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Cuts for military retirees costing GOP support for budget deal
Washington Post ^ | 16 Dec 13 | Josh Hicks

Posted on 12/16/2013 10:07:17 AM PST by SkyPilot

Edited on 12/16/2013 10:11:53 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]

GOP lawmakers and military groups have lined up against the bipartisan budget deal making its way through Congress because of a provision that would trim pay for young military retirees.

In a joint statement last week, Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said they cannot support the legislation because it

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: budget; military; senate; sequester
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To: SkyPilot

So, as this wonderful “savings” of $6 billion is achieved on the backs of those who served 20+ years in uniform for this country, much more will be pissed away in favor of welfare checks, EBT cards and other incentives to unproductivity.

Ryan is showing how convenient life is for congressturds whose constituencies don’t include large numbers of military people.


21 posted on 12/16/2013 11:20:05 AM PST by ScottinVA (Obama is so far in over his head, even his ears are beneath the water level.)
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To: Portcall24
Why not dig up the graves at Arlington and sell the skeltons as novety items. Then turn the hillsides there into a high rise development overlooking that great idol in the most wonderful city on earth, The Capitol. We could raise a lot of money by doing that.

Good suggestion.

They could also bottle the tears of children and spouses who have to live year after year without their mom or dad because they are serving their 5th deployment to a combat zone, and sell the bottled tears to pay for ObamaPhones.


22 posted on 12/16/2013 11:22:37 AM PST by SkyPilot
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To: LTC.Ret

Replacing snivellers is exactly what I’m trying to do. And I start by asking simple questions. Simple. Emphasize simple. My own guy Walden voted for the current budget sellout. He’s been decent but on thin ice lately because of that genetic penchant for spending other peoples money. I asked the alleged conservative fella running against him how he would have voted on the current clusterflock. He gave me a heckuva detailed answer about how he didn’t like the bill but wouldn’t say that he’d vote against it. I told him the answer I was looking for is “NO “. So I haven’t written him a check either. Finding people who have passed math, logic, english, truth, and/or knowledge in general classes is difficult. People who run for public office seem to me to be what I call one-dimensional. With any luck they know one field sort-of. I’ll support the ones who are willing to learn, especially that the stuff the country is doing now is not sustainable and are willing to vote to eliminate krap, like , oh, say the EPA, for example, mostly und so vieter-————————Semper Fi


23 posted on 12/16/2013 11:27:51 AM PST by cherokee1 (skip the names---just kick the buttz)
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To: SZonian; ScottinVA; Jim Robinson
Check this news story that just came out today. I thought it was satire.....it isn't.

Schumer: Veterans Must Face Budget Cuts, Too

"They're going to have to pay a tiny, little bit into it, which they never have," he added. But Schumer maintained members of Congress should not be forced to take a pay cut. He said they have already sacrificed, since they have not seen a pay raise "in a long time," and explained most of them are paying more for healthcare insurance. "We (members of Congress) have taken pretty big cuts," he said.

The Retired Military Officers Association estimates the average military retiree will lose 20% of the value of their hard earned pension...something Chuck Schumer says is "just a little bit."

But, we are not cutting the hundreds of Billions that ObamaCare subsidies that we are just now learning are a ticking time bomb. We are not cutting the 75+ welfare programs that give money away with both fists.

We truly live in evil days.

24 posted on 12/16/2013 11:28:41 AM PST by SkyPilot
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To: livius

“You can retire after 20 years, and many people retire at the age of 40, get their full pension, and of course go on to a second career. This is also true in many civilian jobs, too (law enforcement, education, etc.).”

It’s a shame, isn’t it, that it’s so hard to get a pension of any kind in the non-governmental sector of the economy. The private sector said it costs too much and just bailed, leaving most of us facing a precarious old age. Nice to see that Washington continues to look after its own.


25 posted on 12/16/2013 11:31:29 AM PST by paristexas
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To: SkyPilot

When are they going to cut all the bloated obscene local government pensions?

Either that or it eventually chokes off what is left of private sector America.


26 posted on 12/16/2013 11:33:20 AM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: Jim Robinson

Time for a Bonus Army March II?


27 posted on 12/16/2013 11:33:56 AM PST by Covenantor ("Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern." Chesterton)
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To: TruthBeforeAll

It doesn’t help when so-called Conservatives conveniently “forget” that an INCREASE in military pensions is NOT a “cut” — anywhere but Washington, DC.

And really now! Why should the cost-of-living adjustment used to increase military pensions factor in over weighted “housing costs”? Or do you think military retirees buy new houses each and every year?

Obama’s trolls want to make Conservatives look just as selfish and grasping as “Progressives” are.

Let’s be smart enough to NOT play the role they’re trying to assign to us....


28 posted on 12/16/2013 11:36:06 AM PST by pfony1 (Add just 6 GOP Senators and we "bury" Harry)
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To: TruthBeforeAll

It doesn’t help when so-called Conservatives conveniently “forget” that an INCREASE in military pensions is NOT a “cut” — anywhere but Washington, DC.

And really now! Why should the cost-of-living adjustment used to increase military pensions factor in over weighted “housing costs”? Or do you think military retirees buy new houses each and every year?

Obama’s trolls want to make Conservatives look just as selfish and grasping as “Progressives” are.

Let’s be smart enough to NOT play the role they’re trying to assign to us....


