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WASHINGTON - Military leadership Tuesday pressed plans to slash populartroop benefits and curb pay raises but House lawmakers remained committed topreserving those benefits.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff testified during a rare gathering in the Senateand Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke in Chicago on the need to reducepersonnel costs.
Meanwhile, the House prepared for debate Tuesday on a defense budget thatwould "nickel and dime" some ship, aircraft and construction programs tohelp fund pay raises and benefits for troops, said Rep. Buck McKeon,R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
The Republican-controlled committee has rejected the Department of Defenseproposals to cap pay raises at 1 percent and slash the costs of militarysupermarkets, housing allowances and the Tricare health care system -despite dire warnings by the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff in Senatetestimony Tuesday that readiness could suffer otherwise. Armed Services isexpected to cobbled together a final draft of the defense budget lateWednesday and send it to the full House for a vote.
"Through smart planning, rearrangement of capital and resources, targetedcuts, and reduction of some bureaucracy, we've been able to shield ourmilitary from a crippling blow," McKeon said during a speech at the HeritageFoundation.
"Pay and benefits remain untouched. McKeon and other Republicans in theHouse say the DOD has given Congress a false choice between cutting spendingon troops and their families or overall military readiness."
The JCS are apparently not concerned that any reduction in pay and benefits will make it harder in the future for military service to compete with the private sector in attracting recruits, since appears that the American economy will remain stagnant into the foreseeable future, thanks in large part to the country's transformation by the Obama Administration.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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By Epictetus
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