Congress expands military pension fund to cover NOAA, PHS officers—cost unclear.
H.R. 8732 — Pensions for Retired Uniformed Servicemembers Act · Filed by Jamie Raskin (D-MD) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced May 11, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill expands the Department of Defense Military Retirement Fund to cover retired members of the NOAA Commissioned Corps and the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, allowing their pensions to be paid from the same federal fund that pays military retirees. It requires the Board of Actuaries to calculate the unfunded liability for past service by NOAA and PHS officers and establish a payment schedule for the departments to cover those costs.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to extend military retirement fund eligibility to two additional federal uniformed corps (NOAA and PHS), creating a new fiscal obligation for the federal government to pay retroactive pension liabilities.
What the text implies
- The bill creates an unfunded liability that must be calculated and amortized by January 1, 2027, but does not specify the total cost or the amortization period, leaving the fiscal impact opaque to Congress and the public.
- By consolidating NOAA and PHS officer pensions into the Defense Military Retirement Fund, the bill obscures the true cost of those programs within the defense budget, potentially making it harder to track civilian agency pension obligations.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
NOAA Commissioned Corps officers (current and retired); Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers (current and retired)