Free Republic

<p>Last month’s congressional budget deal hit military retirees with 20 years of service or more in a very real and controversial way: It trimmed their cost-of-living adjustments [COLAs] by 1% each year until they reach 62.</p> <p>Veterans’ groups say this reduction could add up to an average of more than $80,000 in losses for retirees who are affected -- and a loss of confidence in the U.S. government’s word.</p>

After years of cuts in state subsidies and growing resistance to rising tuition, U.S. colleges and universities are starting to unwind decades of administrative bloat and back-office waste that helped push up costs and tuition. The State University of New York system shaved $48 million in the past two years by cutting unused software licenses and consolidating senior administrators. The University of California, Berkeley, cut $70 million since 2011 by centralizing purchasing and laying off a layer of middle managers, among other things. And the University of Kansas revamped its back-office operations to save about $5 million in 2013. One...

NBC News boss Deborah Turness is spending the last few days of the year eyeing cuts — moves that could include axing some senior on-air talent, The Post has learned. Turness, brought on in August to shake up the moribund news division — where “Meet the Press” and “Today” had stumbled — is in the midst of a host of end-of -year buyouts and cost reductions, sources said. The current moves are not the first time Turness has irked journalists under her command.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan admitted on Wednesday evening that cutting the pensions of disabled and injured U.S. military veterans as part of the deal he forged with Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) was a mistake. Apparently, Ryan knew the mistake was in the legislation for at least two full days before the House vote. He has not, however, provided any explanation for why he did nothing to fix it. While interviewing him on Kudlow Report on CNBC Wednesday evening, Larry Kudlow asked Ryan if he agreed with a statement Murray made on the Senate floor...

<p>Republican senators were making a last-ditch bid to undo cuts to military retiree benefits in the House-passed budget deal ahead of a crucial vote Tuesday morning in the Senate.</p> <p>Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions filed an amendment late Monday to restore money that was cut from veteran and military retiree pension benefits by closing a loophole that allows illegal immigrants to qualify for child tax credits.</p>

Military retirees are getting "screwed" by a budget deal expected to pass the Senate on Wednesday, said Sen. Lindsey Graham. "Is the choice between keeping the government open and screwing all the military retirees? Is that that right choice?" said Graham, Republican from South Carolina.

Food pantries and food banks struggled to meet demand this Thanksgiving, just weeks after food stamp cuts for millions of Americans took effect. On Nov. 1, the 47 million people who rely on food stamps — also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — saw a decrease in benefits when Congress allowed a 2009 program funding boost to expire. As a result, a family of four will receive $36 less in food stamps in November and each month thereafter, according to the USDA. “All of our food banks have really ratcheted up what they have had to serve,”...

On Nov. 1, sizable cuts were gouged into the federal food-stamp program (or, as it’s now called, SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), which feeds 47.6 million people, or nearly one in six Americans. In the city, 1.9 million folks get the bulk of their Jell-O and Campbell’s Soup from stamps. But ...it wasn’t heartless Republicans who triggered the cuts. Rather, some of the food-stamp cash was snatched to pay for Michelle Obama’s pet project, Let’s Move... The great food grab began in 2010, when President Obama, with Michelle and US Department of Agriculture honchos at his side, signed the Healthy,...

Couple the government shutdown with the debt ceiling deadline, and there is something that should be clear to everyone at this point – Washington D.C. must be rendered inconsequential in the everyday lives of Americans. Since this same debacle is going to replay itself in just a few short months, it is time for the Republicans to do what is in the best interests of the country and gut the federal government. Here are a few examples they could consider in their “negotiations” with Obama:

The Veterans Affairs Department has been able to maintain most operations amid the government shutdown, but Secretary Eric K. Shinseki warned Congress on Wednesday that it will soon have to halt payments to more than five million beneficiaries. Mr. Shinseki said that by next month he will likely run out of money to cover disability and pension payments to veterans and surviving spouse, and will also have to halt GI Bill payments for education expenses. “Before the end of the month, the mandatory account will not support payments in November — even though I will have checks lined up to...

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are considering demanding Medicare and other budget savings, reining in the Obama administration's environmental agenda including greenhouse gas restrictions, and other proposals as the price for extending the government's ability to borrow money, GOP lawmakers and aides said Friday. Republicans said that during closed-door discussions this week about what to include in upcoming legislation renewing federal borrowing authority, options have included blocking administration plans to curb coal ash pollution; forcing civil servants to contribute more to their retirement plans; and requiring Congress to approve many major regulations. Republicans said that during closed-door discussions this week about...

