San Diego City Wire

After securing more than a dozen amendments to expand access to child care and housing, strengthen food security, increase fertility options, and better align defense policies with foreign policy goals, Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (CA-51) voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) through the House Armed Service Committee.

Congresswoman Sara Jacobs said, “We ask so much of our service members and military families – knowing that they’ll be separated from home and their loved ones, potentially be in harm’s way, and give up certain rights and freedoms. In return, they’ve earned and deserve safe housing, affordable child care, food security, and full access to fertility and reproductive options. But too often, we’re falling short of those promises. That’s why I’m so proud to have secured more than a dozen amendments to improve military quality of life, which will go a long way to addressing our recruitment crisis, protecting retention, and ensuring readiness.

“I’m grateful to my colleagues for passing two bills I introduced – the Military Housing Readiness Council, which would conduct oversight and accountability to ensure safe military housing, and the Military Food Security Act, to improve food security for service members and military families. I also secured big wins to address San Diego’s child care crisis that’s particularly acute for military families. Many spouses have told me they turn to social media groups or word of mouth to find out about the length of child care wait lists – so I’m glad to have helped secure an improved webpage to share this information with the public. I also secured amendments to improve the pay and benefits of military child care workers to address staffing shortages that often limit the number of child care spots. I’m incredibly proud that I secured a new pilot program to expand fertility options for service members who serve in dangerous or isolated locations.

“But ultimately, we’re long overdue for an honest conversation about our bloated military spending and we have much more work to do to bring down the overall topline to better reflect our values, invest in our personnel, and address the national security threats and challenges of today’s world.”

Congresswoman Sara Jacobs secured the following provisions:

Supporting Housing That’s Safe and Affordable for Service Members and Military Families:

• Expanding Housing Access for Junior Enlisted Service Members by giving commanding officers the authority to grant off-base housing to junior enlisted service members when housing is unavailable or inadequate, improving service members’ quality of life and safeguarding readiness    
• Increasing Flexibility to Raise the Basic Allowance for Housing for Junior Service Members by taking into account the cost of living, inflation, the state of the economy, and other factors to better reflect the true cost of housing  
• Conducting Oversight and Accountability to Ensure Safe Military Housing, through Rep. Sara Jacobs’ Military Housing Readiness Council Act, which would create a council to monitor privatized military housing to ensure all military families have access to safe, quality housing

Ending Food Insecurity in the Military:

• Improving Food Security for Service Members and Military Families through the Military Food Security Act, which Rep. Sara Jacobs co-leads, to exclude service members’ housing allowance from determining eligibility for the Basic Needs Allowance (BNA), a program designed to support low-income service members    
• Reviewing the Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS), which helps offset the cost of service members’ meals, by analyzing disparities in benefits receipt and establishing rates that provide greater benefits to lower-income service members

Strengthening Reproductive Rights and Expanding Fertility Options for Service Members:

• Establishing a Pilot Program on Cryopreservation and Storage to reimburse active duty service members for the cost of freezing, shipping, and storing their gametes
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• Eliminating Co-Pays on Contraception for All TRICARE Beneficiaries so all service members and their dependents can exercise their freedom to decide if, when, or how to become a parent, without cost sharing

Addressing the Military Child Care Crisis:

• Increasing DoD’s Required Share of Child Care Spending to better reflect the true cost of care  
• Increasing Pay of Child Development Center (CDC) Staff to Better Recruit and Retain Child Care Workers and Address Staffing Shortages by requiring the Defense Department to assess and revise the pay scale of CDC staff  
• Improving Benefits of Child Development Center (CDC) Staff to Better Recruit and Retain Child Care Workers and Address Staffing Shortages by providing a 100% discount on military child care for the first child and at least a 50% discount for the second child of a DOD child care employee 
• Increasing Transparency and Accuracy of Child Care Wait Lists by requiring wait lists to be published on the Defense Department’s website along with estimated wait times and requiring the Defense Department to conduct a feasibility report on improving communication with members on wait lists 
• Understanding the Impact of Affordable, Accessible Child Care on Military Readiness and Recruitment so we can make informed investments in military families

Improving Mental Health Care in the Military:

• Creating a Pipeline of Behavioral Health Providers by establishing a graduate program in counseling and social work at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS)   
• Addressing Maternal Mental Health Conditions in the Military by issuing a status report on the new Military Reproductive Behavioral Health Consultation Line to ensure its effective implementation to prevent, intervene, and treat perinatal mental health conditions among service members and dependents   
• Increasing Transparency on Mental Health Services at DODEA Schools by surveying the quality and availability of school psychologists

Ensuring Diversity and Inclusion in the Military:

• Pushing for Inclusivity of the Neurodivergent Community by directing DoD to study how current personnel policies related to neurodivergent service members, including those with ADHD, dyslexia, and autism, impact total force readiness

Creating Guardrails Around the Defense Department’s Use of Artificial Intelligence:

• Strengthening Oversight for the Safe and Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence by requiring the Secretary of Defense to develop and implement a process for service members to report AI errors and biases, including in combat – and to correct or retire AI deemed not responsible

Aligning Defense Policy with Foreign Policy Goals:

• Ensuring Thoughtful Implementation of the Global Fragility Act to create a whole-of-government approach to addressing conflict in Mozambique, Libya, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, and Coastal West Africa by directing the Secretary of Defense to provide a briefing on the resources, authorities, and staffing necessary for the Defense Department to implement and prioritize the Global Fragility Act  
• Strengthening End-Use Monitoring to Uphold Values by requiring a GAO review of the State Department’s and Defense Department’s efforts to ensure recipient countries are not misusing U.S. defense articles and weapons, including whether they are being used in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law  
• Ensuring Transparency on Former Service Members’ Work for Foreign Governments by requiring a GAO review on the effectiveness of the State Department’s and Defense Department’s processes that govern the employment by foreign governments of former officers of the Armed Forces  
• Applying Lessons Learned from Ukraine on the Use of U.S.-provided Weapons through new reports that assess lessons learned on end-use monitoring from Ukraine to apply to other conflict-affected environments.    
• Preventing Civilian Harm and Ensuring Implementation of the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan by directing a GAO review on the effectiveness of civilian harm mitigation training for U.S. military personnel

Original source can be found here.