Sponsors
Introduced July 17, 2025 by William R. Timmons · Last progress July 17, 2025
The bill offers targeted, tax-free cash incentives to boost service-member fitness and readiness and increases transparency, but it raises DoD personnel costs, slightly reduces federal revenue, and risks unfair or harmful outcomes for members with medical limitations or across different services.
Members of the Armed Forces who achieve high physical fitness scores receive one-time cash bonuses ($1,000 for perfect scores; $500 for 90–99.99%), increasing take-home pay for qualifying service members.
Tying a cash incentive to fitness may encourage greater physical readiness, potentially lowering musculoskeletal injuries and medical discharges and improving unit readiness.
The bonuses are excluded from taxable income, so recipients keep the full payment without federal income tax on those amounts.
The program increases Department of Defense personnel costs and could require reallocation of defense funds or higher spending, imposing a budgetary cost on taxpayers depending on uptake.
Tying pay to fitness-test performance could disadvantage service members with medical limitations or temporary conditions, risking adverse morale, career impacts, or unequal treatment if accommodations are inadequate.
Excluding the bonus from taxable income modestly reduces IRS revenue, a small cost to the federal budget.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates $1,000/$500 recurring fitness bonuses for service members who score ≥90% on service fitness tests and makes those bonuses tax-free.
Creates a recurring cash bonus program that pays service members who earn at least 90% on a Secretary-determined military fitness test: $1,000 for a perfect score and $500 for scores from 90%–99.99%. Requires each military service Secretary to report annually to congressional defense committees on counts and costs, and excludes these bonuses from taxable income for taxable years ending after enactment.