A House subcommittee is poised to approve the 4.6% military raise requested by the Biden administration, but the panel also is prepared to call for a Defense Department study that would modernize basic pay levels to “more realistically and fairly compensate service members.”

The House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on military personnel is scheduled to meet June 8 to pass its portion of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. A summary released June 7 shows committee members want to increase pay for military child development center workers, so they make the same as similarly trained public elementary school employees.

They also want to create a new moving allowance for military spouses to reimburse the cost of moving items related to a home business, and they want to increase support for educational services aimed at military families with special needs students.

The subcommittee is also expected to discuss placing limitations on a planned realignment of military medical personnel while continuing to review an ongoing DoD adjustment in manning requirements.

The 4.6% pay raise that would take effect Jan. 1 was determined under a federal pay formula that links military raises to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Cost Index, which measures civilian compensation increases. The increase seems paltry at a time when consumer prices have increased 8.3% in the last 12 months and energy costs have jumped 30.2%.

The draft bill prepared by the personnel panel adopts the Army’s plan to reduce active-duty troop strength by 12,000. No reductions are proposed in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve requests.