BOHICA. On the plus side my TRICARE bill didn’t increase this year based on current law.
Via Military Times
In about five months, the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission will unveil its recommendations for a radical overhaul of troops’ pay and benefits.
After that, maybe other moves will finally happen, too.
For most of this year, debate over benefits changes has been stalled as Pentagon planners and outside advocates sparred over the future of military personnel accounts.
Larry Korb, a former Pentagon personnel chief and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, said he’s already prepared to call 2014 a lost year for meaningful progress on pay reform. “All we are likely to see is some minor relief … not really dealing with the problem,” he said.
Critics of the Defense Department are content with that for now, arguing that recent Pentagon efforts at reform have been heavy-handed and ill-informed. In their view, starting the debate anew after the commission finishes its work will result in a more thoughtful reform process.[…]
The Senate will take up a few pay and benefits issues when it returns to work next month, including a 1 percent cap on military pay raises next year. The House backs a higher 1.8 percent raise, to keep pace with private-sector wage growth. The Pentagon and President Obama have said the lower raise will save $3.8 billion over five years.
Senators also have offered initial support for gradually trimming troops’ housing allowance, another Pentagon-backed initiative opposed by the House.
But Korb noted that those are only minor measures. More radical proposals on revamped specialty pays, 401(k)-style savings plans and trimmed benefits — all topics of debate a year ago — have been largely shelved in recent months.