Pentagon Budget Slashes Benefits for Active Duty Personnel as Obama Wants Pay Raise for Civilian Fed Employees

Pentagon Budget Slashes Benefits for Active Duty Personnel as Obama Wants Pay Raise for Civilian Fed Employees

by William Bigelow 25 Feb 2014, 10:25 AM PDT

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/02/24/Pentagon-Budget-Slashes-Benefits-for-Active-Duty-Personnel-Obama-Wants-Pay-Raise-for-Civilian-Federal-Employees

Welcome to Barack Obama’s America, where the Pentagon budget slashes benefits for active duty personnel while Obama wants a pay raise for civilian federal employees. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s new defense budget includes cutting healthcare copays and deductibles for active duty personnel and their families, as well as slashing subsidies military families get when they have to buy housing and low-cost goods.

Hagel said, “Congress has taken some important steps in recent years to control the growth in compensation spending, but we must do more,” citing payroll costs’ growth being 405 more than private sector payrolls. He protested the nation is no longer on a war footing, saying:

Today DOD faces a vastly different fiscal situation … We must now consider fair and responsible adjustments to our overall military compensation package. This is the first time in 13 years we will be presenting a budget to the Congress of the United States that’s not a war-footing budget.

Next week, Obama is expected to offer civilian federal workers a 1% pay increase in 2015, which he can offer if Congress does not block it during the appropriations process for 2015. One administration official said:

A 1% pay increase in 2015 is consistent with what the president proposed in last year’s budget and the increase that civilian employees received at the start of 2014. It reflects the tight budget constraints we continue to face, while also recognizing the critical role these civilian employees play in our country.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said:

This modest COLA [cost-of-living adjustment] would go a long way in further recognizing the value of federal employees and help bring to a close years of pay freezes. Federal employees have been undervalued and underappreciated for too long.

Dan Holler of Heritage Action criticized the action, saying, "The president’s proposal is misguided. Absent a broad-based reform that allows pay to rise for good workers while reducing overall benefit costs, a pay freeze is appropriate."

Holler had some strange bedfellows; President Colleen Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents Internal Revenue Service workers, said, "I strongly believe that federal employees deserve more, and this amount is inadequate." American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox said, "A 1 percent pay raise for federal employees who have seen more austerity than anyone else is pitiful." Jessica Klement, legislative director with the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, wants the increase to be at least 1.9 percent.

Opposition to Hagel’s plan came from Paul Rieckhoff, the founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), who asserted, “We know the Defense Department must make difficult budget decisions, but these cuts would hit service members, making it harder for them and their families to make ends meet.”

The Military Officers Association of America estimated that Hagel’s plan, along with a 1% ceiling on pay hikes and an estimated 5% annual increase in housing costs, would cause an Army sergeant with a family of four to lose $1,400; an Army captain would lose $2,100.

Hagel’s plan would close more bases in 2017, reduce the active duty Army from 520,000 members to between 440,000 and 450,000 over the next five years, cut the Army National Guard from 355,000 to about 335,000, cut the Army Reserve from 205,000 to 195,000, and cut the Marine Corps from about 190,000 to 182,000.

The Air Force’s A-10 “Warthog” attack jets, which give ground troops close air support? Gone. The Air Force’s entire fleet of U-2 manned spy planes? Retired, with the unmanned Global Hawk aircraft replacing them. Navy littoral combat ships? Cut from 52 to 32.

Hagel concluded, “Sequestration requires cuts so deep, so quickly, that we cannot shrink the size of our military fast enough.”

Chuck Hagel

Chuck Hagel is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense for the Barack Obama administration, married to Lilibet Hagel, and was the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Note: Lilibet Hagel is married to Chuck Hagel, and was a trustee at the Meridian International Center.

Lisa B. Barry was a trustee at the Meridian International Center, and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Julia Chang Bloch was a trustee at the Meridian International Center, and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Mary L. Howell was a trustee at the Meridian International Center, and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Constitution Society, the Alliance for Justice, and the Center for American Progress.

George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was a supporter for the Center for American Progress.

Ann Lewis was a VP for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Barbara A. Mikulski’s chief of staff, and is Barney Frank’s sister.

Barbara A. Mikulski’s chief of staff was Ann Lewis, is a U.S. Senate senator, a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

Barney Frank is Ann Lewis’s brother, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Robert Raben was his counsel.

Robert Raben was Barney Frank’s counsel, a director at the American Constitution Society, is a director at the Alliance for Justice, and the president of the Raben Group.

Melody C. Barnes was a principal at the Raben Group, the EVP for the Center for American Progress, the domestic policy council, director for the Barack Obama administration, and is Barack Obama’s golf partner

Marvin Nicholson is Barack Obama’s golf partner, the White House trip director at the Barack Obama administration, and was a caddy at the Augusta National Golf Club.

18 Holes of Corruptions (Past Research for the Augusta National Golf Club)

Friday, February 21, 2014

http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2014/02/18-holes-of-corruptions.html

George P. Shultz is a member of the Augusta National Golf Club, and an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Chuck Hagel was the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense for the Barack Obama administration.