[Vision2020] Defense Cuts in Benefits and Personnel Proposed

[lfalen]

Congess should not pass any laws that exempts themselves from what they are legislating for the general public.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: "Tom Hansen" thansen at moscow.com
Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:59:42 -0800
To: "Moscow Vision 2020" vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Defense Cuts in Benefits and Personnel Proposed

> As members of congress lap up the luxuries of their health packages,
> anticipating fat retirement benefits (after merely ten years in office),
> they consider reducing and, for some retirees, eliminating health care,
> and handing out pink slips as some service members may find themselves
> short of retirement.
> 
> Courtesy of the Army Times.
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Budget analysts propose cuts in benefits, personnel
> By Rick Maze, Army Times
> 
> A Senate committee looking to hold down federal spending is being advised
> to consider cutting the size of the military, ending careers short of
> retirement and reducing post-service benefits for veterans.
> 
> Bringing about such changes would be politically difficult. But two
> analysts with extensive expe­rience in the federal budget process argued
> in a Feb. 23 hear­ing before the Senate Budget Committee that capping
> growth in military personnel and health care costs is key to reducing the
> pace of increases in the defense budget.
> 
> Military health care expenses have jumped from $19 billion in fiscal 2001
> to almost $51 billion this fiscal year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has
> said — a pace well ahead of inflation.
> 
> If nothing is done to control costs, health care expenses will at least
> double again by 2028, said Cindy Williams, a research scientist in
> security studies at the Massa­chusetts Institute of Technology.
> 
> Williams, formerly a defense analyst with the nonpartisan Congressional
> Budget Office, sug­gested lawmakers could:
> 
> ■ Save money on health care by increasing enrollment fees,
> deductibles and co-payments for the military’s Tricare program.
> 
> ■ Cut long-term health care costs by allowing fewer people to stay
> in the military until retirement.
> 
> ■ Pay working-age retirees not to sign up for Tricare and instead
> get health insurance from their post-service employer.
> 
> Gordon Adams, an American University international relations professor who
> was the top defense expert at the White House’s Office of Management and
> Budget dur­ing much of the Clinton adminis­tration, agreed that health
> care costs need to be capped, but he also suggested the size of the Army
> and Marine Corps could be cut to save money.
> 
> “Forces deployed in Iraq are cur­rently declining. Forces in Afghanistan
> are due to begin to fall in fiscal 2011,” Adams said.
> 
> Both Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., the budget committee chairman, and Judd
> Gregg of New Hampshire, its ranking Republican, said they see national
> security as a top budget priority — but that does not mean they are
> unconcerned about continued increases in mili­tary spending.
> 
> “A dollar wasted on an ineffi­cient defense program is still a dollar
> wasted,” Conrad said.
> 
> Adams said he foresees no sce­nario that would require major ground force
> deployments for counterinsurgency or stabilization missions, and suggested
> that “future force planning should examine the opportunities to limit
> force growth or even reduce num­bers to reflect this declining requirement
> for ground forces.” He also recommended a defensewide rebalancing of
> com­bat and non-combat billets so more people are available for com­bat
> missions.
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 
> This is absolute BULL SH*T!
> 
> Seeya round town, Moscow,
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
> 
> - Unknown
> 
> 
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