Tester Secures Pay Raises, Boosts Readiness for Montana Service Members

Senator’s Pro-Troop Amendments Included in Key Military Legislation

(U.S. Senate)-U.S. Senator Jon Tester today worked with Republicans and Democrats to secure a pay raise and increase military readiness for U.S. troops throughout Montana.

Tester voted in support of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets policies for every branch of the military, includes a 2.1 percent pay raise for service members, strengthens the nation’s ICBM fleet, and increases the number of active-duty personnel by 14,100.

“This bipartisan bill will bolster national security, improve our missile defense, and provide our service members with a well-deserved pay raise,” Tester said. “It is critical that members of the military have the support and certainty they need to carry out their mission and keep Americans safe.”

Tester successfully secured a major amendment to the NDAA which provides Guardsmen and Reservists, who have suffered from military sexually trauma while on Inactive Duty Training status, with the same access to recovery resources as their counterparts on active duty. Last month, President Trump signed Tester’s bill into law to extend education and health care benefits to Guardsmen and Reservists who deployed overseas.

“Members of the National Guard and Reserve have been deployed and assigned the same missions as our active duty units, and they have earned the same benefits,” Tester added.

Tester authored additional amendments which will direct the Defense Department to declassify records of toxic exposure to provide more veterans with access to health care, and to provide long-term stability to the National Language Service Corps to better provide essential services to strengthen national security and emergency preparedness.

Tester also supported NDAA amendments that require the Defense Department to purchase American-made materials for U.S. service members, create a study group to identify military and diplomatic strategies regarding the Syrian Civil War, and create a new initiative to help states protect election infrastructure from cyberattacks.

The NDAA passed the Senate 89-8.