Repeal military pension cuts now, Sen. Jeff Sessions says, as Pentagon asks for commission study


By Leada Gore
on January 30, 2014



U.S. Sen. Jeff SessionsSen. Jeff Sessions said he's glad Pentagon leaders are joining lawmakers to call for changes to planned pension cuts for working-age military retirees. Unlike the Department of Defense officials, however, the Alabama Republican said he sees no need to wait until a military compensation commission examines the issue.Sessions, ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, said testimony by Christine Fox, Acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Defense, showed the Pentagon supports repealing a planned 1 percent cut to retirement befits for military personnel under age 62.

"These cuts could amount to a more than 60 percent reduction in COLA adjustments for those who served and are serving now," Sessions said.

The cuts - equal to a 1 percent reduction to the yearly Cost of Living Adjustment - were included in the two-year budget agreement passed last month. The change, which will go into effect December 2015, has been blasted by retirees, veterans groups and lawmakers, who have vowed to repeal the measure before it is implemented.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week, Fox said the Pentagon supports exempting current retirees and those about to leave the service from the changes.
"If the Congress decides to retain the (pension change), we strongly recommend it be modified to include 'grandfathering,'" Fox said.

Fox said Congress should leave the cuts in place, however, until the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission presents its final report in February 2015.
"There are many ways we might change military retirement, including more fundamental reforms," she said. "Because the (Consumer Price Index)-minus-one provision does not go into effect until December 2015, there is ample time for such a careful review, including waiting for the commission to provide its input," she said.

Sessions: Repeal cuts now

Sessions disagreed, saying military personnel should not have to wait until then to know if their retirement benefits will be reduced.

"Our military service members answered the call of duty without hesitation. We owe them swift, diligent action to fix these unfair cuts with smarter and more intelligent offsets like those that have been proposed.

"For instance, I continue to believe that--if put to a direct vote--there could be bipartisan support for a plan that would reverse the cuts and instead close a tax credit loophole which allows illegal immigrants to claim benefits to which they are not legally entitled. This would be the definition of common sense."

Sessions has proposed closing the immigration loophole to offset the some $6 billion in savings from the retirement cuts. That proposal, which has not been allowed to move ahead for a vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate, is one of several efforts to immediately repeal the pension change.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2014/01/...on_cuts_n.html