Republicans who led the House effort to pass the largest military pay boost in history are slamming the Biden administration for opposing the bill.
Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a former Navy pilot, pushed for a 19.5% pay increase to be included in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual bill that sets policy for the U.S. military and national security.
This will result in a 4.5% pay increase for all military personnel.
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Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., has criticized the Biden administration for opposing a 19.5% pay increase for lower-ranking soldiers. (Getty Images)
“This is extremely offensive. It’s like the police chief is saying he doesn’t want to pay officers working for the city more than $12 an hour, which is less than the city hall starting wage of $12 an hour,” he said. [for a junior recruit is]”In my state the minimum wage is $20, and for McDonald’s workers it’s $22,” Garcia told Fox News Digital.
“We’re not asking for $80 to $100 an hour, we’re asking for $12 to $15 an hour to get us off food stamps.”
About one-eighth of military families with at least one child rely on food banks, according to a University of Georgia study last year.
The NDAA passed the House on Friday morning by a vote of 217-199, authorizing roughly $895 billion in military spending. The Senate must now consider it or pass its own version before working on a compromise bill together.
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U.S. Army soldiers train at Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq. (U.S. Army)
But it was not immediately clear whether the 19.5% pay increase would be included. The Biden administration issued a statement earlier this month opposing the part of the House NDAA that included the pay increase.
“The Administration is committed to taking care of our service members and their families, and while we appreciate the Committee’s attention to the needs of our lowest-ranking enlisted personnel, we strongly oppose making significant, permanent changes to the Basic Pay Schedule prior to the completion of the 14th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation (QRMC),” the White House said in a statement. “If the President’s FY 2025 request is implemented, service members would receive a 15 percent increase in base pay in just three years. The House proposed changes would result in pay compression across a portion of the Enlisted Service Members Basic Pay Schedule.”
But Garcia argued that lower-ranking soldiers in particular have been working for low wages for many years, and recalled the hardships they faced during his own time in the Navy.
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Garcia called back the soldiers in his squadron on the Nimitz who were eligible for food stamps. (Getty Images)
“I led about 30 sailors in my unit, my company, and literally 12 of them qualified for food stamps,” Garcia said. “We had to help our kids file for bankruptcy.”
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He added, “When you go to military installations, it’s no coincidence that they have the highest concentration of payday loans and pawn shops, because these young people are literally figuring out how to make ends meet on their one paycheck. And it’s only gotten worse since then.”
In response, the White House told Fox News Digital, “We have no opposition to pay raises for our troops, including the large pay raises proposed in this draft bill. In fact, we support the value of pay raises for junior ranks.”
“Our concern, and the reason we oppose this bill, is that it would freeze junior enlisted pay at a specific number that would be applied across the ranks while a congressionally mandated pay review is ongoing. For example, if that review results in a higher pay increase than is recommended in this bill, we would not be able to offer it to senior enlisted and commissioned officers,” a White House spokesman said.
