Action Needed on Military Family Food Insecurity

I am writing to urge you to support legislation addressing the food insecurity crisis affecting nearly half of all active-duty military families. This is not a compassion issue; it is a matter of national security and economic fairness. Active-duty service members earning $28,000 to $58,000 annually cannot afford basic necessities. Military pay has not kept pace with the cost of living. While junior enlisted troops received a 14.5% pay increase in 2025, inflation and surging costs in childcare, housing, and food have neutralized these gains. Housing allowances cover only 37% of soldiers' actual rental costs, forcing service members to use base pay to cover the gap. Childcare expenses have increased 36% since 2019, yet military families struggle to find affordable care. The consequences are severe. Over 40% of soldiers cite family hardship as a reason to leave the service, degrading military readiness. Financial stress reduces operational efficiency in high-stakes environments. Nearly 1 in 3 soldiers and families at Fort Bragg in North Carolina experience food insecurity, according to reporting from August 2024. The ASYMCA estimates more than 25% of active-duty military families and 10% of veteran families in the Fort Bragg area need food assistance. The Killeen ASYMCA near Fort Hood delivered 500,000 pounds of food to 19,000 families in 2025 alone, yet still runs out by early afternoon. The current military compensation structure, designed in 1949 for single barracks-housed enlistees, is incompatible with today's reality: 44% of enlisted troops are married, and a third have children. Previous attempts to address this, including the Family Subsistence Supplemental Allowance, failed due to restrictive criteria and low enrollment. Congress must move beyond incremental fixes. I urge you to support comprehensive legislation that increases base pay for enlisted personnel, raises housing allowances to match actual market rents, and expands access to affordable childcare. These investments will improve military retention, strengthen operational readiness, and ensure that those who sacrifice for our nation can afford to feed their families with dignity. Service members deserve compensation that sustains a household, not survival dependent on food pantries.