Concerned Veterans for America; Budget Bust

Our friends at Concerned Veterans for America send us this video in regards to the Defense budget bouncing around in Congress today;

Arlington, Va.—A new video ad produced by Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) criticizes the recent Congressional budget deal for slashing retirement pay for military veterans while avoiding needed reform to reduce runaway government spending and debt.

The 30-second ad notes that the spending deal agreed to last week by Republican and Democratic budget leaders in Congress fails to address the nation’s unsustainable spending and towering $17 trillion debt. At the same time, the deal finds only marginal savings by reducing payments to military retirees.

According to a December 16 Washington Post report, the budget deal “would reduce cost-of-living adjustments for working-age military retirees by 1 percent starting in December 2015.” The report adds that the move would save only about $6 billion, while the overall budget deal ignores rampant overspending and needed reforms in other categories—like entitlement programs and the tax code.

The ad is currently running in Washington, DC on Fox News Channel, CNN, and MSNBC and will run through this week.

“Given our more than $17 trillion debt, there’s a broad consensus that Washington cannot continue spending at the current rate,” said Pete Hegseth, CEO of CVA. “Unfortunately, instead of making the tough choices to get spending under control by tackling areas where spending is rampant and unsustainable, Congress decided it would be easier to take money out of the pockets of the men and women who have fought and served in defense of our nation. Not only does this deal not address America’s spending addiction, it egregiously breaks faith with America’s military veterans.

“The deal shows a stunning lack of respect for the contributions of America’s heroes, and reflects the dispiriting reality that our leaders in Washington remain unwilling to tackle the long-term debt that poses such a serious threat to our nation’s future,” Hegseth concluded.

The ad concludes with a call for viewers to contact their senators and demand real spending reform.

There’s also an amendment to the budget from Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, calling for a restoration of our full benefits. The link was sent to us by ROS;

“These proposed cuts represent a broken promise to those who have voluntarily chosen to serve our nation in the military,” Senator Roger Wicker said. “This is not a matter of nickels and dimes for our retired and active-duty troops. It is unfair to ask the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States to shoulder the full weight of these cuts. It is not too late for Congress to keep its promises to our military personnel. I urge my colleagues to join us in passing this amendment without delay.”

“Our men and women in uniform have served admirably during some of our nation’s most troubling times,” said Senator Lindsey Graham. “They deserve more from us in their retirement than this agreement provides. Simply put, it doesn’t do enough to protect those who have spent their lives protecting our nation.”

“America’s servicemembers have already sacrificed so much on our behalf and Congress should not put additional burdens on them even as it spares federal civilian workers from the same treatment,” said Senator Jeff Sessions. “Certainly we should instead scour the federal budget for other available savings. Removing this unbalanced treatment of our military retirees ought to be one of the key actions we should take before this legislation moves forward. In fact, greater savings than this can be achieved by passing a legislative fix recommended by the Inspector General of the U.S. Treasury that would stop the IRS from improperly providing tax credits to illegal aliens.”

“Under the Obama Administration, our military has borne the cost of Washington’s fiscal recklessness time and time again,” said Senator Jim Inhofe. “The Ryan-Murray budget deal cherry picked once again from our men and women in uniform to strip away from the retirement benefit they have earned by their service. Last year Congress established the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission to provide a comprehensive review of opportunities for meaningful pay and benefit reform. That Commission was told they could recommend any option as long as it grandfathered those who currently serve and those who are currently retired. Congress should keep its promises and should do everything possible to maintain the sacred vow our country has made to those who have honorably served our country.”

“This amendment addresses our continued concern with further cuts to benefits for retired and active duty military personnel,” said Senator Thad Cochran. “There is no justification in first turning to those who have served or are serving in the military and asking them to make new sacrifices.”

From the Washington Post; the VSOs are on the job;

The Military Officers Association of America and other groups are not waiting. As of Friday, MOAA said it had generated more than 92,000 messages to Capitol Hill. The Senate is prepared to take up the measure this week.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars on Friday called on its “nearly 2 million VFW and Auxiliary members and veterans advocates everywhere to voice their opposition to the COLA proposal by connecting with their senators,” according to a VFW news release.

“Although Iraq is over and the war in Afghanistan is winding down, we can’t allow Congress to dismantle the programs they created over the past 12 years,” said VFW National Commander William A. Thien.

Other than increasing benefits over the years, the military retirement program has been unchanged since World War II.

So, what’s the big hurry now? Well, other than the fact that veterans are a smaller demographic than the total of the Democrat constituency? And Republicans don’t mind selling veterans down the river to look like they’re compromising.

Category: Congress sucks