House defense bill boosts military pay, increases family separation allowance
The House Armed Services Committee’s version of the 2026 defense policy bill, passed Tuesday night after a full day of debate, includes a 3.8% pay bump for service members, a 60% increase in the family separation allowance and excludes the basic allowance for housing from income calculations.
The committee passed its version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act less than a week after the Senate Armed Services Committee advanced its own version of the legislation. The House defense bill, just like the Senate’s version, focuses heavily on reforming the Defense Department’s slow acquisition processes. Both pieces of legislation target similar areas but take different approaches to achieve those goals.
“Equipping an innovative and agile military requires an efficient and streamlined acquisition process. The FY26 NDAA supports modernization and fundamentally reforms defense acquisition by cutting red tape, eliminating bureaucratic hurdles, and encouraging innovation,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R.-Ala.), who leads the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
The legislation is also building on a series of quality-of-life efforts that started under last year’s NDAA.
The bill requires the Defense Department to increase the family separation allowance for service members to $ 400 per month. Currently, service members who are involuntarily separated from their dependents for 30 or more days receive $ 250 per month. The fiscal year 2024 defense policy bill already gave DoD the authority to boost pay for separated families to $ 400, but the department has yet to do so.
The legislation also excludes the basic allowance for housing from gross household income calculations, making it easier for more service members and their families to qualify for the basic needs allowance — a supplemental monthly payment that helps families cover basic living expenses like housing and food. The 2025 defense policy bill increased the income eligibility threshold for the basic needs allowance from 150% to 200% of federal poverty guidelines.
One provision in the bill would expand an existing Army pilot program across all military services to make it easier for service members living in unaccompanied housing to access food. It would allow them to use their Common Access Card (CAC) or another approved method to purchase meals at various on-base locations, including dining facilities, commissaries, exchanges and restaurants.
In addition, House lawmakers want the Defense Department to conduct a study exploring new ways to calculate the Basic Allowance for Housing rate to better reflect regional market trends. The RAND Corporation found that the BAH rate-setting methodology “does not appear resilient to rapid and dramatic changes in the housing market.” Plus, some service members report dissatisfaction with BAH, according to RAND.
The bill also includes several child care provisions, including a provision to extend the Child Care in Your Home Pilot Program — which helps military families with the cost of in-home child care — through December 31, 2029. It further requests a pilot program on child care worker compensation.
Several provisions seek to improve health care and access to medical services — the bill expands mental health services to better support the unique needs of the Cyber Mission Force and authorizes two pilot programs that would expand obstetrical and gynecological care for TRICARE beneficiaries. It also lowers the travel reimbursement threshold for specialty care appointments from 100 miles to 50 miles.
The House and Senate must reconcile their separate versions, and lawmakers will need to pass a separate appropriations bill to fund the defense legislation. The House Appropriations Committee has advanced 2026 spending legislation along party lines for the Agriculture, Defense, Homeland Security and Legislative Branch bills on Wednesday.
The House and Senate are proposing different total funding levels for the Pentagon, with House lawmakers requesting $ 848 billion in their version of the bill, while the Senate requested $ 878.7 billion.
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