Moving Words – Defense Authorization Act 2025
Timothy Brady
“The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.” – Abraham Lincoln
In September of 2024, members of the American Trucking Associations’ Moving and Storage Conference – made up of independent moving companies, large van lines, agents and industry suppliers – held its annual fly-in to the nation’s capital. A hundred movers from 19 states held approximately a hundred meetings with members of Congress to discuss policies important to the industry. These provisions included in the law were the results of these meeting between members of the moving industry and their Congressional members.
And Congress and the President listened to household movers, by including several of the moving industry’s concerns regarding military moves in the National Defense Authorization Act 2025.
On December 23, 2024, President Biden signed into law H.R. 5009, the “Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025”. This Act authorizes fiscal year appropriations principally for the Department of Defense and Department of Energy national security programs, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, and the Intelligence Community.
The law includes language for which many in the moving industry lobbied:
- implement reforms improving military base access,
- increase security for sensitive military freight and
- continued oversight of the Global Household Goods Contract.
“All of these wins for trucking will benefit motor carriers as well as our national security,” said Ed Gilroy, ATA’s chief advocacy and public affairs officer. “These successes are particularly noteworthy during a deeply divided Congress and were made possible due to our commitment to bipartisanship and deep relationships on both sides of the aisle.”
Clearing security to enter through the gates at U.S. military bases has been a major challenge, especially for household moving crews who regularly move servicemembers. Back in September, the ATA’s Moving and Storage Conference, the Government Freight Conference and their respective members worked with Congressmen John Garamendi (D-California) and Mark Alford (R-Missouri) to secure a provision in the NDAA intended to create a uniform base access process while maintaining robust security standards. This year’s NDAA continues to keep the pressure on the Department of Defense to implement these changes.
For household goods movers, getting onto a base to deliver or pick up military shipments has often been a hassle for van operators even though they’re thoroughly vetted and carry proper identification and authorization. The passage of the National Defense Authorization Act 2025 provides a consistent standard across military installations as a part of the solution.
More than 300,000 military families move each year. This law provides for movers to have consistent access to military bases in order for van operators and crew members to meet the needs of transferring military members, while supporting our nation’s military readiness.
ATA’s Moving and Storage Conference has also been sounding the alarm about flaws in the Global Household Goods Contract Program managed by USTRANSCOM. (The GHC includes the Defense Personal Property Program, which is how military members schedule their moves, track shipments, or file claims.) Conference members warned unless corrective action is taken, military readiness will be degraded and added stress will be placed on servicemembers and their families during relocations. This issue was raised repeatedly during the Moving and Storage Conference Call on Washington in September.
The NDAA2025 included provisions to increase oversight of USTRANSCOM (United States Transportation Command) by requiring:
- An evaluation of the management and oversight of the GHC and the Defense Personal Property Program by November 1, 2025.
- An assessment of the GHC’s initial transition by December 31, 2024.
“If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.” – Winston Churchill
