WASHINGTON — Democrats in both chambers have been angling for several years to give military families more money to cover housing costs, and they are at it again — this time with some influential GOP support.
Last year, Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., and Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., filed bills that would require the Defense Department to pay 100% of troops’ Basic Allowances for Housing, which cover the cost of commercial housing in the United States for the roughly two-thirds of the U.S. active-duty force that does not live in the military services’ on-base quarters.
The rate of reimbursement was 100% from roughly 2005 to 2015. But for most of the years since then, the Pentagon has paid 95% of the tab while military families have had to cover the other 5%. The fiscal 2015 NDAA (PL 113-291) authorized the reduced housing payments as a cost-saving measure.
