Members of Congress recently paraded a mix of recommended updates to benefit military service members as part of the new Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement Act (H.R. 8070) – and it is set to serve as the base for the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The bill was introduced by U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Adam Smith (D-WA), chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. They were backed by more than a dozen cosponsors, for legislation that followed a report on bipartisan policy recommendations from the Panel for the FY25 NDAA.
“Day and night, the brave men and women who serve in our Armed Forces are working to keep our nation safe. It’s vital that we in Congress do our job and ensure our nation’s heroes are being taken care of,” Rogers said. “The Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement Act will serve as the foundation for everything we do in the FY25 NDAA. Servicemembers should never have to worry about making ends meet, putting food on the table, or affording housing. Improving the quality of life for our servicemembers and their families is my number one priority – we’re going to get this done.”
The report that spawned H.R 8070 was itself a year in the making, over which lawmakers from both sides of the aisle concluded that five main problem areas for military personnel should be addressed in the next NDAA: compensation, military spousal support, access to child care, housing and health care access.
The panel concluded several downward trends for the military, such as that junior servicemembers and those with large families often struggle to afford housing and feed their families at this point, with a full quarter labeled food insecure. Many have had to turn to federal welfare programs to make ends meet, as pay for junior enlisted servicemembers has failed to keep pace with the private labor market. Surging rental and housing costs have further cut into their capabilities.
In the last four years, lawmakers observed that basic pay has lagged inflation by nearly 4 percent.
As a result, they pushed for a major shake up, including everything from a 15 percent base pay jump for junior enlisted service members, to permanent employment support for military spouses and expanded eligibility for Department of Defense Child Development programs, fully funded childcare assistance, identifying housing maintenance costs and backlogs, and requiring the Defense Health Agency to pursue a care standard for beneficiaries who receive urgent referrals for specialty care. Many of these recommendations were transferred into the eventual legislation.
These recommendations – and the legislation that followed – were backed by numerous military service organizations, including Blue Star Families, Military Family Advisory Network, Military Officers Association of America and National Military Family Association.
“Our service members and their families answer America’s call every day,” Besa Pinchotti, CEO of the National Military Family Association, said. “They go to war to keep us safe, cope with deployments, and separations… and make sacrifices that leave so many families food insecure. The recommendations made by the Quality of Life panel will reduce financial stress for hundreds of thousands of military families, allowing them to focus on the mission. Now we start the hard work of getting these proposals passed into law, so that the families protecting our freedom know our country will protect them.”
The original report was led by U.S. Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Don Bacon (R-NE), who served in the Air Force and noted 16 moves around the world during his time in the service.
“Military families make unimaginable sacrifices on behalf of our nation – ensuring they’re being taken care of is our number one priority,” Bacon said. “No servicemember should ever have to be on SNAP or go to food banks to feed their families. None of our 18-year-old sons or daughters should have to live in condemned barracks. Our 50-year-old All-Volunteer Force is being put under serious stress today and it is incumbent on Congress to address the pay and living conditions issues that are undermining recruitment.”
If approved, the bill would reform monthly pay rates for troops ranked E-1 through E-4, at the recommended 15 percent increase. Evaluations of basic allowance for subsistence and cost of living allowance would also be granted, alongside expanding income eligibility for basic needs allowance to 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines. Child development center workers could get pay raises, too, and every service would cover or reduce child care fees for staff members’ kids. The 2025 NDAA would also require each service to provide greater transparency on how they spend money on barracks conditions, and to develop criteria for digital facilities management systems, among others.