29 posted on 12/16/2013 11:36:39 AM PST by pfony1 (Add just 6 GOP Senators and we "bury" Harry)
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To: LTC.Ret

OK, Colonel——I checked out the bio, great bio, but couldn’t find the answer. How WOULD Dr. Pam have voted on the Ryan/Murray budget clusterbunch? Answer only needs one word.——Semper Fi


30 posted on 12/16/2013 11:45:23 AM PST by cherokee1 (skip the names---just kick the buttz)
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To: cherokee1

Nay.


31 posted on 12/16/2013 12:13:46 PM PST by LTC.Ret (You'd think I would know better than to volunteer!!! www.sendmetocongress.us)
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To: SkyPilot

This vet went in for a number of complex reasons, but getting benefits for my service was never one of them.

Anyway, anybody old enough to go into the service ought to be old enough to know not to trust the promises of the government. Anybody who has served should have learned this in spades.

And quite frankly, what in the world’s with this retirement after twenty years thing? Go in at twenty, roughly, “retire” at forty?! Who the heck else retires at forty, and why? You retire when you get old - isn’t that it? Isn’t that what retirement is all about? At forty a Chief or Captain is too old to do his job? Is that it?

What a scam. Reminds me of the union mentality.


32 posted on 12/16/2013 12:13:49 PM PST by dagogo redux (A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)
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To: cherokee1

And the long version:

We all know that in Washington, a spending cut is just a decrease in the expected growth of Federal spending, not a true decrease in actual spending. What good are even those “spending cuts” if we brag about them one year and then effectively repeal them the next year? We continue to go deeper and deeper in debt as a country, stealing their futures from our children and grandchildren.

As we have seen in the last few days, Congress continues to pass bills that promise billions of dollars in spending cuts over the next 5-10-20 years, and then break those promises either in the next budget compromise, or by acting above the law and failing to implement the bill as passed. The Ryan-Murray Budget Compromise broke the spending cuts promised by the sequester, for a promise to cut spending somewhere else down the road.

As happily reported by the Center for American Progress, a Progressive think tank, “Many of the cuts that were legally made this year [by sequester] have not actually been implemented yet. The sequester cut $85 billion from the government’s budget authority in 2013 and will cut $109 billion in 2014 -— again, the sequester reduced actual outlays in 2013 by $42 billion, and in 2014, it is expected to reduce outlays by $89 billion.”

Plus, the compromise increased federal “fees” so they didn’t have to increase taxes -— believing, I guess, that Americans are too gullible to notice that the net is exactly the same as more dollars flow out of our wallets to the Washington spendthrifts.

They are spinning this one hard, but they can’t spin away what they have actually done.

I don’t think true Conservatives are falling for the sneaky Washington wordplay -— they are the ones who voted against this bill. But those who only claim to be conservative because it helps them keep getting re-elected are using deception to pick our pockets in order to fund their spending addiction. Incumbent career politicians need rehab, NOT re-election!!!

But the most egregious part of this compromise is that the military -— our soldiers and veterans -— were singled out to receive a cut in their promised retirement pay COLA, while current Federal employees and other Federal payment recipients, including Congress, will retain unchanged pay and benefits.

For all the reasons above and others, I could not have in good conscience voted in favor of this bill, and would have been a “Nay” in the final count.


33 posted on 12/16/2013 12:24:54 PM PST by LTC.Ret (You'd think I would know better than to volunteer!!! www.sendmetocongress.us)
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To: dragnet2

“When are they going to cut all the bloated obscene local government pensions?”

When they go bankrupt. Of course before that they will tax businesses and residents until they move out, leaving a desolate shell of a city. See Detroit.


34 posted on 12/16/2013 12:26:55 PM PST by Hugin
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To: LTC.Ret

Thanx, Colonel, I appreciate the effort. Paypal or mailing address?


35 posted on 12/16/2013 1:02:30 PM PST by cherokee1 (skip the names---just kick the buttz)
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To: SkyPilot

This part of the agreement really had me PO’d. They should NEVER touch military pay or benefits!! I don’t understand why Ryan thought this was in any way acceptable.


36 posted on 12/16/2013 1:07:47 PM PST by Purrcival (Four more years of OBAMA??????????? I hope this country can survive.)
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To: cherokee1

No PayPal account set up, so mailing address will do. And THANK YOU!!!


37 posted on 12/16/2013 1:17:17 PM PST by LTC.Ret (You'd think I would know better than to volunteer!!! www.sendmetocongress.us)
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To: paristexas

The point is that 40-yr olds don’t retire. I know all sorts of double-dippers - people who did 20 years in a military or civil service job and now collect a full pension, while also collecting a full pension for the job (very often civil service) that they did for the next 20 years until they reached actual retirement age.

This shouldn’t be the case. Somebody who’s been in combat perhaps should get some special bonus, although those people rarely last 20 years. But an automatic full pension after 20 years is ridiculous and also encourages skilled people to leave the job.


38 posted on 12/16/2013 1:18:21 PM PST by livius
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To: SkyPilot
"Ryan has lost his mind."

All of Ryan's attempts at budgeting have been wrong headed.

We need to create jobs to address the budget. We could do that by restoring the import tariffs and bringing industry back to America.

We don't need to make cuts to our military pay or cut entitlements. Stuff like this allows the democrats to paint the GOP as against the poor and common man.

39 posted on 12/16/2013 1:22:44 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: SkyPilot
"Ryan has lost his mind."

All of Ryan's attempts at budgeting have been wrong headed.

We need to create jobs to address the budget. We could do that by restoring the import tariffs and bringing industry back to America.

We don't need to make cuts to our military pay or cut entitlements. Stuff like this allows the democrats to paint the GOP as against the poor and common man.

40 posted on 12/16/2013 1:22:44 PM PST by DannyTN
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