Junior enlisted service members will get a 14.5% pay raise next year under a compromise defense bill expected to pass Congress this month.
Under a deal reached by the House and Senate over the weekend, this year's National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, will allow all service members to receive a 4.5% pay bump next year. Additionally, troops in the ranks of E-1 through E-4 will get an extra 10% on top of that, for a total of 14.5% for the military's most junior troops.
The across-the-board 4.5% raise for all service members will take effect at the beginning of the year as normal. The extra raise for junior enlisted troops will begin in April, according to the bill text.
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While not as high as the House's initial proposal for a junior enlisted raise next year, the compromise marks a major win for younger troops who have struggled for years to afford basic necessities such as food.
With the 14.5% raise, junior troops will earn about $3,000 to $6,000 more per year, depending on rank. For example, E-1s will make $27,828 per year, compared to $24,206 now, while E-4s with at least six years of experience will make $44,107, compared to $38,368 now.
House lawmakers in both parties pushed hard for giving lower-ranking troops a significant pay raise next year after a bipartisan panel spent months studying military quality-of-life issues and found that pay was not keeping pace with inflation or the private sector.
Based on those findings, the House initially proposed giving junior enlisted troops a 19.5% raise.
But the House proposal faced pushback from the White House and Senate. Arguing they were constrained by budget caps, senators instead proposed a 5.5% raise for junior enlisted troops.
The White House, meanwhile, said it "strongly opposes" a targeted raise for junior enlisted troops right now because it is still in the middle of its own study on military compensation. The White House also cited cost concerns.
In addition to securing the raise for junior enlisted troops, House negotiators got several other military quality-of-life improvements into the final NDAA.
The compromise bill will expand eligibility for the Basic Needs Allowance, a stipend meant to alleviate food insecurity, by increasing the income cap from 150% of federal poverty guidelines to 200%.
There are also several provisions aimed at improving barracks, another top quality-of-life concern for troops. Among them are a requirement for the Pentagon to create a digital system for service members to submit work orders for barracks maintenance requests, a mandate for the Pentagon to provide Congress with more information about its budget needs for barracks, and authorization to provide free wireless internet to service members in all barracks.
The bill also endorses providing $1.2 billion to renovate and build new barracks, but that requires a separate appropriations bill to be approved to become a reality.
Other quality-of-life provisions in the bill include allowing service members to seek some specialty health care without Tricare referrals, requiring pay for on-base child care workers to be competitive with the private sector, and making it easier for military spouses to transfer professional licenses between states.
The House is expected to vote on the compromise NDAA this week, followed by the Senate before the end of the month.
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