On March 8, the Senate cleared, by a 75-22 vote, full-year appropriations for fiscal year 2024 under a first “minibus” for six appropriations bills: Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-VA, and Transportation-HUD. The Department of Defense however is still operating under a continuing resolution. This is a problem which prevents initiating new programs. Read more

Credible threats to TRICARE For Life loom on the horizon. And while the recently released FY 2025 DoD budget request makes no mention of new TFL fees, MOAA is concerned that it’s only a matter of time before DoD once again looks to TFL as the answer to addressing increased military health care spending. Aside from military retired pay,… Read more

The largest VA budget request ever – $369 billion for FY 2025, 10% higher than the FY 2024 estimate – came March 11, five weeks after the often-neglected deadline for the White House to submit its annual budget proposal.  It dwarfs the $48 billion appropriated in FY 2001, before two decades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.… Read more