is not available and the government cannot otherwise make meals available, may be entitled to BAS II. The rate for BAS II is fixed at twice the rate for standard enlisted BAS. Effective 10 February 2006, the Navy authorized the payment of BAS II. Effective 1 October 2010, the Air Force authorized payment of BAS II to members at specific locations. Overseas housing allowance (OHA) is BAH for servicemembers stationed OCONUS. This differs from BAH in that it reimburses actual housing costs below a certain amount, and therefore servicemembers cannot save any extra pay from this allowance. Clothing allowance: Comes to most members on an annual basis to buy and replace required uniforms. The amount varies by service and rank. (Typically, commissioned officers receive no clothing replacement allowance.) Pay raises U.S. code dictates a rather complex equation for military pay raises, based on the Employment Cost Index, a measure compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to track the costs of labor for businesses. Military pay increases by "the percentage (rounded to the nearest one-tenth of one percent) by which the ECI for the base quarter of the year before the preceding year exceeds the ECI for the base quarter of the second year before the preceding calendar year (if at all)". Specifically, the code states that the ECI for wages and salaries of private industry workers will be used. Essentially, when the ECI goes up, so does military pay, so that military salaries do not fall behind civilian ones. For example, because the ECI increased 1.4 percent in 2009, that was the proposed military pay raise in 2010. The raise is unusually low — the smallest percent change since the series began in 1975, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The president is empowered to suggest a lower or higher pay raise, which must be ratified by Congress, in extenuating circumstances like an economic crisis. Congress can also vote to change the president's proposed decrease or increase. For the 2011 budget, the House Armed Services Committee suggested boosting the 1.4 percent raise. But Defense personnel officials resisted, saying they would rather that money be used for other programs that benefit military families. After an 11-year string of increases that slightly exceeded average private sector annual raises, Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick said that, "We actually think we have a surplus in