3.8% Raise for Service Members Endorsed by House and Senate Defense Bills

Service members are on track to get a 3.8% pay raise next year under versions of the annual defense policy bill moving through the House and Senate this month.

Both the Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which the committee voted to approve behind closed doors this week, and the House Armed Services Committee's version of the NDAA, which the committee will debate in a public session next week, endorse a 3.8% across-the-board military pay raise, according to House bill text, a Senate bill summary and committee briefings.

The raise is consistent with the Trump administration's budget request for next year, as is the overall value of the House bill. But senators added an extra $32 billion on top of the administration's budget request to the value of their bill, which would bring the defense budget to roughly $925 billion.

Read Next: Coast Guard Selects 'Proven' Command Master Chief for Top Enlisted Position

Under a federal law that is separate from the NDAA, service members are entitled to an annual pay raise, regardless of any other congressional action. But the annual defense bill is still seen as a key step in securing the annual military raise since lawmakers can use the bill to adjust the raise if they want.

If approved as it is in the NDAA right now, next year's military raise would match the statutory formula that ties the annual pay bump to expected growth in private sector wages.

Still, 3.8% is a notably smaller raise than service members got this year -- particularly junior enlisted service members, who lawmakers gave a massive plus-up amid concerns that their pay was not keeping pace with the economy and that they were struggling to get by financially. Most service members got a 4.5% raise this year, while E-1s through E-4s got a 14.5% raise.

While the House and Senate NDAAs mirror each other and the administration's budget request on the raise, they are diverging on the overall defense budget.

The administration requested what it has framed as a nearly $1 trillion defense budget for fiscal 2026. But the administration's request combined the regular defense budget with a separate $150 billion defense boost that Republicans approved and the president signed into law earlier this month.

When the administration first unveiled the bare-bones version of its budget plan, GOP defense hawks complained that they had intended the $150 billion to be in addition to a regular $1 trillion defense budget, not part of it. For example, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said in a May statement that he was "very concerned the requested base budget for defense does not reflect a realistic path to building the military capability we need to achieve President Trump's Peace Through Strength agenda."

But the version of the NDAA released by the House Armed Services Committee on Friday matches the administration's request for $848 billion for the Pentagon.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., similarly said in May that the administration's budget request would "decrease President Trump's military options and his negotiating leverage."

In line with that rhetoric, the version of the NDAA unveiled by Wicker's committee on Friday would authorize $878.7 billion for the Pentagon. The bill would also add a couple of billion above the administration's request for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs.

The NDAA is a policy bill, not a spending bill, so its dollar figures have to be backed by a separate appropriations bill. But the NDAA sets the tone in Congress for that year's debate over the defense budget.

The biggest portion of the Senate's extra funding would go toward shipbuilding, with about $8.5 billion set aside for that purpose, said a congressional official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Senate Armed Services Committee. There's also about $6 billion more for munitions and about $2 billion more for military construction, the official added.

Beyond dollar figures, both bills seek oversight of the administration's military policy, particularly for U.S. forces in Europe.

Both the House and Senate versions of the NDAA include language that would restrict the president's ability to withdraw U.S. forces in Europe until the Pentagon completes an assessment about the effects of a drawdown and certifies it is in the national interest, according to the House bill text and Senate bill summary.

The congressional official who briefed reporters on the Senate bill said the intention is to "force a conversation" to ensure Congress has a voice in any major changes.

The Senate bill advanced out of committee in a 26-1 vote this week. The House Armed Services Committee is scheduled to debate its version of the bill Tuesday. Once the full House and full Senate approve their respective versions, the bills would need to be reconciled before heading to the president's desk for his signature.

Related: Sweeping Trump Agenda Bill with $157 Billion Defense Boost, Food Aid Cuts Approved by Congress