The House defense bill includes provisions to help service members and their families. Many in the military are having a tough time affording the steep jumps in housing costs, food prices and child care. President Joe Biden announced last month a set of executive actions aimed at making it easier for military spouses to find and hold onto jobs. The support is desperately needed, say advocates for the nation’s more than 1.3 million active-duty members and 1.5 million family members.”It came through loud and clear that families are very concerned about their financial stability,” says Jessica Strong, senior director of applied research at Blue Star Families. “If they’re worrying about their families, their heads are not with the mission,” Hruska says of the military’s readiness issue. “So it’s truly a readiness issue,” she says. “We want to have the most ready force in the world in the most of the most dangerous world” for the U.S.-led world, she says, adding that the military needs to be ready to defend the world and protect its borders in any way it can. “It’s a very, very serious issue,” says VFW executive director Ryan Gallucci, noting that the cost of a home has risen dramatically in the last few years. “I think we’re seeing the long-term ramifications of that short-sighted budget decision,” Gallucci says of Congress’ decision to slow the annual growth of the basic allowance for housing, which has not kept up with the market. ‘We need to do more to address these issues so that they don’t distract service members from their work,’ says Hruskova, who is also the director of government relations for the National Military Family Association, a military advocacy group. “They need to be able to focus on their work and not worry about what they’re going to do next,” she said of service members. “That’s the most important thing” for military families, she adds, “and that’s what we’re trying to do here in Washington” The House and Senate versions of the defense bill have each added provisions to make it easier to identify members who may be struggling and connect them with assistance. The House version also boosted funding for its commissaries to deepen the discount that families receive when shopping for groceries to 25% when they receive pay and each version of the Senate version has a 25% discount for groceries that receive 25% of pay each month. The Senate version also has a tool to identify those who may have low or very low food security, which includes skipping meals or going hungry because they did not have enough money to buy food. The White House says the unemployment rate among military spouses was 21% last year and has not changed significantly for the past decade. The availability and affordability of child care are problems, which also affect the ability of spouses to work, according to the White House. The agency created a “Resources for Financial Stress” page on the MilitarySource website to help members identify those in need of assistance.
Many military families are struggling financially. They could soon get a big pay hike. The pay hike is expected to start in the next few months.
