President Trump Stands By His Promises, Gives Military Biggest Raise In A Decade

When President Trump makes a promise, he really stands by it and he has done it again.

Just days before Christman, President Trump signed the $738 billion National Defense Authorization Act for 2020 which gave our military its largest pay raise in ten years. Despite their differences, both parties, as well as the senate, voted almost entirely in favor of the bill.

According to 11 Alive,

That’s how much the United States will spend on the military in 2020, according to USA Today – and it’s good news for America’s heroes.

The Pentagon budget bill signed by President Donald Trump includes funding for a 3.1 percent pay raise for the troops. Military Times reports it’s the largest raise American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have seen in more than ten years.

But that’s not the only big-ticket item in the new budget. Space Force will officially take flight as the sixth branch of the United States military. American taxpayers will cover the cost of new southern border wall construction. And more than 2,000,000 civilian federal workers are now eligible for 12 weeks of paid parental and family leave.

President Trump signed the spending bill into law before heading to South Florida for the holidays. Reuters reports it passed the Senate with 86 votes – meaning it was truly bipartisan.

In celebration of the momentous accomplishment, President Trump tweeted, “I will be signing our 738 Billion Dollar Defense Spending Bill today. It will include 12 weeks Paid Parental Leave, gives our troops a raise, importantly creates the SPACE FORCE, SOUTHERN BORDER WALL FUNDING, repeals “Cadillac Tax” on Health Plans, raises smoking age to 21! BIG!”

Here are the basic pay raises since 2007:
1 January 2007: 2.2%
1 April 2007: 0.5%
1 January 2008: 3.5%
1 January 2009: 3.9%
1 January 2010: 3.4%
1 January 2011: 1.4%
1 January 2012: 1.6%
1 January 2013: 1.7%
1 January 2014: 1.0%
1 January 2015: 1.0%
1 January 2016: 1.3%
1 January 2017: 2.1%
1 January 2018: 2.4%
1 January 2019: 2.6%

This bill has also officially created the U.S. Space Force, a new branch of the military which is to organize, train, and equip space forces in order to protect the U.S. This is the first new military service in more than 70 years. The last was in 1947 which was the U.S. Air Force.