President Biden and his administration have bent over backward to send tens of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to Ukraine, which was the most corrupt country in Europe before the Russians invaded, but he doesn’t seem more enthused about spending less than that to improve the lives of U.S. military personnel.
The Biden administration “strongly opposes” a proposal to raise the pay of junior enlisted service members in the military — even after spending nearly seven times the proposed amount on Ukraine and the broader region’s security, The Daily Caller reported.
The House Armed Services Committee’s draft of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes a proposal to raise the pay for all junior troops, amounting to an estimated $24.4 billion over five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. However, the Biden administration expressed its reservations on Tuesday, stating that it does not support the proposed “significant, permanent” pay increase until a comprehensive compensation review can be conducted.
“The Administration is strongly committed to taking care of our Servicemembers and their families, and appreciates the Committee’s concern for the needs of the most junior enlisted members, but strongly opposes making a significant, permanent change to the basic pay schedule before the completion of the Fourteenth Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation,” the White House budget office said.
Still, that doesn’t jibe with gifting Ukraine tens of billions of dollars. The Biden administration has provided more than $175 billion in aid to Ukraine and European security since 2022. This amount is approximately one-seventh of the proposed pay increase for junior troops, as reported by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The $175 billion aid package is divided into multiple installments over a two-year period, with the most recent package totaling $61 billion in April.
“When accounting for inflation, the average American makes less today than when Joe Biden took office. The White House wants to block Republicans from giving our troops the raise they need to make ends meet in the Biden economy,” Republican Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, a HASC member, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Meanwhile, they’ve sent the Ukrainian government $11,500 per Ukrainian household. It’s shameful.”
Bipartisan members of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) have advocated for the pay increase for junior troops as a measure to enhance recruitment and retention, areas in which the military has been facing growing challenges. A year-long study by the HASC, published in April, revealed that “servicemembers, especially junior enlisted servicemembers and those supporting large families, struggle to afford housing and provide for their families.”
According to the study, the pay for junior troops has not kept up with the civilian job market, especially with rising inflation. In the last 40 years, junior troops have received smaller pay raises than senior servicemembers, or in some cases, no raise at all, in eight of those years.
“Joe Biden must hate our military,” Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, also on the committee, told the DCNF. “While families of our junior enlisted struggle on food stamps, this administration opposes their pay raises and wants to force-feed them pronoun training and drag queen story hour. If Biden had any PRIDE at all in our troops, he’d support the long overdue pay raise House Republicans have passed.”
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.