Posted on 11/17/2012 4:04:43 AM PST by SkyPilot
If Washingtons defense community has achieved one thing over the past year, its spreading the message of how the fiscal cliff could desecrate the military. Sequestration cuts of $55 billion would jeopardize weapons contracts, furlough civilian staff, and imperil national security, defense hawks say.
One glaring casualty has gotten far less notice: the militarys $37 billion health account. In designing the trigger mechanism, members of Congress were careful to make sure that the men and women in uniform wouldnt suffer because of the cutsbut not careful enough. Now, without a compromise on Capitol Hill during the lame-duck session, the deal the committee crafted would cause a rollback in health benefits for active-duty troops, veterans, and their families.
When lawmakers wrote the Budget Control Act (which set up the fiscal cliff), they gave President Obama the option, which he has already exercised, to exempt military-personnel accounts and the Veterans Affairs budget. Many observers believe, falsely, that these groups are safe: That exemption covers only troops paychecks, not their health benefits, which fall under another part of the Pentagon budget.
About 9 million active-duty soldiers, retirees, and families are enrolled in the militarys health care system, known as Tricare. While other massive federal health programs are largely shielded from the effects of sequestrationMedicare is limited to a 2 percent cut and Medicaid is completely exempteddiscretionary spending for military health programs such as Tricare could see a 9.4 percent reduction in 2013 if the automatic cuts take effect. (The militarys Tricare for Life program, which covers Medicare co-pays and premiums for retirees over 65, is protected.)
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Steve Strobridge, director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America, says that the cuts could rattle the entire Tricare system, from hospitals to doctors to drug coverage.
(Excerpt) Read more at govexec.com ...
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Man living as an adult baby is cleared of Social Security fraud
“...how the fiscal cliff could desecrate the military...”
Obviously, the word should be “decimate”.
Why do writers attempt to use words they don’t know? It doesn’t enhance their writing or their credibility.
I am glad the greatest impression this important topic made on you was the phraseology of the author.
Re Using words correctly: Decimate literally means one in ten. You probably want devastate.
As I have long thought about this budget mess: make Congress stay in DC and do their da#$ job and freeze THEIR money instead of the active duty/vets/retirees & families. Maybe we’d actually get something done for a change. Yeah, and freeze all the salaries of anyone who works in the capitol building (security, admin, housecleaning, etc.) and stop the subway from running under the building. Turn down their thermostat to an uncomfortable degree, lock the cafeteria, limit the toilet paper, block all the cell phones and any other communication, turn off their internet capability. Virtually ISOLATE Congress and force them to WORK!
Ok, now that I’ve had my first morning rant along with my first cup of coffee I feel much better, I think. GRRRRRR!
The latest is a Republican senator (McConnel) wants to do away with all commissaries to save money. Tell, when was the last time congress gave up something? These parasites have got to go.
I want to do away with welfare, food stamps, WIC, the DEA, DOE (both), Amtrak, GM, 0bamafones, PBS, the 16th Amendment, the IRS, illegals, and the Republican Stupid Party.
So, we’ll give unceasingly to welfare duds and illiterate peasants and welfare who stream into the country, with no loyalty to it ....and we’ll TAKE from the very soldiers and familes who give all and risk all on a daily basis to keep us safe, free, and sleeping warmly in our beds each night.
This country is really just a goner. It is at this point, undeserving of their protection, undeserving of their loyalty.
Americans, seriously, when are we going to storm these Congressional halls? These leaders of ours are derelict in their duties at this point.
Even when they spell decimate correctly, they use it incorrectly. It does not mean what most people assume it means.
1: to select by lot and kill every tenth man of
2: to exact a tax of 10 percent from (poor as a decimated Cavalier John Dryden)
3a : to reduce drastically especially in number (cholera decimated the population)
b : to cause great destruction or harm to
Did you miss the word “literally”?
Nope, just threw the definition out there.
There’s definitions and there’s definitions. For instance, 50 years ago the only definition for “enormity” was extremely evil. Then, because the ignorant kept using it to mean size, the dictionary folks finally included that as a secondary definition about 20 years ago. But you’d obviously argue with a fence post, so take it for what it’s worth.
Decimate has been used to mean the destruction of a great number or proportion since the mid-1600s. While it may literally be the incorrect use of the word, it has been an accepted use for more than 300 years.
I do argue with fence posts on occasion, but most of us refer to them as democrats or liberals.
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