Today, Representative Mike Garcia (CA-27) introduced the Raising Annual Income of Servicemembers by Enhancing (RAISE) Minimum Base Pay Act, which would provide our junior enlisted servicemembers a much-needed pay raise to a minimum of the equivalent of $15 an hour ($31,200 per year).

Rep. Garcia said the following after introducing the bill:

“Some 23,000 servicemembers, many of whom also provide for their families, rely on food stamps just to make ends meet. That is 23,000 soldiers too many. If the government is paying for our servicemembers to live on food stamps, we may as well pay them on the front end through base pay. To build the military of the future that will deter aggression from China and other adversaries, we must be able to recruit and retain qualified Americans to serve in our military. The simple reality is that we can’t do that if your local fast food chain is paying more than the armed services,” said Garcia. “For too long, our junior enlisted servicemembers have been neglected by Congress and our government. That ends now. Our servicemembers are our nation’s secret weapon and it’s time we treat them as such."

Garcia recently delivered a speech on the House floor making the case for this proposal.