House approves 3.4 percent pay raise - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

House approves 3.4 percent pay raise

Military members are a step closer to a 3.4 percent pay raise, with House lawmakers’ passage of the 2010 defense spending bill Dec. 16.

House and Senate lawmakers agreed in conference to the 3.4 percent raise as part of the $636.3 billion Defense Appropriations bill. The Senate is expected to take up the bill later this week.

The raise is a half percentage point more than the administration requested, and was also included in the 2010 Defense Authorization Act.

Among other things, the bill would provide $29 billion for the Defense Health Program, $1 billion more than the administration’s request, for medical care for service members and their families and to address financial challenges facing the health care program. It fully funds the Defense Department’s request of $372 million for military medical research, and includes $120 million for traumatic brain injury and psychological health research.

Nearly a fourth of the spending bill — $154 billion — will go for operation and maintenance to increase military readiness and training, $1.3 billion over what was allocated for 2009.

The bill also provides $472 million for family programs, including family advocacy, family support, the Yellow Ribbon reintegration program, child care, job training for spouses, and expanded counseling and outreach to families going through wartime deployments.

Lawmakers denied the administration’s request for $100 million for the transfer of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and placed restrictions on transferring those detainees.