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Today, Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH5) joined his colleagues in the House of Representatives in voting to pass this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), legislation that would provide resources to continue to rebuild military readiness, increase pay for service members by over 3 percent, and repeal the “Widow’s tax,” which prevents the family of a fallen service member to receive full benefits from the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

“The men and women who volunteer to serve in our armed forces deserve to have the resources they need in order to best protect and defend our country from increasingly dangerous global threats,” said Congressman Latta. “The bipartisan NDAA that I voted for today gives our troops the largest pay raise in a decade, improves military readiness, and boosts our nation’s efforts to counter Russian cyber threats to our elections.

“Additionally, this bill ensures the families of our servicemen and servicewomen are better able to access their benefits,” continued Congressman Latta. “It responsibly repeals the ‘Widow’s tax’ in order to ensure the surviving families of military members who die on active duty or in retirement receive their full available benefits; it doubles the reimbursement allowance for professional licenses for spouses of service members; and it makes the moving process for families less arduous.

“I’m especially proud a resolution I authored honoring Gold Star families was included in today’s legislation as it recognizes the sacrifices made by the families of military members who gave their lives to defend freedom and protect America,” concluded Congressman Latta. “This is great progress as it is long past due to honor the family members of those who have lost their lives in service to their country.”