“Our military personnel are our country’s most valuable asset…The bill fully funds the 2.4 percent pay raise our troops are entitled to under law while blocking the president’s ability to reduce troop pay.”
Lawmakers released the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) plan for FY 2018. The proposed $700 billion spending bill still requires approval in the House and Senate, but if it is passed, it will mean more money in the pockets of service members.
Members of Congress agreed on a deal that would give service members a 2.4 percent pay bump in 2018—up from the 2.1 percent raise proposed by the president. Among the highlights of the NDAA is $141.8 billion for various allowances, bonuses, death benefits, and permanent change of station moves.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, has argued that the 2.4 percent pay raise is in line with “statutory requirements” under federal law, which has often been ignored by presidents of both parties.
After years of overstretched neglect under President Barack Obama, service members’ pay increases have lagged behind those in the civilian sector. Last year, then-President Barack Obama proposed a 1.6 percent pay raise for the military, but Congress boosted that to 2.1 percent. This raise would help close that gap in 2018.
Lieutenant colonels and Navy or Coast Guard commanders with 16 to 17 years of service will take home an extra $2,400 next year under the new plan. O-3s who’ve served for four to five years will pocket an extra $130 each month on the plan, and E-5s with at least six years in uniform will earn an extra $822 next year.
BAH Preserved
Meanwhile, a Senate proposal that would have reduced the amount of cash dual military couples with children receive through the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) was scrapped.
Currently, married military members each collect their own housing allowance. If the couple has kids, one of them collects BAH at the “with dependents” rate, while the other collects it at the “without dependents” rate.
The Senate proposal sought to knock both couples down to the “without dependents” rate. That would decrease the monthly paycheck of affected couples anywhere from about $100 to as much as $600 or more per month, depending on location and paygrade.
Instead, under the negotiated version of the defense bill, those couples will continue to receive that entitlement under the current system with one spouse receiving the “without dependents” BAH rate, while the higher-ranking spouse receives the “with dependents” rate.
Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), our first female combat veteran in the Senate, and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), along with Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), have pushed for higher military pay raises, citing a mandate that requires increases to match the Employment Cost Index unless the president cites economic concerns or a national emergency. President Donald Trump’s proposed pay raise for service members wasn’t enough to match the private sector, they said.
“Our military personnel are our country’s most valuable asset,” a House Armed Services Committee Majority summary of the conference report states. “The bill fully funds the 2.4 percent pay raise our troops are entitled to under law while blocking the president’s ability to reduce troop pay.”
The House and Senate are both expected to vote on the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act sometime this month.
