On Sept. 29, the negotiators in the House and the Senate reached an agreement and approved a $612 billion defense authorization bill that will take effect on the fiscal start of 2016. According to Military Times, along with this budget increase comes a pay "raise for service members, trims to some military benefits and a dramatic overhaul of the military retirement system."
The representatives agreed that servicemembers would see a 1.3 percent increase in their salary in 2016. While many were hoping for a larger increase, President Obama defended that number, saying that it was part of keeping the national spending under control.
"As our country continues to recover from serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare … we must maintain efforts to keep our nation on a sustainable fiscal course," he wrote in an address to Congress in August. "This effort requires tough choices, especially in light of budget constraints."
The other parts of the bill, the trimming of military benefits and the military retirement overhaul, have also been major points of focus. Military Times wrote that 83 percent of retired military servicemembers have no benefits, but the plan hopes to correct this.
The bill will be sent to Obama for finalization in December, but most experts expect that it will pass without much contention.