Deluzio Delivers Quality of Life Improvements for Servicemembers, Fights Price Gouging in 2025 Defense Bill

May 23, 2024

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night, Navy and Iraq War veteran Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) voted to pass H.R. 8070, the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement Act otherwise known as the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), out of the House Armed Services Committee. This annual, bipartisan legislation successfully passed out of committee 57-1. Next, the bill heads to the House Floor for debate and vote.

“I voted with Democrats and Republicans for this year’s defense bill to address our most pressing national security challenges, improve quality of life for our servicemembers, fight defense contractors' rip-off price gouging, support Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units in Western Pennsylvania, and more,” said Congressman Deluzio. “Congress must always ensure military readiness—and that means improving servicemember and family quality of life, strengthening competition within our defense industrial base, and protecting public money from price gouging and lousy contractor performance. I am proud that this year’s defense bill, while not perfect, makes important strides forward.”

Specifically, the bills and amendments that Congressman Deluzio got included in this year’s NDAA are:

Congressman Deluzio's anti-price gouging bill the Best Price for our Military Act.
A provision to prevent reductions of KC-135 aircraft from disadvantaging units like those in Western Pennsylvania, and an additional provision requiring that such aircraft be replaced by planes with equivalent or greater capability.
A requirement for the Joint Safety Council to review issues of servicemember fatigue and safety identified in the March 2024 report from the United States Comptroller General.
A pilot program testing out the use of robotic ship inspection and imaging technology and a subsequent report on the results of the program.
Authorization for an increase of $2.5 million for the Resilient Manufacturing Ecosystem under the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Support program, supporting companies like those located at Neighborhood 91 at the Pittsburgh International Airport.
A report to Congress by January 2025 on improving oversight of mergers and acquisitions over the defense industrial base. The report is in response to a Government Accountability Office report from October 2023.
A report on the Defense Department’s use of advanced manufacturing technologies like additive manufacturing and robotics in its naval operations—industries important to Western Pennsylvania’s workers and economy.

The bill also includes the following priorities from Congressman Deluzio:

Pay raises for servicemembers:

19.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members
4.5% pay raises for all other service members

Servicemember housing improvements:

Authorizes $1.15 billion to improve housing conditions across all military departments
Authorizes funding to reverse the 5% reduction in Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), ensuring the BAH covers 100% of the calculated rate for the military housing area (MHA).

Childcare:

Fully funds childcare fee assistance programs to eliminate fee assistant wait lists for eligible military families.
Ensures pay for childcare staff at Defense Department childcare centers is competitive with private industry.

Supporting the American defense industry and local jobs:

Authorizes $32.4 billion toward Made-In-America shipbuilding, which includes:
- Two Virginia-Class Submarines, two DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyers, one Amphibious Transport Dock Ship, and one Medium Landing Ship.
- Funding for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program
- Funding for a new domestic built sealift ship

Requirement for the Defense Department to consider hiring local workers from a region for domestic military construction projects—a strong move to cut project costs and strengthen the relationship between communities and our armed forces.

NATO investments:

Authorizes $3.9 Billion for NATO support and for programs countering Russian Aggression and Vladamir Putin’s brutal and criminal war in Ukraine.

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