Biden White House 'strongly opposes' pay increase for junior service members struggling with inflation

WASHINGTON, DC - The White House revealed Wednesday that President Joe Biden "strongly opposes" a bipartisan proposal to increase junior enlisted service members pay in the House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) draft of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The announcement came as a stark contrast to the ongoing lavish spending Biden has committed to support Ukraine's ongoing war against Russia and bolster NATO defenses. 

As reported by The Daily Caller, the NDAA drafted by the HASC would issue a 15% pay raise to all junior enlisted service members roughly totaling $24.4 billion of military spending over five years if adopted according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). However, despite stubborn inflation exerting serious financial pressure on young military families the Biden administration released a statement Wednesday stating that the President doesn't support the "significant, permanent" pay increase because the Executive Branch hasn't conducted a scheduled review of military compensation yet. 

The White House budget office wrote, “The Administration is strongly committed to taking care of our Servicemembers and their families, and appreciates the Committee’s concern for the needs of the most junior enlisted members, but strongly opposes making a significant, permanent change to the basic pay schedule before the completion of the Fourteenth Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation.”

The outlet observed that the expense of the pay increase pales in comparison to the  $175 billion in aid to Ukraine and European NATO nations that Biden has demanded since 2022 as reported by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
 

No servicemember should ever struggle to feed their family or afford housing.

The FY25 #NDAA will boost servicemember compensation w/ a 15% pay raise for junior enlisted servicemembers, expand allowances for housing & food, & improve the cost of living calculation. pic.twitter.com/X3Hmw4mH66

— Armed Services GOP (@HASCRepublicans) April 11, 2024

Although the Fourteenth Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation hasn't yet taken place, the House Armed Services Committee did complete a year-long study published in April which made several damning conclusions which drove the bipartisan decision in favor of a pay increase.

The study found:

• Servicemembers, especially junior enlisted servicemembers and servicemembers supporting large families, struggle to afford housing and feed their families.
• According to a 2023 RAND report, approximately 25% of servicemembers are food insecure.
• Military families, including current Members of Congress who recently served, described having to rely on food banks and federal welfare programs like SNAP and WIC to afford food for their families.
• Pay for junior enlisted servicemembers has failed to remain competitive with today’s civilian labor market.
• Servicemembers stationed in Hawaii and overseas struggle with a much higher cost of living than those living in the continental U.S.
• Rental costs have increased by 20% in recent years, but housing allowances for servicemembers are not fully covering the cost, forcing military families to pay more of these costs out of their own pockets.
• The Government Accountability Office found that DoD miscalculated housing allowances in 40% of housing markets, unfairly reducing the allowance available to servicemembers.

The study confirmed what many servicemembers have said for years: Since 2020, basic pay has lagged inflation by nearly four percent, and since 2019, DoD has reduced the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) by five percent, forcing servicemembers to cover the reduction out of their own pocket. In fact the Committee found that in eight of the last forty years, the junior enlisted either received a significantly smaller pay increase than other ranks or none at all.

Several members of Congress sounded off condemning the President's stance. Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) wrote in a post to X, "Joe Biden must hate our military. While families of our junior enlisted struggle on food stamps, this administration opposes their pay raises and wants to force feed them pronoun training and drag queen story hour. If Biden had any PRIDE at all in our troops, he’d support the long overdue pay raise House Republicans have passed."

Rep. Nick Lalota (R-NY) opined, "Biden must expedite this review as the House plans to send the Senate and him a bill that will provide all service members with a 4.5% raise next year, and an additional 15% raise for E-1s through E-4s, totaling a 19.5% increase for our most junior troops. These raises are essential for maintaining a strong and dedicated military!"

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) who sits on the Armed Services Committee explained the dire need of the pay increase to the Daily Caller News Foundation, "When accounting for inflation, the average American makes less today than when Joe Biden took office. The White House wants to block Republicans from giving our troops the raise they need to make ends meet in the Biden economy."
 

President Biden said he objects to a pay raise for junior enlisted servicemembers.

Once again, he is turning his back on our servicemembers. pic.twitter.com/0fURgDl9l5

— Armed Services GOP (@HASCRepublicans) June 11, 2024

He added reproachfully, "Meanwhile, they’ve sent the Ukrainian government $11,500 per Ukrainian household. It’s shameful."