS Pensacola in Escambia County.
The building of a new Child Development Center is the base’s top priority, according to Whiting Field administration. The current center is housed in a 78-year-old structure that was first used as a package store in the middle of the 1990s before being transformed into a facility for house children.
In order to convince Washington’s legislators of the advantages of keeping a strong military presence in the westernmost counties of Northwest Florida, Santa Rosa and Escambia, the Northwest Florida Defense Coalition was founded as a nonprofit organization a year ago.
Defense Coalition member John Conger stated at a public meeting in May that “nowhere else in the state of Florida do the military installations have such a large share of the economy and represent such a large percentage of the jobs as they do in this area.”
The Defense Coalition lobbied for $20 million as Congress started working on the NDAA for 2025, which would pay for the demolition of the aging Child Development Center building and the construction of a new, 20,000-square-foot structure. One crucial initial step in achieving that objective is the design process.
Additionally, Scott stated in the press release that the fiscal 2025 NDAA will enhance junior enlisted personnel’ pay by 14.5% and all other service members’ pay by 4.5%.
He was cited as saying, “Our service members deserve to make a wage that reflects the sacrifice they make,” “And I am proud that we secured a much-needed pay raise.”