More Military Quality-of-Life Improvements Needed, Lawmakers Say, But Budget Caps They Passed Stand in the Way

Leading lawmakers are signaling they want to infuse even more cash into military quality-of-life improvements than the Pentagon asked for in its annual budget request unveiled on Monday.

But they are running into the reality that spending caps they previously agreed to could force Congress to make tough tradeoffs in the defense budget.

The Pentagon's budget request includes $850 billion for fiscal 2025. Among the quality-of-life funding included in the request is money for a 4.5% pay raise for troops, $2.35 billion for Army barracks and $250 million for Navy and Marine Corps barracks.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Roger, R-Ala., told Military.com on Tuesday that he believes the administration's funding request for military quality-of-life issues is inadequate to reverse years of declines and that his committee will look to "beef it up" when it writes its annual defense policy bill in the coming months.