Paul Ryan’s military pay gambit backfires

Politico ^ | 12 Feb 14 | Juana Summers

[SkyPilot]

Under December’s budget deal, working-age military retirees — some of whom retire with pensions in their 40s after 20 years of service — would see those pensions grow at a slower pace. Their annual cost-of-living adjustments would be pegged to the rate of inflation minus 1 percentage point. But once they turned 62, they’d go back to receiving cost-of-living adjustments pegged to the full rate of inflation.

The provision wouldn’t kick in until late next year, a delay Ryan says was designed to allow the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to consider alternative proposals for reining in the military’s personnel costs. In other words, it was meant to force the committees to confront the toxic issue after years of dragging their feet. But the backlash could make it even more difficult to deal with growing personnel costs, which Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has said threaten to crowd out spending on other priorities.

Pentagon officials had declined to offer full-throated support for the pension proposal in the budget deal, urging Congress to grandfather current service members and veterans so that only future recruits would be affected. The bill approved Wednesday does just that.

From an economic and national security perspective, “it makes sense” to cut benefits for service members, said Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress. From a political perspective, “it doesn’t.”

“Other than Paul Ryan, nobody has stepped up to make that case,” he said.

The charged issue sparked strong emotional reactions on both sides, with advocacy groups for service members accusing lawmakers of breaking faith with those in uniform. Leading the charge is the Military Officers Association of America, the nation’s largest association of military officers.

[COBOL2Java]

Not making a comment on whether he was entitled to it or not. Just commenting on retiring while still of “working age”. The military was the best thing that ever happened to him.

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Right...