Lawmakers to Hegseth: “Through your experience as a junior officer, you can empathize with the importance of a reliable, nutritious dining facility, and its importance to morale. You are now ultimately responsible for the welfare of these servicemembers…”
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, joined Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and 19 colleagues in a bipartisan, bicameral effort demanding answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth regarding issues in providing servicemembers adequate and healthy food on military bases. The new oversight effort follows recent reporting on issues with food quality and access at several Army installations’ dining facilities, including Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, where more than $14 million was collected from soldiers and only a little more than $5 million was spent on food. In the letter to Secretary Hegseth, the lawmakers expressed their concerns over underinvestment in food options for members of the military, which has a direct relation to military readiness and retention rates.
Poor-quality meals and food shortages force servicemembers to perform grueling physical and mental training exercises without the proper energy, which negatively impacts military readiness and serves as a poor testament to the federal government’s obligation to protect and serve those who put their lives on the line for our nation’s freedoms.
“The article also found that a lack of nutrient-dense food, shortages, and inconsistent adherence to the Army’s nutrition policy negatively affects junior enlisted servicemembers specifically because they often live in unaccompanied housing on installations,” wrote the lawmakers in the letter.
Congress provides servicemembers with the food allowances to help them afford meals. The lawmakers wrote that if this funding is not given to servicemembers for meals because the government provides them instead, then that funding should be used to cover the costs and investments needed to serve those meals.
“Our servicemembers are the best among us and expect fair compensation from their government,” the lawmakers continued. “If a servicemember is losing money from their paycheck because they are being given a meal, it is reasonable for them to expect that funding will be used only to cover the costs of providing it and to ensure it is of the highest possible quality. We trust you will move expeditiously to answer our inquiries. Thank you for your earnest attention to this matter.”
The oversight letter concludes with a series of questions for Secretary Hegseth, seeking clarity on how investment decisions are made for on-post food service operations, answers on how the Department of Defense will improve quality and nutrition of food, and more.
In addition to Senators Hirono and Warnock, the letter is also signed by U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and John Hickenlooper (D-CO).
In the House, the letter was signed by U.S. Representatives Jen Kiggans (R-VA) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), as well as Rob Wittman (R-VA), Don Bacon (R-NE), Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), Sanford Bishop (D-GA), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Abraham Hamadeh (R-AZ), John McGuire (R-VA), Lance Gooden (R-TX), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Don Davis (D-NC), and Salud Carbajal (D-CA).
The full text of the letter is available here and below.
Dear Secretary Hegseth,
We write to express our concern about the Department of Defense’s (DOD) apparent underinvestment in food options for members of the military. Recent public reporting in military.com highlighted that DOD spends far less on food for servicemembers who are afforded subsistence-in-kind than would be given directly to those servicemembers in Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) if they were not eligible for government-provided meals. Previous reporting also highlighted DOD’s challenges in providing healthy food for servicemembers. This reporting underscores the ongoing challenges the military services have in ensuring our servicemembers have access to high-quality and nutritious meals.
Current law states that most servicemembers who receive basic pay are entitled to receive BAS to help them afford the cost of food. It also gives the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Service Secretaries, the ability to prescribe policies regarding the use of dining facilities. Current DOD policy requires most servicemembers who receive government-provided meals to pay for their meals, including through BAS deductions managed by Defense Financial Accounting Service. The current policy delegates the use of those collected funds to the military services.
The report noted that many installations’ current spending on DFAC operations represented only a small percentage of the BAS collected from servicemembers serving on those installations. The findings, which include 2024 financial records from eleven of the largest Army installations, show that more than $151 million of the $225 million in BAS collected from servicemembers on these installations was not spent on food costs. That figure does not include the additional garrisons under the Army’s control, nor does it include spending at installations managed by the other military services suggesting the issue may be much more widespread.
Congress provides servicemembers with BAS to help them afford meals. If BAS is taken from servicemembers for meals the government gives them, then that funding should be used to cover the costs and investments needed to serve those meals. Additionally, for Congress to effectively conduct its oversight responsibilities, it must be fully apprised of how the funding provided is appropriated and must ensure open transparency on behalf of the services.
The article also found that a lack of nutrient-dense food, shortages, and inconsistent adherence to the Army’s nutrition policy negatively affects junior enlisted servicemembers specifically because they often live in unaccompanied housing on installations. These junior enlisted servicemembers are also disproportionately affected by the loss of their BAS as it represents a significant portion of their overall compensation.
Through your experience as a junior officer, you can empathize with the importance of a reliable, nutritious dining facility, and its importance to morale. You are now ultimately responsible for the welfare of these servicemembers, and we request your prompt response to the following questions by April 31, 2025:
Our servicemembers are the best among us and expect fair compensation from their government. If a servicemember is losing money from their paycheck because they are being given a meal, it is reasonable for them to expect that funding will be used only to cover the costs of providing it and to ensure it is of the highest possible quality. We trust you will move expeditiously to answer our inquiries. Thank you for your earnest attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
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