{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://escobar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1749", "Congresswoman Escobar Votes to Bolster Quality of Life for our Servicemembers, Pass FY 25 NDAA", "2024-12-11", "2024", "2024-12", "Democrat", "House", "TX", "Veronica Escobar", "E000299", "escobar.house.gov", "escobar", "https://escobar.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27", "scraper", "Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) member of the House Armed Services Committee, voted for the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (NDAA). This bipartisan legislation significantly increases quality of life improvements for our servicemembers and their families in El Paso and beyond, invests historic amounts in Fort Bliss, strengthens our national security, and advances our leadership in the world.\n\nWhile the FY25 NDAA is not a perfect piece of legislation and reflects the realities of a divided government, it was heavily guided by the final report of the Quality of Life panel. Congresswoman Escobar was privileged to be one of only eight members of Congress to serve on the bipartisan Quality of Life panel, which focused on pay and compensation, housing, health care, childcare, and spousal support, in an effort to ensure the United States continues to recruit and retain the most talented military and civilian workforce in the world. All the recommendations in her report were adopted in the FY25 NDAA.\n\nThroughout 2023, the Congresswoman held listening sessions on Fort Bliss to inform her work on the panel and ensure servicemembers and their families had their voices heard in the NDAA process. The result is a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted servicemembers and a 4.5% pay raise for all other servicemembers. Moreover, it authorizes over $17.5 billion in military construction projects, to include $44 million to complete the Rail Yard at Fort Bliss (which Fort Bliss leadership and Congresswoman Escobar have been working toward for years), and an additional $2.5 million for Minority Serving Institutions like UTEP to partner with the military services. This comes after Congresswoman Escobar and Under Secretary of the Army, Gabe Camarillo, announced a new initiative to create an expanded talent Pipeline with UTEP, a commitment of over $6.5 million to link El Paso students with Army opportunities in 2022.\n\n\u201cHaving had the privilege to serve as one of only eight members on the Quality of Life panel, I\u2019m proud to share that the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 is a truly bipartisan culmination of the nearly two-year long effort spearheaded by our panel for the men and women of our military and their families,\u201d said Congresswoman Escobar. \u201cThe provisions we included invest in our military\u2019s most critical asset - its people. From compensation, military spouse support, and childcare to housing and healthcare, we\u2019re ensuring our military can recruit and retain the best our country has to offer.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m also excited to announce that we\u2019ve built on our work of securing $74 million for the Fort Bliss rail yard last year by bringing an additional $44 million to fully fund that project in this year\u2019s budget.\u201d\n\nBelow is an overview of some key FY25 NDAA provisions authored and championed by Congresswoman Escobar:\n\nInvests in Fort Bliss and El Paso\n\nAuthorizes allocation of $44M to Complete the Rail Yard at Fort Bliss in addition to the $74 million the Congresswoman secured last NDAA.\n\nAuthorizes $10 million over the President\u2019s Budget request for Low-Cost Missile Systems Development in collaboration with El Paso Makes\n\nAllows the Secretary of the Army to convey land to El Paso Water for the purposes of stormwater flood control for Fort Bliss and the surrounding areas.\n\nInvests in People\n\nPay and Compensation\n\n14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members (E-4 and below) and 4.5% basic pay increase for all other service members.\n\nRequires the evaluation of the current calculation methods for Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) to ensure that it offsets the costs of service members\u2019 meals.\n\nRaises the threshold for the Basic Needs Allowance (BNA) to 200% of federal poverty guidelines.\n\nReevaluates how cost-of-living allowances are calculated so they include the appropriate costs of location-specific items such as food, tolls, and other fees that may be charged in the continental United States or outside the continental U.S.\n\nAllows service members and families to ship and store up to two privately owned vehicles during a permanent change of station move to certain overseas locations.\n\nAllows civilian employees to stay in their positions overseas longer than the previous limitation of 5 years.\n\nExpands the Junior Reserves Officers\u2019 Training Corps (JROTC) program.\n\nHealth Care\n\nEliminates co-pays for TRICARE beneficiaries for for contraceptives acquired through retail pharmacies and the national mail-order pharmacy.\n\nDirects the Joint Service Committee on Military Justice to conduct a review and make recommendations to enhance patient privacy protections as it relates to diagnoses and treatment information, especially important for victims of sexual assault and violence.\n\nContinues the expansion and oversight of DoD\u2019s Defense Warfighter Brain Health Initiative.\n\nExpands efforts to mitigate and treat blast overpressure-related injuries.\n\nExpands license portabilty for health care providers who provide medical services to reservists.\n\nEstablishes a program to prevent and manage perinatal mental health conditions.\n\nImproves medical recruiting through an increase in the Health Professions Scholarship bonus.\n\nHousing\n\nRequires toe DoD\u2019s annual budget to identify the cost to fully fund the Facility Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization (FSRM) accounts \u2013 which provide the funds to keep DoD facilities in working order \u2013 and reduce the backlog of required maintenance.\n\nSets a statutory minimum level of investment for each military department to ensure adequate investment in facilities maintenance, sustainment, restoration, and modernizations.\n\nAdds $177 million in military construction design funds to accelerate replacement of poor and failing vacant housing and barracks.\n\nChildcare\n\nFully funds childcare fee assistance programs to eliminate fee assistance wait lists for eligible families.\n\nAuthorizes $50 million for local educational agencies with military dependent students and $20 million for local educational agencies eligible to receive payment for children with severe disabilities.\n\nTo recruit and retain DoD childcare personnel the FY25 NDAA:\n\nEnsures pay for childcare staff at DoD childcare centers is competitive with private industry.\n\nImplements additional benefits for childcare providers, including requiring all military services to provide free childcare to the first child of a childcare provider in a DoD Child Development Program and authorize the services to cover up to 100% of childcare fees for any additional children.\n\nRequires local educational agencies to provide military recruiters with the same access provided to any prospective employer, institution of higher education, or other recruiters.\n\nSpousal Support\n\nExtends the Military Spouse Career Accelerator Pilot which provides employment support to military spouses through a paid fellowship with employers across various industries.\n\nPermanently grants authority to DoD to make transferring professional licenses between states easier for military spouses.\n\nExpands eligibility for DoD Child Development Programs \u2013 both on and off installation \u2013 for unemployed military spouses actively seeking employment.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T22:13:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://escobar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1749"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6124928370118141, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}