By Cory Titus and Brenden McMahon
Now that the debt ceiling crisis has been averted until 2025, Congress and the president can turn their attention to ensuring the federal government begins the upcoming fiscal year with the authorizations and appropriations needed to operate properly.
With this shift in focus comes the need for MOAA to ensure lawmakers do not reach the budget limits applied by the debt deal by cutting the benefits of servicemembers, veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. We applaud lawmakers who have made a point to protect some of this compensation in recent days, as well as those who’ve been a part of longer-term efforts to give servicemembers and their families the attention they deserve in the legislative process.
As the recruiting crisis continues, the all-volunteer force cannot withstand cuts to quality-of-life programs. MOAA stands ready to ensure these earned benefits continue to serve the needs of the military community.
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These budget and appropriations processes do more than keep the federal lights on. Appropriation bills provide the funding for new policies and programs for a federal agency, and until they pass, the agencies overseeing the eight uniformed services lack the money needed for the annual pay raise, quality health care coverage, and quality-of-life programs for servicemembers and their families, along with many other support programs and benefits necessary for an all-volunteer force. On the authorization side, the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provides the vehicle for many MOAA-supported benefit reforms and improvements.
Here’s where these pieces of legislation stand:
FY 2024 Appropriations
Neither the House nor the Senate has finished work on their versions of any of the 12 appropriation bills making up the FY 2024 budget. MOAA is most interested in the Defense and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriation bills.
As of mid-May, Senate appropriators planned to begin their work on their version of these bills in June, though no official schedule has been released. In the House, markups for four of the 12 appropriation bills were scheduled for the end of May but were postponed because of the debt ceiling crisis.
More information on these schedules may be available soon as Congress turns its attention away from the debt issue and toward other matters of import. In the meantime, MOAA will continue advocating for timely appropriations before the Sept. 30 end-of-fiscal-year deadline, and on other issues impacting the uniformed services and veteran communities.
FY 2024 NDAA
Work on this bill also was postponed by the debt ceiling negotiations, and has since restarted. The House Armed Services Committee rescheduled markups for the bill, an important step to support the NDAA’s passage for what would be the 63rd year in a row. The NDAA remains the most likely vehicle for much of MOAA’s work supporting servicemembers, their families, and survivors – past NDAAs have included much-needed TRICARE reforms and the end of the so-called “widows tax,” while last year’s NDAA expanded military family programs and made some MOAA-backed changes to improve Guard and Reserve officer pay and benefits.
[FROM 2022: NDAA Makes Major Improvements, But More Work Remains]
However, MOAA’s advocacy alone will not be enough to ensure the pay and benefits of servicemembers, veterans, and their families are protected. We will need the backing of MOAA’s more than 360,000 members, as well; it is your support, and those of your fellow members, that makes our voice heard on Capitol Hill.
Contact your legislators today through MOAA’s Legislative Action Center and urge them to support key issues and other MOAA-supported legislation that will protect and preserve the future of the all-volunteer force.
Cory Titus is MOAA's Director of Government Relations for Veteran Benefits and Guard/Reserve Affairs. Brenden McMahon is MOAA's Associate Director of Government Relations for Compensation and Legislation.