http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2556887/Congressional negotiators agree to hold line on military pay
BY CHARLES HOSKINSON | DECEMBER 3, 2014 | 10:08 AM
Service members will only get a 1 percent pay raise next year under compromise defense legislation worked out by negotiators, giving the Obama administration one of the biggest cost-savings measures it had sought.
The bill released late Tuesday also would increase co-pays for prescription drugs in the military health system and trims the growth of housing alliances — modest measures that gave the Pentagon only a fraction of the benefits cuts it requested.
The restraints on pay and benefits were designed to save money to stem the decline in military readiness caused by years of drastic budget cuts mandated by a 2011 law. Though lawmakers granted the Pentagon some relief from the cuts in fiscal year 2015, they are likely to be reinstated in 2016.
Republicans had sought to hold the line on benefits cuts and wanted a 1.8 percent pay raise for troops, but gave in as time ran out for the bill to be sent to President Obama's desk. If it's not cleared before the 114th Congress convenes Jan. 6, lawmakers would have to start over from scratch.
Congressional negotiators rescued several Navy cruisers and the A-10 ground-attack fighter from retirement, both of which the Pentagon said were no longer necessary and would waste money needed for readiness, but which GOP lawmakers had wanted to keep.
Lawmakers in both chambers also rejected a new round of base closures, saying the Pentagon first needs a better understanding of its property needs.
The massive bill is one of the most important "must-pass" measures for Congress, especially in wartime, since it sets policy for the Pentagon and the national security activities of the Department of Energy. It governs how many troops are in the armed forces, how much they are paid and what benefits they receive, which and how many weapons to buy and which to scrap, along with guiding how ongoing operations are conducted, such as the war in Afghanistan and the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Though it does not appropriate any money, it sets guidelines for appropriators to use in determining Pentagon spending.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and the committee's ranking Republican, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, said in a joint statement that the House is expected to pass the bill without changes by the end of the week and they would ask the Senate to take it up next week without allowing amendments.
“At this point, there is no way that we can resolve disputes about which amendments should be debated, debate them, overcome potential filibusters, and still get the job done," they said. "If we get nothing enacted, we would kill both the bill itself and the amendments that we’ve cleared, while providing no avenue for getting additional amendments enacted. We ask our colleagues to support us in bringing up and passing this bill without amendment as the best of a bad set of options.”
The bill also includes a House-passed provision that would continue to bar the administration from transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States, and extends through Sept. 30 the Pentagon's authorization to train and equip Syrian rebels.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday that administration officials would "evaluate the whole package" before deciding on a potential veto. He also referred to complaints about White House micromanagement of the Pentagon in criticizing lawmakers for rejecting many of the cost-saving measures the administration had sought.
"We’ll see what the eventual inclusion is in this legislation but certainly if we believe just as a principle that we should give greater freedom of decision-making to military and civilian leaders at the Pentagon, then I would assume we would see strong bipartisan support for some of the budget reforms that those military and civilian leaders say are so important," Earnest said.
