Each year, the House and Senate armed services committees take up national defense authorization bills. The House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 ( H.R. 4909 ) on May 26, 2016. The Senate passed its NDAA bill ( S. 2943 ) on June 14, 2016. These bills contain numerous provisions that affect military personnel, retirees, and their family members. Provisions in one version are sometimes not included in the other, are treated differently by, or are identical in both versions. Following passage of these bills by the House and by the Senate, a conference committee was convened to resolve the differences between the respective chambers' versions of the bill. The House and Senate agreed to the conference report on December 2, and December 8, 2016, respectively. The President signed the final bill into law ( P.L. 114-328 ) on December 23, 2016. This report is intended to highlight selected personnel-related issues that may generate high levels of congressional and constituent interest. Related CRS products are identified in each section to provide more detailed background information and analysis of the issues. For each issue, a CRS analyst is identified and contact information is provided. Some issues discussed in this report previously were addressed in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 ( P.L. 114-92 ) and discussed in CRS Report R44120, FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act: Selected Military Personnel Issues , coordinated by [author name scrubbed], or other reports. Those issues that were considered previously are designated with an asterisk in the relevant section titles of this report. Background: The authorized active duty end-strengths for FY2001, enacted in the year prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks, were as follows: Army (480,000), Navy (372,642), Marine Corps (172,600), and Air Force (357,000). Over the next decade, in response to the demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress increased the authorized personnel strength of the Army and Marine Corps. However, in recent years Congress began reversing these increases in light of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011, the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan beginning in 2012, and budgetary constraints. End-strengths for the Air Force and Navy have been generally declining since 2001. Authorized end-strengths for FY2016 and FY2017 are in Figure 1 . Discussion: In comparison to FY2016 authorized end-strengths, the Administration's FY2017 budget proposed lowering end-strengths for all services. The Senate bill approved end-strengths identical to the Administration's request. The House bill approved higher end-strengths than the Administration's request. The House-proposed increase was most noticeable for the Army (+5,000 compared to FY2016 authorized end-strength), although the Marine Corps and Air Force increased as well. The House provision reduced Navy end-strength, although this was still higher than the Administration request by 1,715. Section 402 of the House bill adjusted the minimum end-strengths required by 10 U.S.C. §619 to a level equal to the authorized end-strengths set in Section 401. The final bill sets the minimum end-strengths at a level equal to the authorized end-strengths for FY2017. Reference(s): Previously discussed in CRS Report R44120, FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act: Selected Military Personnel Issues , coordinated by [author name scrubbed] and similar reports from earlier years. CRS Point of Contact: [author name scrubbed], x[phone number scrubbed]. Background: The overall authorized end-strength of the Selected Reserves has declined by about 6% over the past 15 years (874,664 in FY2001 versus 818,000 in FY2016). Much of this can be attributed to the reductions in Navy Reserve strength during this period. There were also modest shifts in strength for some other components of the Selected Reserve. The authorized end-strengths for the Selected Reserve in FY2016 and FY2017 are in Figure 2 . Discussion: For FY2017, the Administration requested a reduction in authorized Selected Reserves end-strength for four of the seven reserve components and increases for two. The Senate bill proposed end-strengths identical to the Administration request. The end-strengths authorized in the House bill were identical to the Administration's request for all but the Army National Guard and Army Reserve. The House bill would have increased the Army National Guard's end-strength to 350,000 and the Army Reserve's end-strength to 205,000. Reference(s): Previously discussed in CRS Report R44120, FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act: Selected Military Personnel Issues , coordinated by [author name scrubbed] and similar reports from earlier years. CRS Point of Contact: [author name scrubbed], x[phone number scrubbed]. Background: Increasing concern with the overall cost of military personnel, combined with long-standing congressional interest in recruiting and retaining high-quality personnel to serve in the all-volunteer military, have continued to focus interest on the military pay raise. Section 1009 of Title 37 United States Code provides a permanent formula for an automatic annual increase in basic pay that is indexed to the annual increase in the Employment Cost Index (ECI). The statutory formula stipulates that the increase in basic pay for 2017 will be 2.1% unless either (1) Congress passes a law to provide otherwise; or (2) the President specifies an alternative pay adjustment under subsection (e) of 37 U.S.C. §1009. Increases in basic pay are typically effective at the start of the calendar year, rather than the fiscal year. Congress has not included a provision specifying an increase in basic pay for the past three years (2014-2016). For each of these years the President invoked the alternative pay adjustment authority of 37 U.S.C. §1009(e), setting the pay raise below the ECI in each case. The FY2017 President's Budget requested a 1.6% military pay raise, lower than the statutory formula of 2.1%. Discussion: The House bill would have required that the statutory formula go into effect, resulting in a 2.1% pay raise for all servicemembers effective on January 1, 2017. The Senate bill would have waived the automatic adjustment to basic pay specified in 37 U.S.C. §1009 and provided an increase of 1.6%, effective January 1, 2017. The enacted bill waived the automatic adjustment and specified an increase of 2.1%, identical to the automatic adjustment, effective January 1, 2017. Reference(s): For an explanation of the pay raise process and historical increases, see CRS In Focus IF10260, Defense Primer: Military Pay Raise , by [author name scrubbed]. Previously discussed in CRS Report R44120, FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act: Selected Military Personnel Issues , coordinated by [author name scrubbed], and similar reports from earlier years. CRS Point of Contact: [author name scrubbed], x[phone number scrubbed]. Background: Under current law, all servicemembers are entitled to either government-provided housing or a housing allowance. For those living in the United States, the housing allowance is known as Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH). BAH is based on three factors: paygrade (rank), geographic location, and whether the servicemember has dependents. Paygrade and dependency status are used to determine the type of accommodation—or "housing profile"—appropriate for the servicemember (for example, one-bedroom apartment, two-bedroom townhouse, or three-bedroom single family home). Geographic location is used to determine the average costs associated with each of these housing profiles. BAH rates are higher in some areas than others, but servicemembers of similar paygrade and dependent status should be able to pay for roughly comparable housing regardless of their duty location. Discussion: The Senate bill would have altered the way in which BAH was calculated in several ways. For covered servicemembers, BAH would be based only on geographic location and paygrade of recipient, eliminating dependents as a factor in the rate determination. The Senate bill would have based BAH on actual servicemember housing expenditures up to a maximum amount for a given location/paygrade, rather than the current specified rate. The provision would also have changed how BAH was paid to servicemembers who share the same living quarters, reducing it in relationship to the number of people sharing the quarters. That is, if two or more servicemembers were to occupy the same housing, the amount of the allowance could not exceed "the amount of the allowance otherwise payable to such member ... divided by ... the total number of members occupying such housing." The new formula would have applied to certain members of the Armed Forces beginning on January 1, 2018. Members covered by the new provision would include servicemembers who first become entitled to basic pay on or after January 1, 2018, certain reserve and retired personnel ordered to active duty, and a servicemember entitled to the existing BAH on December 31, 2017, "within a particular housing or overseas area" and who "after that date, loses uninterrupted eligibility to receive a basic allowance for housing within an area of the United States or an area outside the United States, as applicable." The Senate provision also would have required the Secretary of Defense to submit the proposed regulations to implement this provision to the congressional defense committees by March 31, 2017. The House bill did not contain a similar provision.