House passes $895B defense policy bill with 19.5% pay raise for junior troops

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Congress' annual defense policy bill passed the House on Friday after a week of voting on more than 300 amendments, during which conservatives scored several victories on diversity, critical race theory and gender surgeries.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorizes funding for military priorities across the Department of Defense and Department of Energy, with that funding later coming in the form of a defense appropriations bill.

A marquee provision of this year's bill is a 19.5% pay increase for junior enlisted troops.

The NDAA is traditionally a widely bipartisan effort, but the fight over culture war provisions alienated Democrats up to the White House, which issued statements opposing those and other similar measures in the bill.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, right, ushered through an $895 billion NDAA, authorizing funding for the Department of Defense. (Getty Images)

Republicans have argued that rolling back measures on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and other progressive issues would help increase military readiness and turn around the dire recruitment crisis the U.S. military is currently dealing with.

Three amendments going after DEI roles in the armed forces passed this week: eliminating the role of Chief Diversity Officer, any DEI-related offices and their personnel and enacting a hiring freeze on any future such roles.

Another amendment that passed would prohibit promotion of critical race theory within the military, as well as any similar race-based theories.

Two more measures prohibit any Pentagon-related health policy from funding gender transition surgeries and transgender-related medical care. A third would prevent the Pentagon from funding any abortion-related services.

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U.S. Army soldiers train at al-Asad Air Base. The base is located in western Iraq. (Source: U.S. Army )

This year's NDAA authorizes $895.2 billion in military spending, a $9 billion increase from fiscal 2024.

The underlying bill, which advanced in a 57 to 1 vote out of the House Armed Services Committee last month, looks to make significant improvements to service members' quality of life. 

A cornerstone initiative of that is the pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for other military roles. 

"A very significant pay raise, particularly for our young enlisted, I think is really life-changing, and I hope will also be motivating for people to enlist and also to stay," Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., a member of the Armed Services Committee and a veteran herself, told Fox News Digital earlier this week.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., another committee member and a retired general, said that military families – particularly in high-cost-of-living areas – had to resort to food banks to feed their families.

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The Biden administration has expressed opposition to parts of the NDAA. (Screenshot/Biden speech)

"People working at fast-food restaurants are making more than our junior enlisted," Bacon said. 

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Both also pushed back on the Biden administration's opposition to the 19.5% pay raise.

"I can't fathom why anybody wouldn't want to give our men and women in uniform the pay that they deserve. And so, it's a little bit frustrating," Houlahan said.