Decision on junior enlisted pay boost not expected until November

A final decision by Congress on extra pay boosts for junior enlisted troops in 2025 isn’t likely to come until after the November elections, a key Senate lawmaker said Monday.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., said during a press call that his staff is working on a final compromise version of the annual defense authorization bill with House officials, but a final version isn’t expected to be finished before Congress breaks for its pre-election recess in early October.

“We’re moving ahead, but my sense is that since we only have seven weeks left before the election, we’ll use that time to work with the House and come back after the election to quickly and effectively move the legislation,” Reed said. “I think there is a consensus to move it as soon as we can after that.”

The authorization bill — which sets hundreds of Defense Department policies each year and is viewed as must-pass legislation annually — this year includes extra money for junior enlisted troops in both its House and Senate versions.

Currently, some young enlisted service members can make as little as $24,000 in basic pay, although that total does not include other compensation such as housing allowances and free health care.

Reed’s committee in June approved language promising a 4.5% pay raise for all service members in 2025, with an extra 1% boost for troops ranked E-3 and below.

For troops ranked E-2 with less than two years of service, the pay boosts will bring their annual base salary to almost $29,000, about $1,500 more than this year.

But the House-passed draft of the authorization bill is even more generous. Under that plan, troops ranked E-4 and below would see pay raises up to 19.5%, bringing nearly every service members’ base salary above $30,000 a year. All other troops would see a 4.5% pay raise.

White House officials have said they oppose the idea, indicating the plan “would lead to pay compression in some parts of the enlisted military basic pay table” and should be delayed until a full review of military compensation rules is completed next year.

If Congress were to approve the authorization bill with an additional pay raise for junior enlisted troops, lawmakers would also need to pass appropriations legislation to pay for it. The House’s pay raise plan would cost more than $24 billion over the next five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

But House appropriators have already signaled they support such a move and included the money in their draft of the defense budget bill. The Senate has not approved a formal draft of the authorization or appropriations bill yet.

The issue is likely to be settled sometime around Thanksgiving, just a few weeks before the 2025 military pay raise is set to go into effect.

The White House, House and Senate have all signaled support for an across-the-board pay raise of at least 4.5% for all service members starting next January.

If approved, that would be the third consecutive year of increases of more than 4% for troops and their families.