From Breitbart.com:
Paul Ryan Budget Deal Cuts Military Pensions to Pay for Spending Increases
by Matthew Boyle
The budget deal that House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) made with Senate Budget Committee chairwoman Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) cuts military pensions to pay for immediate spending increases, CNN Money’s Jennifer Liberto reports. The bill raises spending by $63 billion over the next couple of years.
“The deal cuts pension cost of living raises by 1 percentage point for military retirees who aren’t disabled and not yet 62 years old,” Liberto wrote last week.
Cost of living hikes are automatic raises intended to keep up with inflation. The problem is, most military retirees are a lot younger than private sector retirees. They enlist in their 20’s and retire in their 40’s. Very few stay on till they are 62–those who may be lucky enough to escape major injuries at war, or rose to higher echelons in the military system.
Any of my veteran readers starting to gnash their teeth yet, chipping enamel? Well, read on, because here come the numbers:
Liberto went on to note that the cuts to military pensions are far more significant because of how early military members retire. “When compounded, the 1 percentage point cut could result in much more than a 20% reduction in retiree pensions over 20 years,” Liberto wrote. “The average cut in pension payouts, including compounding interest, for a retiring Army Sergeant first class, would be about $3,700 each year, according to the Military Officers Association of America. Over 20 years, the total losses could balloon to more than $80,000.”
Let me repeat: “Over 20 years, the total losses could balloon to more than $80,000.”
Why yes, that’s certainly a perfect way to treat our US military personnel, is it not? And there are FIFTEEN-HUNDRED PAGES in the bill which, of course, no one will actually READ. Republicans, have you learned nothing? Is this not the Limited Liability GOP on display? Is this not a replay of ObakaKare?
I already wrote about the GOP continuously warring on Conservatives, by way of what I term the Old School/Old Guard Republicans (OSOGRs).
It is shameful what the House GOP wants to do to the military retiree benefits. Shameful and disgusting. It is a betrayal of the Republican base. Republicans want to put the $18 trillion dollar deficit on the backs of military veterans. Is the US military, as far as the GOP is concerned, nothing more than budgetary “low hanging fruit”?
More pointedly, Hugh Hewitt weighed in on this bill via his Tuesday radio show. Truth Revolt covers it here and below (thanks to Jeff Dunetz):
Hugh Hewitt Slams Paul Ryan For Reduction of Benefits For Military Vets
“The House GOP steps up and says the only group that we are going to force to pay for their own readiness will be the active duty military”
On his Tuesday night radio program, Hugh Hewitt confronted House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) for singling out those in uniform today or those who retired after 20+ years of military service as the only ones in government to have their retirements cut in the latest budget deal.
The radio host rejected Rep. Ryan’s points totally. Hewitt pointed out that the military was the first and only group to take a cut in this budget.
Some of these men and women in the thirteen years we have been at war have been deployed six, seven, eight, times have missed dozens of Christmases, birthdays and birth of their child, and the Congress steps up, the House GOP steps up and says the only group that we are going to force to pay for their own readiness will be the active duty military. Because I heard you say very clearly, we need to maintain readiness so in order to get them the jet fuel they need to fly off the aircraft carriers, or the bullets they need to train, or the camouflage they need to move around at night, we have to cut their future retirement.
This will destroy retention, it will destroy morale, and it is deeply unfair to the American military which has sacrificed more than anyone else, and you guys put them first. And now you are rushing it through so the people who are outraged like me cannot get on the phones at 202-225-3121 and encourage the House Republican Caucus to absolutely reject this deal.
And so here we go:
Republicans savaging the US Military, before anyone else.
Did I hear one word about Paul Ryan’s House members taking a cut? The Senate taking a cut? Staffers taking a cut? Staffers only just now have to — some of them — adhere to ObakaKare. And those that have done so are bailing.
This is a focused, tightly focused cut on the US military.
The GOP: you can clearly, now, go straight to Hell. You are the same as Demorats to me. Prove me wrong.
BZ
P.S.
Thanks to CLA for the top graphic.
The House voted Wednesday to screw the military.
One widely supported provision would roll back a reduction in annual cost-of-living increases for wounded military personnel who retire early or for their surviving spouses. That language was part of the savings included in the budget compromise by Ryan and Murray enacted last month, money that was used to help soften cuts in other programs.