NORFOLK, Va. - — This week Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Alabama) toured local military installations, including NAS Oceana, military housing in Norfolk as well as Newport News Shipbuilding.
Rogers is chair of the House Armed Services Committee, which Kiggans also sits on.
Members of Congress are debating the next defense spending bill with a particular focus on addressing quality of life concerns.
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Kiggans is pushing for more private military housing and says she has concerns about Oceana, where less than 50-percent of on-base housing is livable.
"It's urgent," Kiggans told News 3. "We're having to send sailors out in town to live in apartments and to find housing. We just don't have enough affordable housing in Hampton Roads in general. Then, we look at prices that have skyrocketed. These guys are living on fixed incomes."
Kiggans says the House version of the defense spending bill spends an additional $5 billion on quality of life issues.
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The House is expected to vote on a defense bill Friday.
Both the Senate and House will still need to reconcile their differences in the overall defense spending bill.
The House bill calls for a 19.5-percent percent raise for junior enlisted service members, but the White House is against such a large raise.
