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By: FEDweek StaffService members and civilian Defense Department employees would receive a 2.7-percent pay raise on Jan. 1, under the Senate version of the 2022 defense-spending bill. The Senate Armed Services Committee completed the mark-up of the measure July 21, approving it by a vote of 23-3.
The $777.9 billion package calls for $740.3 billion to fund Pentagon operations, $27.7 billion for national security programs at the Department of Energy, and $9.9 billion for defense-related activities outside the jurisdiction of next year’s defense bill. Total active-duty end strength for each service would be 485,000 for the Army, 346,000 for the Navy, 178,500 for the Marine Corps, 329,220 for the Air Force, and 8,400 for the Space Force.
Other key personnel-related items include:
• A requirement that women register for Selective Service.
• A new bereavement-leave provision that allows service members to take up to two weeks off when a spouse or child dies.
• Increasing parental leave to 12 weeks for all service members for childbirth, adoption, or foster-care placement.
• Establishment of a Basic Needs Allowance, to ensure that service members have enough money to take care of their families.
• Parity in special and incentive pay for active-duty and reserve-component service members.
• A $70-million increase in funding for operations and maintenance of the Defense Education Activity. The money would pay for Impact Aid, and includes $20 million for severely disabled military children.
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