Washington, D.C. - House Armed Services Committee Member U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) announced that early this morning the U.S. House of Representatives passed the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (H.R. 1815) as agreed upon by House and Senate leaders. Among other issues of importance, the committee authorized a 3.1% across-the-board pay raise for U.S. military. Overall, the bill authorizes $441.5 billion in budget authority for the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy. In addition, the bill authorizes $50 billion for ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the global war on terrorism.

“As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I work every day to ensure that the women and men in our military have the resources they need to do their jobs,” Larsen said. “This Defense Authorization ensures that our military gets a much-deserved pay raise and that our veterans get their much-deserved concurrent receipt a little quicker.”

Improved Pay, Benefits and Strength For Military
Larsen said, “This year’s defense bill includes a 3.1 percent across-the-board pay raise and better benefits for our troops, sending them a strong signal of support for their service.”
· In addition, the bill increases the maximum amount of hardship pay from $300 to $750 per month.
· The bill recommends increasing end strength by 30,000 in the Army and 4,000 in the Marine Corps and gives the authority for more growth.
· For the first time ever, all reservists who agree to continue service in the selected Reserves will have an opportunity, depending on their status, to buy into a government subsidized TRICARE Standard health care program for themselves and their families.
· This increases the amounts paid for active duty enlistments, reserve enlistments and active duty re-enlistments.

Improved Recruitment and Retention Initiatives
“This bill will help us recruit and retain more men and women for our all-volunteer military that is currently under tremendous strain,” Larsen said.

The bill includes an increase for the maximum amounts that can be paid for active duty enlistments from $20,000 to $40,000 and reserve enlistments from $10,000 to $20,000 and active duty re-enlistments from $60,000 to $90,000.

Improved Benefits for Veterans and Retirees
“We made a commitment to the women and men who served this nation in our military that we would take care of them in their time of need,” Larsen reminded. “I am working with my colleagues to right Congress’s wrongs against our veterans.”

The bill allows veterans with a disability rating below 100%, but still determined to be “unemployable” due to their disability, to begin receiving full “concurrent receipt” in 2009, five years earlier than currently scheduled to receive benefits.

Moving Forward In Iraq
“I am pleased to see that this final defense bill addresses the situation in Iraq and sets the stage for 2006 to be a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty,” Larsen said.

Specifically, the conference report adopts a Sense of the Congress that says 2006 should be a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty, with Iraqi security forces taking the lead on Iraqi security, thereby creating the conditions for a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq. It also creates quarterly reporting requirements until all combat brigades have been redeployed from Iraq.