To authorize the Secretary of Defense to establish a pilot program to assess the efficacy of providing junior enlisted members of the Armed Forces a monthly coupon for use in procuring food at commissaries.

Monthly commissary coupons for junior enlisted

This bill would authorize a one-year pilot to give monthly commissary coupons to junior enlisted members. The pilot would run at up to two military installations the Secretary of Defense selects. The Secretary would set the coupon amount. Coupons would be usable only to buy food at commissaries and could not buy alcohol or tobacco or pay deposit fees above any State reimbursement. Coupons would supplement, not replace, the basic allowance for subsistence (37 U.S.C. §402) or any in-kind meal program. The Secretary would consider factors like lots of unaccompanied housing, high enlisted-to-officer ratios, functioning kitchens, commissary proximity, low dining-facility attendance or satisfaction, and commissary offerings of ready-made nutritious food when picking bases. The pilot would end no later than one year after it starts. Within 90 days after the pilot ends, the Secretary would report to the congressional defense committees on coupon use, member satisfaction, effects on commissary and dining-facility use, historical dining-facility metrics (including Interactive Customer Evaluation complaints), and whether the pilot reduced food insecurity and increased nutritious options.