The battle over military retirement benefits in the budget deal was the first skirmish in a larger compensation war, and next year's outcome could determine the fate of long-protected military compensation programs.
Budget experts and veterans groups say the retirement benefits fight will serve as a test case to see what appetite there is on Capitol Hill to actually cut military compensation costs — and how much blowback will come from those efforts.“There’s no doubt that this is a little bit of a weather vane, a litmus test as to what the veterans and military communities’ tolerance is going to be for this, and what types of cuts we’re going to be willing to tolerate and what types of cuts we're going to fight on,” said Alex Nicholson, legislative director for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).“And what you saw I think from us was an absolute tip of the iceberg,” he said.
they talk of promises broken no party has more than this current republicans, they promised jobs 2010 you bit now we have our present condition and obstruction. they promised to take care of vets who risk and died for their fellow countrymen not right wing politics, they claim religious motivations, if so why are we reading this now?
Compensation costs had long been off limits for budget cutters, but military leaders have begun calling for reforms to retirement benefits, TRICARE and more after dealing with the dual problems of budget squeezes from sequestration and ballooning personnel costs.Congress had blocked initial attempts to cut into compensation — like TRICARE fee increases — until the budget deal reached this month by House and Senate Budget Chairmen Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).The deal provided the Pentagon $31 billion in sequester relief, but it also included $6 billion in savings through cutting the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for working-age military retirees.The retirement benefit cuts caught service and veterans groups by surprise. They launched a full-court press to drum up opposition to the deal, and were joined by defense hawks who loathe sequester but nevertheless opposed the agreement due to the military retirement cuts.
they obviously know but don't care about those of us who put it on the line not so they can screw us but to fulfill what we and the world were told as the best country in the world, we got hosed. they now call it te richest country in the world while they vacation and stand idly by and let them starve and deny them work while claiming concern and their focus ob jobs. has anyone you know gotten a job that can be directly attributed to republican effort?
there is no Semper fi in right wing congress just always misleading
