welcome to another edition of cck live my name is Emma Peterson and today I'm joined by my
colleagues Bethany cook and Elise Phillips and today we're going to be talking about the ndaa
the National Defense authorization act or ndaa is a policy and spending bill for the defense
department that passes through Congress each year President Biden signed the 2023 ndaa into law
last December this year's bill which amounts to a total of 857.9 billion authorizes 816.7
billion to the dod this is an 80 billion increase over fiscal year 2022. the act includes several
Provisions that will greatly benefit veterans and service members including adjustments to combat
the effect of inflation increases in military pay housing benefits child care reimbursement
programs Health Care improvements military Justice reforms and more Elise can you give us
some general updates about the ndaa absolutely so the first is going to be an update that actually
removes the Mandate requiring service members to get the covid-19 vaccine this mandate was
originally issued in August 2021 and resulted in the involuntary separation of service or general
discharge of thousands of troops the second is going to be funding to combat inflation the
ndaa authorizes additional funding to address the effects of increasing inflation on service members
veterans and their families in particular this is going to increase bonuses and special pay for
service members in qualifying career Fields give recruiters a tool to revive and extend temporary
Authority or targeted recruitment incentives expand the scope of financial reimbursement
related to spouse re-licensing and business costs arising from a permanent change of station
so Bethany what other types of relief will the NDA offer service members and veterans
sure so another area um that it's providing additional assistance with is housing relief
so the ACT puts in place language allowing more service members to qualify for the basic
needs allowance or bah which is a non-taxable benefit paid to those with military service so
the ndaa extends the authority to increase the bah eligibility threshold and the allowance size
from 130 percent of the federal poverty line to 150 percent in high cost areas
in certain circumstances it also authorizes the defense secretary to increase this benefit to
200 of the poverty line uh when appropriate and lastly it also encourages the dod to coordinate
efforts to address housing shortages and it also codifies that the assistant secretary of defense
for energy installations and environment should serve as the chief housing officer
Beyond housing relief it's also authorizing a military pay raise the ndaa authorizes a 4.6
pay raise for military service members and defense department civilian employees this is said to be
the largest military pay raise in two decades by comparison last year the pay raise was only
2.7 percent so hopefully that will provide some some help and so the ACT is going to have other
meaningful relief and benefits for service members in terms of child and family care it's going
to create a pilot program to reimburse military families for certain child care costs related to
a permanent change of station and if care is not available at the local installation CDC within 30
days following a PCS move the pilot program will cover travel expenses for a child care provider
designated by the family Congress also extended the parent fee discount to child care employees
to enhance the services available at Child Development Centers the ACT also authorizes a
pilot program to hire special needs coordinators at locations with high concentrations of efmp
enrolled dependence coordinators will work to include special needs services at these
facilities in addition to providing classroom support and guidance on how to work with
children with special needs the program is going to begin next year in 2024 and run for two years
Additionally the ACT is going to authorize an increase of 70 million for impact Aid with 50
million for supplemental impact Aid and 20 million for impact 8 for military children
with severe disabilities Elise are there some benefits uh addition to these that that the ACT
is going to provide for veterans and their family members and service members excuse me yeah so two
additional benefits is the Survivor benefit plan which the ndaa finalizes the repeal of the widows
tax effective February 1st 2023. it is also going to provide for an open season for the Survivor
benefit plan or the SBP through 2023 which is going to give eligible individuals a chance to
opt in or out of the SBP and I'm going to jump in here real quick because that's really important
not only for the service members watching out there but also our veterans and their dependents
especially those out there who are seeking DIC benefits um for a long time there was an offset
between SBP and DIC you couldn't get both um and so this is going to Sunset out and it's
really important because now you'll be entitled to both benefits in full and not have to offset
a taxable benefit versus a non-taxable benefit I'm sorry keep keep going Alicia no that's okay
it is really important another one of the plans that's going to be impacted by the ndaa is the
authorization of improvements to the Tricare Dental Program um so this is going to require
functions such as enrollment eligibility and premium payment processing to be handled by a
third party administrator and ensure beneficiaries have three dental insurance enrollment options
for several carriers the dod will continue to cover part of the premium Prudential coverage
with families choosing the Premium plan paying the cost difference out of pocket
Bethany what else is the act going to do for service members so another
um area that is allotted is the increase of medical facilities so it's going to establish
four military medical treatment facilities as core casualty receiving facilities uh with the purpose
to facilitate aeromedical evacuation of casualties from military operational theaters uh it's also
going to allot funds to brain and Behavioral Health Care uh so it's going to establish a
comprehensive Initiative for brain health uh the Warfighter brain health initiative with a goal to
improve cognitive performance and brain health of service members the ndaa also notes that coming
improvements uh relating to behavioral health care in the military health system are expected
so the NDA is also going to have several reforms in terms of military Justice Reform
the act includes efforts that were removed from previous ndaas as in 2022 importantly it changes
the military's chain of command with handling serious crimes commanders could for the first
time be stripped of all judicial functions and prosecutorial duties in felony level offenses
including cases of sexual assault additionally in terms of Suicide Prevention the ACT requires
a review and report on the rates of suicide in the armed forces by military occupational
specialty during the time period beginning after September 11 2001 and continuing to
the present day this is going to be broken down by military occupational Specialty Service and grade
it also requires a briefing on the feasibility and the advisability of implementing certain reforms
related to Suicide Prevention among members of the Armed Forces Elise anything that has to do
with environmental exposures which I know are all over the news right now is the ndaa going
to do anything with those they are um so they are going to be requiring a capability assessment of
potential involvements to activities of the dod to reduce the effects of those environmental
exposures such as burn pits and other hazards to service members following this assessment
the ACT is going to require the development of an action plan to implement such improvements
um another change that we're actually going to see in the NDA AAA is actually going to be uh
it's going to involve National Guard members and Reserve members so for years National
Guard officers have experienced extensive delay between the federal recognition of
rank following promotion at the state level the ndaa is going to direct the dod to back
date the effective date for rank for officers who warrant a federal recognition of their
promotions additionally the ACT authorizes the trans transitional Health Care benefits for
members of the National Guard who are separated from full-time Duty called or ordered by the
president or the secretary of defense for a period of active service greater than 30 days
Bethany any final Provisions in the act that we should know about yeah so there's a lot we
haven't covered like Emma said in the beginning um this bill is allotting over 800 billion dollars
um in funds to the dod so aside from the new laws programs and reforms that we've already discussed
the 2023 ndaa focuses largely on the what's identified as the most vital National Security
priorities for the United States including strategic competition with China and Russia
disruptive Technologies like Hypersonic weapons artificial intelligence 5G and Quantum Computing
as well as the modernization of our ships aircraft and vehicles well thanks Bethany thanks
Elise we've really covered a lot um it's a pretty extensive Act is every year but more details about
the many changes to VA and Improvement to veterans benefits in the ndaa can be found on our website
also be sure to check out our YouTube channel And subscribe to stay in the know thanks for watching
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