NDAA Conference Text Expected This Week

For a breakdown of the provisions we are tracking, go to our NDAA Tracker.

The final text of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is now expected on Thursday, and for military families, this release will clarify which quality-of-life improvements are heading toward becoming law—and which won't make the cut.

While committee summaries often emphasize aircraft and shipbuilding, the most meaningful parts of the NDAA for families are the policies that determine whether a move bankrupts you, whether you can find child care, and whether taking parental leave penalizes your career. Here are the provisions families should watch most closely when the conference bill lands.

1. Making Ends Meet: Pay, Food Access, and Allowances

Basic Needs Allowance Fix

The House bill proposes excluding all BAH from household income when determining BNA eligibility. This is a major shift that could finally reach families who were previously disqualified because their housing allowance—which never touches their bank account—made them "too wealthy on paper."

Family Separation Allowance Increase

The House version raises FSA to a flat $400, reflecting the financial realities of long separations.

Food Access Pilot Expansion

The House version expands the Army's food access pilot to all services. This is the closest Congress has come to acknowledging the structural disconnect between military compensation and the cost of feeding a family.

BAS Transparency

New reporting requirements force DoD to explain how BAS is actually allocated and how in-kind food programs are funded. This is less flashy but creates the groundwork for future reforms.

2. PCS Costs and Family Stability

PCS Reimbursement Study (House)

This report is one of the most consequential items in either bill. DoD would be required to survey 10,000+ families, collect actual receipts and unreimbursed costs, examine debt, financial stress, spouse employment impact, and career retention, and review hidden costs like childcare registration, security deposits, and damaged goods.

This is the first time Congress is compelling the Pentagon to quantify the real cost of moving—not the theoretical allowances on paper. The results will shape future allowances for years.

PCS Frequency Study

Another House provision would require DoD to evaluate whether families are being moved too often, and what longer tours might do for retention, spouse employment, and children's schooling. If this survives conference, it's a watershed shift: Congress is asking whether constant churn actually serves military readiness.

Earlier and Expanded Relocation Information

The House version would require families to receive real relocation information at least 45 days before orders take effect, including school enrollment, special education procedures, and mental health supports. For families in EFMP, this is especially significant.

3. Child Care: Cost, Capacity, and Staffing

In-Home Child Care Pilot Extension

The House version extends and expands the pilot program that allows families in designated child care deserts to receive subsidies for in-home providers (like nannies). This is a lifeline for families without access to CDC slots, especially those facing long waitlists or shift-work incompatibilities.

Better Child Care Payments in High-Cost Areas

Another House pilot would raise fee assistance for infants and toddlers by 30% in high-cost regions. This targets the exact ages and locations where families struggle most.

Infant/Toddler Capacity Grants

The House version would authorize grants to expand capacity among civilian providers who agree to reserve slots for military children for 10 years.

Child Care Workforce (Senate)

The Senate bill centers the workforce crisis with higher compensation pilots, professional development, and partnerships with national service programs to staff CDCs. The combined effect could be more open classrooms, shorter waitlists, and more stable care.

4. Leave and Time With Family

Pregnancy Loss & Stillbirth Leave

The House version would broaden bereavement leave to cover pregnancy loss and stillbirth experienced by the member or their spouse. This is a deeply meaningful acknowledgement of a real form of grief military families carry quietly.

Parental Leave Protections

The House version would require DoD to rewrite regulations so members who take the full 12 weeks of parental leave are not penalized on evaluations, and can break up their leave over two years without requesting a waiver.

This directly addresses complaints from families who feared that taking the leave they were entitled to would hurt their careers.

Convalescent Leave for Cadets & Midshipmen

A long-overlooked gap finally closes with access to medical recovery leave for academy students.

5. Education for Military Children

Impact Aid (Both Chambers)

Both bills increase support for local school districts with high concentrations of military kids, especially those with severe disabilities. The House sets specific funding levels; the Senate directs significantly higher totals.

Special Education Reforms (Senate)

The Senate includes detailed requirements to improve staffing, crisis training, turnover tracking, and consistent reading intervention practices across DoDEA. Parents of children with IEPs have long asked for precisely this kind of systemic reform.

Dual Enrollment & Credit Transfers (House)

House language authorizes agreements that allow DoDEA high schoolers to earn college credit while preventing conflicts with state residency rules for tuition.

6. Survivors, Casualty Support & Installation Access

Gold Star Installation Access

The House version would direct DoD and DHS to develop consistent, low-burden procedures for unescorted base access for surviving family members, including commissary and exchange privileges.

Casualty Assistance Program Review

A GAO review and follow-on implementation plan could reshape how the services support families after a loss, including options for a long-term care model.

Dignified Transfer Flexibility

New authority allows waivers during large-scale operations, ensuring remains are still handled with dignity even under constrained conditions.

7. Transition and Spouse Employment

Massive TAP Overhaul (House)

The House version would make TAP more rigorous, more personalized, and more accountable with longer minimum counseling time, stronger financial training, standardized pathways, and required VA/DOL follow-up to at-risk members.

Spouse TAP Pilot

Modeled on TAP but tailored to real spouse barriers—portability, licensing, childcare, remote work, PCS disruptions.

DVOP Expansion to Spouses (Senate)

The Senate version would open intensive employment services to certain surviving and caregiving spouses—the first major expansion of DVOP in decades.