On May 17, the House approved, 397-27, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2008 (H.R. 1585). The House Armed Services Committee approved the bill on May 9 (see The Source, 5/11/07).
H.R. 1585 would authorize $503.8 billion for the Department of Defense (DoD) and the national security programs at the Department of Energy for FY2008, and an additional $141.8 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for FY2008.
H.R. 1585 would authorize a 3.5 percent basic pay increase. Committee report language notes that the “raise would continue to fulfill Congress’s commitment to keeping pay raises for the uniformed services ahead of private sector pay raises.” The bill would extend the prohibition on fee increases for the military health care program, TRICARE, and the TRICARE pharmacy program established in last year’s defense authorization act (P.L. 109-364). Report language states, “The committee shares the DoD’s [Department of Defense’s] concern about the rise in the cost of military health care and the potential for the escalating cost to have a negative impact on the ability of the Department to sustain the benefit over the long-term. However, the committee believes that changes to the military health care benefit require careful, deliberate consideration with a full accounting of the impact across the board. The committee makes these recommendations to allow for a period of time to shape a more balanced approach to address the cost of military health care.”
Committee report language highlights the need for gynecological cancer education: “The committee recognizes that many of the most serious and deadly cancers women face, such as cancers of the female reproductive system, are underdiagnosed and treated. The committee believes that education is a vital element in the prevention of disease and therefore directs the Secretary of Defense to establish a replicable education curriculum and produce related educational materials on the signs, symptoms, treatment options, and prevention of gynecological cancers to be utilized by the military services worldwide to help female members of the armed forces in the ongoing battle against gynecological cancers.”
Concerning post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health issues, the committee “directs the Secretary of Defense to establish a Military Mental Health Initiative to coordinate mental health research and development for the Department.” The committee recommends that projects funded by the initiative include a study of “female service members returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom to determine the incidence of PTSD and their continuing needs for care, including treatment for the psychological effects of sexual assault.” Also recommended are studies on “the effect of a parent’s, or parents’ combat deployment on children to develop a screening system to identify behavioral signals that indicate a child is having trouble coping with the separation” and an “analysis of all outreach programs that promote the availability of mental health services for dependents of service members who have served in a combat theater to identify best practices.” Under the bill, a computer-based pre- and post-deployment assessment to evaluate cognitive functioning would be established; the program would include an assessment of moods associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.
H.R. 1585 would allow service members to designate up to 50 percent of their death benefit to someone other than a spouse or child and would authorize a monthly payment of $40 for surviving spouses who are not receiving the full amount of their Survivor Benefit Plan due to the concurrent receipt of benefits under the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation benefit. The bill also would assist dependents who are victims of abuse by servicemembers by disregarding the servicemember’s period of confinement prior to authority action when calculating the service member’s years of service to determine retirement eligibility.
The following amendments were approved en bloc:
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