Gee, you got your legs blown off in combat. Too bad. I am cutting your pension.
Gee, you got your legs blown off in combat. Too bad. I am cutting your pension.
Unbelievable!!!
Brings to mind, this feckless bastard, and his cohorts, did nothing to keep open the “open air” WWII & Viet Nam Memorials during the gubment shutdown. Cantor the sumbitch!
What happened is this:
The Republicans and Democrats agreed to back room negotiations in order to attempt to avoid another government shutdown. Congress passed a Continuing Resolution that funded the government through December 2013.
Senator Murray (D-WA) and Representative Ryan (R-WI) were chosen to lead their respective sides.
Both wanted concessions, but from all reports, Ryan didn't push the Democrats on things like cutting welfare to Illegals, tightening rules on Food Stamps, or reining in ObamaCare (which we now know has proven to be a Trillion dollar budget buster).
Instead, Ryan wanted blood from either Government workers or the military. Both had already been hit hard. Government workers, including DoD personnel like nurses, doctors, and cops had already endured a 3 year pay freeze, layoffs (Reductions in Force), and two furloughs (more layoffs). One furlough from Sequestration that cut their pay by 20% for 3 months, and one furlough from the shutdown (which was eventually reimbursed for pay, the other was not).
Even Republicans agreed another stab at civilians was piling on. No other group had contributed more deficit reduction than they had. But the military had also been hit hard. The pay increases they did get were a joke, they had their own RIFs coming, and the military budget had been decimated three times, even before the assault of Sequestration.
But Ryan demanded "something." That something he wrote himself and inserted it into the overall budget agreement so that it could not be removed without killing the entire vote on the package. He wanted cuts to military pensions through the Cost of Living Allowance for all retirees under age 62. Their COLA would be statistically nothing against inflation, and their retirements would be hit so hard that by the time the COLAs were reinstated at age 62 they would have lost 25% of their retirement.
AND - Ryan's cuts affected the disabled wounded warriors as well. Even those who were 100% disabled via combat injuries.
Military families found out about the cuts through the news. As you know, these families, and yourself, sacrifice for this nation. This came as a total betrayal.
Ryan announced the cuts himself, with "pride" (his exact word). When it was pointed out that all these cuts would only "save" $6 billion over ten years and had almost zero effect on the overall budget, Ryan smirked and said he didn't care. "It was a start" were I believe his words (paraphrasing that).
Even Democrats were outraged. Bernie Sanders was outraged and took the side of the veterans. When it was announced that the disabled were also cut, Ryan was forced to maneuver in the face of the outrage, and said it was an "oversight" and he would "correct" it. It was NO OVERSIGHT - Ryan wrote the legislation very carefully. He knew what he was inserting into the budget bill.
Congress eventually passed an override to Ryan's language a few months later, and after much public outrage (thank you America!)
Ryan was furious, and attempted to get Speaker Boehner to block the removal. He was unsuccessful.
I don't know what darkness lurks in the heart of Paul Ryan about military families, but he seems to harbor a hatred of them. I am not exaggerating, and I don't know what other conclusion I can reach given the facts.
