The defense authorization bill, which directs Pentagon policy, provides a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others.

President Biden on Monday signed into law a defense bill that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China's growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion despite his objections to language stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children in military families.

Biden signed the bill, officially known as the H.R. 5009 or the “ Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 ,” despite “strongly opposing” the provision denying the expenditure of funds for gender-affirming care for children.

A massive raise for junior enlisted troops next year and a ban on some health care for transgender children of service members are now law after President Joe Biden signed the annual defense policy bill on Monday.

The National Defense Authorization Act has a provision barring the military's insurance from covering gender-affirming care for service members' children.