Quick Hits

*** The Senate Armed Services Committee passed their version of the National Defense Authorization Act, with $777.9 billion in defense funding for fiscal year 2022. This includes $740.3 billion for the Department of Defense and $27.7 billion for the Department of Energy's national security program. The overall number is $25 billion more than was requested by the Biden administration. The Senate's 2022 NDAA does not include overseas contingency operations funding.

*** The U.S. Senate confirmed the nominations of several senior defense officials by unanimous consent on Thursday, including Heidi Shyu, to serve as undersecretary for research and engineering at the Department of Defense and Gina Ortiz Jones to serve as undersecretary of the Air Force.

*** The Better Identity Coalition and the Electronic Transaction Association, two trade groups, are urging leaders in Congress to include funding for digital identity verification in any infrastructure package that takes shape. The groups are suggesting $3 billion to support states issuing digital mobile drivers licenses, new digital identity services for federal agencies to validate customers and "identity inclusion" efforts to helping offer physical and digital credential to individuals who have been left behind by the documentation requirements of REAL ID legislation.