What's Going on In Washington DC?

By: Aniela Szymanski, Chief Policy Officer

The news out of Washington DC has been fast hitting, but military and veteran advocates have stayed the course in consistently pressing for the priorities of the military and veterans community. Here are a couple big items that our organization has been orienting around.

National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA was passed on December 23, 2024, which secured the 4.5% pay raise for servicemembers, with higher pay raises for E1-E4 of 14.5%. It also included travel-cost reimbursement for reservists on inactive duty training and muster duty, and Basic Allowance for Housing eligibility for junior enlisted members on sea duty.

The House Armed Services Committee has already announced that its work on the 2026 NDAA is moving very quickly and the Committee has set an internal deadline of March 7, 2025, for members of Congress to add provisions to the 2026 NDAA draft. There are several that did not make it into the 2025 NDAA that would be greatly beneficial and The Military Coalition is currently finalizing goals to present to Congress for this next iteration. Those will likely include making BAH 100% of the locally assessed housing cost versus the current 95%, and full concurrent receipt of military retired pay and VA disability compensation, amongst other CWOA supported goals.

Homeland Security Appropriations Act. The Homeland Security Act, however, did not pass before the last legislative session expired. That means the Act has to be reintroduced in this new session of Congress that began in January, and make it's way through the legislative process. This may be a challenge because the next government shutdown is scheduled to occur on March 14. Meaning, if the Homeland Security Appropriations Act is not passed before then, Homeland Security would have their funding shut off.

As indicated by the current news cycle, Homeland Security and the Coast Guard are getting a great deal of attention regarding border security and immigration. This will, no doubt, materialize in what we see in the Homeland Security Appropriations Act. CWOA is, as always, focused on keeping paychecks flowing to Coast Guard servicemembers, regardless of what the broader budgetary battle entails.

CWOA is planning its next annual meeting for May 2025 in Washington D.C., including requests for Congressional representatives to address the organization and discuss relevant issues and priorities. If you want to see issues addressed with Congress or Coast Guard leadership, CWOA is an excellent mechanism to do so. Stay in contact by emailing [email protected] with your issues.