Service members will get a 5.2% pay raise come January under the compromise annual defense bill unveiled Wednesday night.
The pay bump endorsed by the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, will mark the biggest raise for service members in more than two decades.
A 5.2% raise in basic pay means anywhere from about $1,100 more per year for the most junior service members to more than $10,000 more per year for senior officers.
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The bill, the result of months of negotiations between the House and Senate, must still win final approval from each chamber and be signed by President Joe Biden before becoming law. But it’s expected to easily pass Congress before the end of the year.
This year’s NDAA-endorsed raise matches what the Biden administration requested, which in turn matched what a formula set in a separate federal law said troops would be entitled to next year.
The 5.2% increase is the highest since service members got a 6.9% increase in 2002. It also comes after troops got a 4.6% raise this year.
Federal law mandates a pay raise for troops every January independent of the NDAA. But lawmakers have also been increasingly concerned about service members’ compensation amid a heightened focus on quality-of-life issues and efforts to reverse a recruiting crisis.
In addition to the pay raise, this year’s NDAA seeks to improve…
