ICYMI: Dem Women’s Caucus Members Champion Wins for Women and Families in FY25 NDAA Markup

May 23, 2024

Washington D.C. – This week the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) passed H.R. 8070 Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 out of Committee (57-1), after many hours of debate and negotiating hundreds of amendments.

DWC members Reps. Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), Terri Sewell (AL-07), Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Elissa Slotkin (MI-07), Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), and Jill Tokuda (HI-02) supported and advanced several provisions to improve the lives of servicewomen and their families. This includes expanding access to maternal, reproductive, and primary & preventive healthcare, increasing spousal support and access to child care, lowering everyday costs such as housing, and protecting survivors of gender-based violence. More details on the provisions can be found below.

"In the face of unprecedented attacks on women by Republicans and a historically challenging recruitment and retention environment, I was so proud to stand with my fellow DWC members on the House Armed Services Committee and fight on behalf of our women in uniform and military families,” said Congresswoman Escobar. “The provisions we secured truly invest in our military’s most critical asset - its people. By taking bold steps to address compensation, military spouse employment, childcare, housing, and healthcare, we’re ensuring our servicewomen and military families get the support and resources they rightfully deserve. And most importantly - we sought to send a clear message to our military women - we remain steadfast in our commitment to honor your sacrifices by fiercely advocating on your behalf.”

“As a veteran and proud member of the Democratic Women's Caucus, I am deeply committed to standing up on behalf of women and families in our military community," said Congresswoman Houlahan. "At a critical time for our national security, we must ensure that the entire military family receives the support they need and deserve. I'm proud that this legislation will help us take a tremendous step forward in serving those who serve us by providing full coverage of childcare fees for the first child of staff in a DoD Child Development Program, expanding eligibility for unemployed military spouses seeking employment, establishing a perinatal mental health pilot program to address the unique challenges faced by servicewomen during and after pregnancy, and more. Our work is not done. I will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with my DWC colleagues to deliver a truly bipartisan and transformative bill for President Joe Biden to sign into law.”

“As a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Democratic Women’s Caucus, I am proud of the provisions I secured in the FY2025 NDAA to improve the quality of life of our servicemembers and their families,” said Congresswoman McClellan. “This year’s NDAA makes crucial investments in our military and addresses the issues they face, including access to reproductive health care, mental health services, child care, and more. I will continue fighting to ensure our nation’s Armed Forces have the resources and support they need to thrive.”

"As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, one of my chief responsibilities is to craft national defense legislation that strengthens our fighting forces across the globe, bolsters the New Jersey economy, and improves the quality of life for service members, veterans and their families. And at a time where women’s health is under attack across the nation, it’s more important than ever that we protect access to contraceptives and family planning for service members. That’s why I am proud to successfully secure a bipartisan amendment to ensure service members can access a full year’s prescription of contraceptives,” said Congresswoman Sherrill.

Wins for Women & Families in FY25 NDAA

Maternal & reproductive healthcare

Expanding access to contraception by eliminating co-pays & allowing yearlong prescriptions for contraception;
Improving the experiences of pregnant servicemembers by allowing them to be excluded from the Physical Fitness Tests and Body Composition Assessments, and enabling them to switch TRICARE insurance programs during pregnancy.
Establishing a pilot program to better serve servicewomen and military dependents who experience maternal mental health conditions such as postpartum depression.

Spousal support

Expanding access to employment and job training by allowing the transfer of professional licenses between states and providing fellowships with employers across various industries.
Providing child care in DoD Child Development Programs for up to 180 days to give spouses time to job search if needed.

Child care

Improving pay and benefits for DoD-employed child care workers.
Expanding access to quality child care by maintaining the student-teacher ratio through 2030 and by allowing community-based partnerships to address child care needs.

Accessible, quality healthcare

Expanding access to primary and preventative health care services for women and immediate care for specialty behavioral health care.
Enhancing research on women’s reproductive health conditions that disproportionately impact women, like menopause.
Evaluating access to care for servicemembers and their families with autism, especially women.

Family and housing costs

Ensuring servicemembers have complete housing support through Basic Allowance for Housing.
Providing pay raises so servicemembers and their families keep up with costs.
Increasing Basic Needs Allowances and re-evaluating how cost-of-living allowances are calculated to better reflect location-specific costs.

Gender-based violence prevention

Requiring that updates about the status of their case are provided to domestic violence survivors.
Updating offense codes to clarify their applicability to the creation and sharing of digitally manipulated intimate images.

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