Posted on 11/18/2013 11:00:22 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Military members, retirees and veterans have a few more reasons to be wary of politicians who say their top priority is to cut federal spending.
The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday released a report of more than 100 options for reducing budget deficits. It’s a timely product as House and Senate conferees strive to negotiate by mid-December a new debt-cutting deal to replace automatic budget cuts of sequestration.
More than a few of the CBO options are fresh ideas to roll back compensation for categories of veterans or to raise TRICARE fees for military retirees, on suggestions that the government is being too generous.
To be fair, CBO is not singling out veterans here. There are options in the report to make nervous many segments of society dependent on federal payments, from Social Security recipients to drug manufacturers.
But for select veterans’ programs, CBO makes some hard-edged points that lawmakers bent on cutting spending might find compelling, if not persuasive, to help address the nation’s debt crisis....
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Sticking it to the military again is par for the course for Obama and his liberal traitors.
They are the ones who F’dU this country, and now we are the ones that want to save it. Again. Time to put an end to all this BS. They need to be taught some lessons.
If you read the article, a lot of the proposed cuts make sense. Why should we pay disability to those whose problems are unrelated to military service, like hemorrhoids, osteoarthritis, Crohn’s disease and COPD? Now 45% of veterans who served 20 years or more are drawing disability pay.
Why should military pay be higher than 90% of their civilian counterparts? There are some good points here. After all, our servicemen do their jobs because they are patriots, and they will understand that all of us will have to cut back on our entitlements to keep the country afloat.
“Why should military pay be higher than 90% of their civilian counterparts?”
There are no “civilian counterparts.”
How many civilians spend their days eyeball to eyeball with their country’s enemies?
Anyone who has to deal with the White Hut (grin)
“Anyone who has to deal with the White Hut (grin)”
Good point.
I’m using my Post 9/11 benefits to return to school to acquire a bunch of courses for cyber security - basically I’m being forced to change occupations due to the HUGE cuts in national intel by Dear Leader...so much for “Support the Troops”...it’s so nice to see all the weathered and torn yellow ribbons out there being replaced by Obama stickers...it’s been 12 yrs since 9/11...and it’s off to the next trendy thing in society....well, personally, I’m glad I served & was part of it all - I met great men and women and we did great things over there...that’s something no benefit can give...
Apart from boycotting businesses that support the leftists to the best of our ability, how are we going to teach those lessons?
Cut back on veterans benefits but leave food stamp and welfare giveaways alone and keep handing out those phones. Take away from producers (or those who did produce) to give to those who produce nothing - that sounds right! Do I really need a sarcastic tag?
“Why should military pay be higher than 90% of their civilian counterparts?”
What world are you living in?
You are absolutely clueless!
Even the low information voter knows better.
Why is it we never see benefits cut for senators and congress men/women AND their families. (College tuition for children of these people are exempt from payback).
Who’s really surprised?
Maybe I am clueless. Maybe it’s because I’m an old guy and I remember my dad and his generation fighting in WW2 and being paid not much and not asking for much. I remember my buddies who went to Vietnam being paid nothing much for putting their lives on the line. I guess I grew up thinking, maybe naively, that people in the military were there because they believed in their jobs and in defending America, or maybe because they were drafted, but certainly not because we paid them better than any other job they could get. Myself, I believe we should reinstate the draft and reestablish the concept that fighting for your country is a patriotic duty shared equally by people of all walks of life. I’m not comfortable with having an army that we pay a lot of money so that we don’t feel guilty about not serving ourselves. How many tours of duty did some of those folks have to do in Iraq and Afghanistan? Five, six, or more? You can’t pay people enough for putting their lives on the line. This is a burden that needs to be shared.
“How many civilians spend their days eyeball to eyeball with their country’s enemies?”
You are right that there is not enough money to pay someone to do that. That’s why I think we should reinstate the draft so that if we fight a war, the burden will be shared by those in all walks of life.
But did you read the article? Do you feel comfortable about 45% of those who served 20 years or more drawing an average of $1800 a month in tax free disability payments in addition to their regular military retirement? You put enough money out there, people take advantage. I’m sure you know about that.
This is an informative article and deserves consideration.
Some veterans benefits are excessive, but the way to deal with that is not to cut them, but to shift them so they become more reasonable.
That is, replace bad or unsustainable deals with *better* deals that offer incentives to switch. Veterans are for the most part very practical, and if they see an opportunity, the vast majority will take it.
And those that decide against the better deal profit as well, because with the departure of the others from that deal, pressure is taken off their pool of funds. So while they are still getting some excessive benefits, those are the ones they agreed to, so they are not cheated, but those benefits become more sustainable, so there is a much better chance they will actually get them.
“Do you feel comfortable about 45% of those who served 20 years or more drawing an average of $1800 a month in tax free disability payments in addition to their regular military retirement? You put enough money out there, people take advantage. I’m sure you know about that.!”
I am not objective. I have a real service-connected disability—ruined my life, actually—and I can’t get the VA to admit that the military was responsible.
Where did you get the $1800 form? I don't see that in the article and find others to believe.
“That’s why I think we should reinstate the draft”
Oh, Hell yes.
It should be noted, however, that back when we were trying to stave off a bloodbath and the reduction of the South Vietnamese people under communist slavery, the abolition of the draft made it impossible to assemble a decent crowd for an “anti-war” protest.
I put “anti-war” in quotation marks, because the protests were actually “anti-sending my tender young ass over there” protests, or anti-American protests, or “Hey, is this where all the free-lovin’ chicks are at?” protests.
Typical chairborne ranger. When a military retiree draws disability pay it is deducted dollar for dollar from his retirement pay for almost all disability claims. The only advantage is that those dollars are not taxable.
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