The first National Defense Authorization Act was passed in 1961, beginning a series of federal laws detailing the expenditures of the United States Department of Defense and the annual budget. The purposes of the National Defense Authorization Act include establishing funding levels, determining the agencies responsible for defense, and setting the policies for which money will be allocated and spent.
President Donald Trump signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act into law on December 20, 2019 after the United States Senate passed it by a vote of 86 to 8. One of the many provisions of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act allocates 400 million dollars to the Department of Defense to investigate and pay out military medical malpractice claims. Prior to this Act, service members were barred from holding the government accountable for negligent military medical care by what is known as the Feres Doctrine, named after the 1950’s United States Supreme Court case involving injured service member Feres.