April 2010 Navy
By CAPT Ike Puzon, USN (Ret)
Recently, President Obama signed an executive order creating the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform — what most people in D.C. are calling the “debt commission.” The actual name of the commission tells a story! Advocates of the commission hope that it will help create a bipartisan solution to a politically charged and difficult issue—much like the Base Realignment & Closure Commission (BRAC) helped the government close “unnecessary” military bases since the end of the Cold War.
This National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform will have 18 members and will be charged with creating recommendations for Congress to balance the budget, excluding interest on the debt, by 2015. For those interested, Congress is considering the FY 2011 budget at this time. Any recommendations must be approved by at least 14 of the 18 members. Six members, including at least two non- Democrats, will be appointed by the President, and the rest will be appointed by Congress, with an even split between appointments by the majority and the minority. In theory, Congress will take up the recommendations at the end of the year.
The commission cochairs have been named: former Wyoming Republican Senator Alan Simpson, and Erskine Bowles, President Clinton’s former Chief of Staff. At this point, there’s no indication what the commission will recommend. But this is not the first “debt commission” wary of past debtcutting initiatives. All government programs will be subject to scrutiny, including defense expenditures, Medicare, Social Security, federal retirement programs, and VA benefits. Additionally, the commission will consider whether changes need to be made in the U.S. tax code.
AUSN is very concerned about the impact this commission could have on the entire military and veteran communities. Department of Defense budget, while one of the larger budget items presently, is there for a reason – war and our nation’s defense. The compensation to the 1.2 million active duty members and 1.3 million reserve members makes up only a very small portion of the federal budget each year, yet it tends to be the first place many people look to make cuts.
Many have praised Simpson and Bowles as “respected and even-handed Washington professionals.” But, in the past — especially during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s — federal retiree benefits faced cuts while other entitlement programs were untouched.
It’s easier to take from 2.5 million military members, rather than 40 million Social Security beneficiaries. It appears easier to provide for 30 million non-American citizens than to make sure earned benefits of military members and veterans are protected. History shows that after every major military event in the US, military and veteran budgets take a serious cut! In an environment where less than 18 percent of Congress has served in the military, you should watch this commission very closely. AUSN will follow the commission closely and call on you to let your voice be heard.
What does this mean to you? If you are retired, you will see serious debates on the benefits that service members and veterans earn through service and sacrifice. If you are actively serving, there will be serious suggested changes that will challenge you. During these depressed economic times, it is somewhat easy to fill the ranks of our military with highly qualified and dedicated people. Once a commission makes recommendations, Congress can and may act on those recommendations. I believe it will be extremely difficult to fill the ranks of the military and also more challenging to retain qualified personnel.
For those that do not know about the 1994 commission, that commission was cochaired by Senator Bob Kerry (D-NB) and former Senator John Danforth (R-MO). There was no consensus on that commission on any issue or recommendation. Therefore, the commission offered their own recommendations. From those proposals, none of the individual proposals were endorsed. That 1994 commission never did what they where supposed to do: evaluate the purpose and merits of each of the multitude of entitlement programs and document the savings and possible impacts to adjustments to the programs.
The danger is always that these types of commissions provide future impacts on legislation that can slip into harmless and irrelevant bills and greatly affect programs that are worthwhile, like US military personnel programs or veterans programs! Some that where considered then: military retirement options, deferring COLAs, limiting COLAs, adjustments to the CPI index, raising the age of Social Security applicability, changes to Medicare eligibility, and means testing veteran and military members’ compensation. These are just a few considered at that time. Stand by. Former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WO) was a member of that 1994 commission and supported some very radical adjustments to military and veteran programs. He will now cochair this National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
The commission’s recommendations are due in December 2010, during the lame duck session in the current Congress. This will make for even more interesting dynamics on the recommendations being implemented. I urge all members and friends to be prepared to let Congress and the White House know your thoughts prior to recommendations being released and after recommendations are released. Stay tuned – we will watch closely – www.ausn.org or our Friends of the Navy at https://ausnnat.groupsite. com/main/summary.
Legislative Update
At this writing, the following are the issues Congress is considering:
National Health Care Reform
As you may know, the process is taking another road to passage. Congressional reconciliation is the process by which only a simple majority (one more vote than 50%) vote is needed to pass legislation. The way the bill still reads, there are no guarantees that military members’ and veterans members’ health care earned benefits are protected. Let Congress know your stand on this issue: http://www.ausn.org/Advocacy/LegislativeActionCenter/
21% Cuts to Medicare/TRICARE and Impact on Access
Congress was expected to address the issue by 1 March 2010, but missed the date and finally passed a 30-day extension until 1 April. It is unclear if it will finish work on this extension in time to delay the cuts for another 6-7 months.
If these cuts are allowed to occur, they would have harmful impact on accessibility to care for beneficiaries. Doctors would be less likely to accept new Medicare or TRICARE for Life patients and some are likely to drop existing patients from these two programs altogether. For these individuals, TRICARE for Life would become a hollow benefit. Fixing this issue, both near and long term must be a top priority for Congress. We know many of you agree and have used our Cap Wiz system to ask your elected officials to take action. We need to fix this issue before it smashes earned health care benefits.
Defense Budget Hearings
Recently, the preliminary hearings on Defense spending began with the Service Secretaries and Chiefs making their initial presentations. As expected, a major concern from all was the amount of shortfalls all services have in retooling their forces. Navy is short on funding for ships and is funded for 9 ships – when 11 are needed. Another example is Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway who said although his troops that are deployed have all the equipment they need, he would be hard pressed to deploy any more as some of his stateside units are equipped as low as a 50 percent level. In this continuous era of debt and spending – the US military should not be denied equipment and training dollars that are needed for the nation’s defense and in response to natural disasters. http://www.ausn.org/Advocacy/LegislativeActionCenter/
Haiti Assistance
Congress is considering an assistance bill for Haiti relief. As you know, the US Navy did send several warships, aircraft, personnel, and the Comfort to Haiti to assist in this disaster. Congress is working on a longer term assistance bill that will help rebuild the infrastructure of Haiti.
Detention of Terrorism Suspects
Several Senators have introduced a bill that would block moving suspected terrorists from GITMO to the US and giving them Miranda rights. Meanwhile, the White House is still trying to close GITMO and move terrorists to US soil. This subject will remain a substantial issue for some time.
Please let Congress know your stand on several issues as they develop. We will continue to report through our Web site www.ausn.org and through our Friends of the Navy; https://ausnnat.groupsite.com/main/summary. Feel free to contact me with your questions at ike.puzon@ausn.org.