Our friends at Concerned Veterans for America send us this video in regards to the Defense budget bouncing around in Congress today;<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Arlington, Va.\u2014A 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.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s unsustainable spending and towering $17 trillion debt. At the same time, the deal finds only marginal savings by reducing payments to military retirees.<\/p>\n<p>According to a December 16 Washington Post report, the budget deal \u201cwould reduce cost-of-living adjustments for working-age military retirees by 1 percent starting in December 2015.\u201d 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\u2014like entitlement programs and the tax code.<\/p>\n<p>The ad is currently running in Washington, DC on Fox News Channel, CNN, and MSNBC and will run through this week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven our more than $17 trillion debt, there\u2019s a broad consensus that Washington cannot continue spending at the current rate,\u201d said Pete Hegseth, CEO of CVA. \u201cUnfortunately, 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\u2019s spending addiction, it egregiously breaks faith with America\u2019s military veterans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe deal shows a stunning lack of respect for the contributions of America\u2019s 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\u2019s future,\u201d Hegseth concluded.<\/p>\n<p>The ad concludes with a call for viewers to contact their senators and demand real spending reform.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There’s also an amendment to the budget from Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, calling for a restoration of our full benefits. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wicker.senate.gov\/public\/index.cfm\/press-releases?ID=6ef1f179-9ad9-4508-a360-c19657748ee5#.Uq--84bImNc.facebook\">The link <\/a>was sent to us by ROS;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThese proposed cuts represent a broken promise to those who have voluntarily chosen to serve our nation in the military,\u201d Senator Roger Wicker said. \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>“Our men and women in uniform have served admirably during some of our nation’s most troubling times,\u201d said Senator Lindsey Graham. \u201cThey deserve more from us in their retirement than this agreement provides. Simply put, it doesn\u2019t do enough to protect those who have spent their lives protecting our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerica\u2019s 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,\u201d said Senator Jeff Sessions. \u201cCertainly 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder the Obama Administration, our military has borne the cost of Washington’s fiscal recklessness time and time again,\u201d said Senator Jim Inhofe. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis amendment addresses our continued concern with further cuts to benefits for retired and active duty military personnel,\u201d said Senator Thad Cochran. \u201cThere is no justification in first turning to those who have served or are serving in the military and asking them to make new sacrifices.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>From the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/reform-of-military-benefits-is-a-hard-battle\/2013\/12\/16\/99c722d2-6429-11e3-aa81-e1dab1360323_story.html\">Washington Post<\/a>; the VSOs are on the job;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The Veterans of Foreign Wars on Friday called on its \u201cnearly 2 million VFW and Auxiliary members and veterans advocates everywhere to voice their opposition to the COLA proposal by connecting with their senators,\u201d according to a VFW news release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough Iraq is over and the war in Afghanistan is winding down, we can\u2019t allow Congress to dismantle the programs they created over the past 12 years,\u201d said VFW National Commander William A. Thien.<\/p>\n<p>Other than increasing benefits over the years, the military retirement program has been unchanged since World War II.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our friends at Concerned Veterans for America send us this video in regards to the Defense … <a title=\"Concerned Veterans for America; Budget Bust\" class=\"hm-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=38895\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Concerned Veterans for America; Budget Bust<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress-sucks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}