A leaked report by the Department of Defense Inspector General’s office that wasn’t set to be released until next month claims budget cuts led to lax security at the D.C. naval yard. Time Magazine published leaked excerpts of the report. Daily Mail reported: Budget cuts may have been the cause for lax security at the Washington D.C. Navy Yards where 12 people were shot dead and eight others were injured on Monday morning. A yet-to-be-released government audit reveals that federal oversight investigators concluded that the reduced security measures at the base left security risks unaddressed. A report by the Department...

As Congress debates whether to authorize a strike on Syria in response to Bashar Assad´s use of chemical weapons, much has been said and written about America´s special role in the world. Simply put, the blessings of prosperity obligate the U.S. to enforce the peace it seeks. There is no nobler duty. If the U.S. is unwilling to use its strength to respond to Assad´s crimes, then the defenseless will continue to be slaughtered in Syria, and America risks having similar atrocities visited upon its citizens. To allow the use of weapons of mass destruction to go unanswered would be...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday defended the choices he has made on the Chicago Public Schools budget, but did not directly address reports that neighborhood schools will face deeper cuts during the coming year than charters or other kinds of schools. CPS estimated classroom cuts in the upcoming budget to be about $68 million. But the Tribune found that the cuts to district-run neighborhood schools is more than $100 million for instruction and operations. CPS came up with its lower figure by including budget increases at charter and contract schools that in many cases saw enrollment rise and seats added....

Hark, unless mine eyes are cheated, it appears that the House has passed a bill — on energy and water development — that would spend less money than we spent last year. Indeed, that is the case: The $30.4 billion bill is $2.9 billion less than was appropriated for 2013. If my always-suspect English-major math is correct, that $2.9 billion represents a full 0.08 percent of 2012 federal outlays. The White House has threated to veto these “draconian cuts.” Seriously — OMB put out a statement calling these “draconian cuts.” Does anybody over there know what “draconian” means? Among the...

The Pentagon is eyeing plans to eliminate danger pay for service members in as many as 18 countries and five waterways around the world, saving about $120 million each year while taking a bite out of troops' salaries, The Associated Press has learned. Senior defense and military leaders are expected to meet later this week to review the matter and are poised to approve a new plan. Pentagon press secretary George Little declined to discuss details but said no final decisions have been made.

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama, in a major foreign policy speech in Berlin on Wednesday, is set to make the case for a new phase in nuclear weapons reductions, according to senior U.S. officials briefed on the plans. Despite mounting tensions with Cold War adversary Russia over the Syrian civil war and missile-defense, Mr. Obama is expected in the speech to say that the U.S. and Russia can reduce their arsenals of deployed nuclear weapons by up to another one-third, beyond the cuts mandated under the 2010 New START, or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, without undercutting deterrence

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama urged Congress on Thursday to fund upgrades to US embassy security around the world, as a way of truly honouring the memory of four Americans killed in Benghazi. Obama made the call in his latest bid to regain the initiative after Republicans accused his administration of covering up details of the September 11 attack to safeguard his re-election hopes last year. The president said he was committed to improving security at US posts abroad as recommended by a State Department review board set up to probe the attack on the US mission in the eastern Libyan...

Demoralizing Hagel tells military to prepare for cuts, ‘appreciate’ its ‘limits’ Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel tried to mollify worried military leaders Wednesday, speaking publicly for the first time about the Defense Department’s pressing budgetary woes. Widespread cuts to the defense budget have led DoD to impose furloughs on civilian employees, defer critical maintenance projects, and consider cutting benefits to military families. Military employees who attended Hagel’s speech at the National Defense University did not hesitate to express their fears, pressing Hagel to explain why benefits and salaries have been placed on DoD’s chopping block. “Why are we still furloughing?”...

Will 10 percent cuts in government spending known as “sequester” really harm American citizens in our everyday lives? Or have politicians gone way too far this time with their lies? The truth – sharply contradicting President Obama’s assertions – can be found buried within data published by the Office of Management and Budget under “Historical Tables” posted at www.WhiteHouse.Gov. Some calculation is needed to subtract 2013 projected spending from 2008 spending and to adjust for the 10 percent sequester from “Table 4.1—Outlays by Agency: 1962–2017.” Our nation is struggling with an extraordinary rash of government lies even while government spending...