Sponsors
The bill boosts take-home pay for fit service members and adds reporting for oversight, while creating modest fiscal costs and potential morale disparities within the force.
Active-duty service members who score 90% or higher on required fitness tests receive $500–$1,000 per test paid tax-free, increasing take-home pay for eligible military personnel.
Congress and oversight bodies receive annual readiness-reporting data on award counts, costs, and the program's reported impacts on military readiness, improving transparency and congressional oversight.
Taxpayers and the Department of Defense face higher recurring personnel costs from paying cash bonuses, which could raise budgetary pressure on defense spending and other priorities.
Excluding these bonuses from taxable income reduces federal tax receipts compared with treating them as taxable pay, imposing a fiscal trade-off for federal budgets and services.
Service members in specialties or with medical exemptions who have less opportunity to earn the fitness bonuses may experience perceived unfairness or morale disparities, potentially affecting unit cohesion.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Provides recurring cash bonuses ($1,000 for perfect scores, $500 for 90%+) to pay-eligible service members and excludes those bonuses from taxable income.
Introduced July 17, 2025 by William R. Timmons · Last progress July 17, 2025
Creates a recurring cash bonus for members of the Armed Forces who meet a high standard on a Department of Defense physical fitness test: $1,000 for a perfect score and $500 for scores of 90% or higher. It requires each military service to report annually to congressional defense committees on how many bonuses were paid and the total cost, and it excludes these bonuses from recipients' taxable income for tax years ending after enactment.