By MOAA Staff

The FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is on its way to the president’s desk following Senate passage Dec. 18, marking a significant step toward long-overdue quality of life reforms for servicemembers and their families. The bill also introduces historic changes to the military pay table to better compensate junior enlisted servicemembers.

MOAA’s involvement in the FY 2025 NDAA process took many forms, but a key step came in 2023 with the association’s early work with the new House Armed Services Quality of Life Panel. This bipartisan group, chaired by MOAA member Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), compiled an April 2024 report that became the foundation for the initial House NDAA bill. While some of the report’s proposals did not make it to the final legislation, many did, and will make a tangible difference for servicemembers and their families now and far into the future.

“This bipartisan bill shows what legislators and stakeholders can accomplish when the needs of those who serve, and their families, steer the types of meaningful reforms needed to strengthen our all-volunteer force,” MOAA President and CEO Lt. Gen. Brian T. Kelly, USAF (Ret), said after the bill’s passage. “I’m thankful to the committee leaders and Quality of Life Panel members who shaped these discussions, to the countless other legislators and staffers and advocates who provided extra support, and to the thousands of MOAA members who shared these critical priorities with their lawmakers throughout the 118th Congress.”

[RELATED: Long-Sought Bill Improving Veteran, Caregiver Support Heads to President’s Desk]

The 1,800-plus-page legislation passed the Senate 85-14 on Dec. 18 after clearing the House 281-140 on Dec. 11. Here are just some of the quality of life provisions included in the bill:

Pay and Benefits

• Pay Raise: A 4.5% raise for most servicemembers keeps pace with the Employment Cost Index (ECI), an important metric MOAA has used to ensure fair compensation for those in uniform.
  
  
• Targeted Pay Table Changes: A 14.5% raise for junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) means meaningful reform to the military pay table. As Kelly put it in an October commentary at Military Times, “Our junior enlisted personnel play a critical role in safeguarding our nation’s security, and their strategic importance in maintaining a strong, capable and ready force must remain a top priority.”
  
  
• Basic Needs Allowance (BNA): The Quality of Life Panel report noted that while BNA eligibility has been expanded in previous years, only 0.8% of military families reporting food insecurity are eligible for the program. The NDAA increase in the threshold from 150% to 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, making BNA available to more families in need.

Housing

• Unaccompanied Housing Reforms: Poor conditions in unaccompanied housing made headlines in 2024. The NDAA addresses many of these concerns, requiring DoD to develop a public-private partnership strategy for new barracks, improving the inspection process, and authorizing the provision of free wireless Internet access.
  
  
• Family Housing Improvements: The NDAA builds on previous work to support military families facing housing problems by expanding congressional oversight of housing accounts, requiring new methods to track maintenance requests, and authorizing more than $560 million in spending for new family housing units.

Medical Care

• Better Access to Care: The bill allows DoD to employ more mental health providers and waives some TRICARE referral requirements for specialty care for servicemembers.
  
  
• More Accountability: NDAA-required reports would provide Congress with data on military care standards (to improve oversight) and ensure DoD offers recommendations to solve staffing shortages in military treatment facilities serving rural areas.

Spouse and Family Support

• Child Care Improvements: The bill improves compensation and benefits for DoD child care providers – a critical step to making more care options available to more military families.
  
  
• Spouse Employment: The NDAA moves many existing MOAA priorities forward in this area, to include easier professional license transfers and better child care access for spouses seeking employment.

These are far from the only improvements included in the legislation – MOAA will offer a more detailed breakdown of the full NDAA in the coming weeks, along with a look at some of the provisions left out of the final bill that will become top priorities for the association in the new legislative session. Stay involved by registering at our Legislative Action Center and by keeping up with the latest at our Advocacy News page.