04.01.24

Hoeven: Air Force To Provide Cold Weather Pay for Servicemembers at Minot AFB, Grand Forks AFB And Cavalier Space Station

Senator, Colleagues Pressed AF Secretary to Implement Provision Passed in NDAA

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today announced that the U.S. Air Force is introducing cold weather special duty pay for eligible Airmen and Guardians assigned to bases where the temperature is expected to drop below minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit, including Minot Air Force Base, Grand Forks Air Force Base and Cavalier Space Station in North Dakota. The Air Force is scheduled to implement the pay beginning July 1, 2024, and will announce specifics regarding the incentive pay amount, as well as other details closer to that date. The cold weather pay is designed to help offset the costs of certain items, including cold weather gear, snow tires, engine block heaters and emergency winter car kits.

“Congress authorized this special pay to help our servicemembers and their families shoulder financial burdens unique to living in colder temperatures, including winter clothes and snow tires,” said Hoeven. “We’ve been pressing the Air Force to provide this cold weather pay and will continue working to ensure that the Air Force implements this policy in a way that meets the needs of those serving our country at bases in Minot, Grand Forks and Cavalier.”

Last month, Hoeven sent a bipartisan letter, led by Senator Lisa Murkowski, to U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall pressing the Air Force to implement the cold weather special duty pay, which is a result of provisions Hoeven supported in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to authorize special duty pay for cold weather locations and the 2024 NDAA, which clarified the parameters to qualify an area as a cold-weather location.

Text of the full letter to the Air Force Secretary can be found here. 

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