Congressman Kildee Votes to Increase Pay for Service Members

Press Release

Congressman Dan Kildee, Chief Deputy Whip of the House Democratic Caucus, today voted for the National Defense Authorization Act, which strengthens America's national security, gives a much-deserved pay raise to our service members, and includes Kildee-backed provisions to address harmful PFAS chemicals. The bill includes Kildee-introduced bills to prevent the waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

"Keeping America safe means supporting our service members and their families, including a well-deserved pay raise for those who serve," Congressman Kildee said. "With many democracies facing challenges around the world, and especially after Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, I am pleased that Republicans and Democrats came together to pass this bill. And I am pleased this year's defense bill addresses PFAS chemical contamination at military bases and includes my legislation to prevent waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars in the Defense Department."

The National Defense Authorization Act, supported by Republicans and Democrats, will:

Provide a 4.6% pay raise for service members and civilian personnel;
Increase the Basic Housing Allowance by 2% and require a report on a more transparent, fair, and flexible way to calculate the basic allowance following reports of inadequate military housing;
Require the Department of Defense (DOD) to send a list of essential uses for PFAS and requires the DOD to report on its progress in minimizing the use of certain non-essential PFOS and PFOA containing items;
Expand the list of non-essential items containing PFAS that DOD is prohibited from procuring for use within DOD;
Require DOD to adhere to the strictest relevant standard (state or federal) when conducting environmental remediation of PFAS contamination;
Require DOD to implement the Comptroller General's recommendations to set goals for the timely clean-up of formerly used defense sites that fall under the military munitions response program.

In addition, the bill includes three Kildee amendments to encourage the responsible use of taxpayer funds by:

Strengthening DOD's efforts to combat fraud attempts against the federal government by requiring a briefing to Congress on the status of the Fraud Reduction Task Force;
Requiring DOD report to Congress clear and consistent budgetary tracking nutrition terms and metrics across its departments to better control or reduce costs;
Requiring DOD to update Congress on its efforts to resolve issues preventing the agency from completing a clean financial audit.

Source