The Princes in the Puzzle Palace called the Pentagon have done it again. They have thrown those serving, those that served and those that will serve under the MRAP in favor of politics.
Military leadership on Tuesday pressed plans to slash popular troop benefits and curb pay raises but House lawmakers remained committed to preserving those benefits.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff testified during a rare gathering in the Senate and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke in Chicago on the need to reduce personnel costs.
Meanwhile, the House prepared for debate Wednesday on a defense budget that would “nickel and dime” some ship, aircraft and construction programs to help fund pay raises and benefits for troops, said Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
The Republican-controlled committee has rejected the Department of Defense proposals to cap pay raises at 1 percent and slash the costs of military supermarkets, housing allowances and the Tricare health care system – despite dire warnings by the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff in Senate testimony Tuesday that readiness could suffer otherwise. Armed Services is expected to cobbled together a final draft of the defense budget late Wednesday and send it to the full House for a vote.
“Through smart planning, rearrangement of capital and resources, targeted cuts, and reduction of some bureaucracy, we’ve been able to shield our military from a crippling blow,” McKeon said during a speech at the Heritage Foundation.
Pay and benefits remain untouched. McKeon and other Republicans in the House say the DOD has given Congress a false choice between cutting spending on troops and their families or overall military readiness.
The $521 billion budget – and an additional $79 billion for the Afghanistan war effort – would compromise on the embattled A-10 Warthog. It would take the aircraft out of service, but keep it in a high-level storage status; the planes could be quickly activated.
“It has saved the lives of countless American men and women in combat,” McKeon said. “It still has over a decade of service life left in it, and it’s to be replaced by a plane, the F-35, that is better suited to do other jobs.”
The House budget also cuts spending on Navy ships, the KC-46 Pegasus aircraft and aircraft carrier-based drones.
HT TAH