A proposed $6 billion cut in the military’s cost of living adjustments over a 10 year period will impact our forces and how they care for their families in a big way. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has shown that duplicative and overlapping federal programs cost taxpayers $295 BILLION EACH AND EVERY YEAR. Surely Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the budget gurus who came up with this with Hagel, can make the simple point that Congress is clearly inept, and criminal, to let this continue. Republicans will be blamed. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is a former Republican senator from Nebraska. Smooth move for Barack Obama in choosing him.

When former Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (NE) took the job of Secretary of Defense under Barack Obama, we knew that meant trouble. Just because one is former military doesn’t make one’s devotion to it necessarily strong. Hagel is personally recommending “billions” in cuts to the military budget, including reduced housing allowance, higher health-care premiums, and limits on pay raise. Aside from the appalling recommendation itself, this will be blamed on Republicans. Smooth move for Barack Obama picking a Republican to run the Department of Defense. We saw it coming.

The recommendations would limit pay raises across the board to 1 percent, and they would freeze pay entirely for generals and admirals for one year.

In addition to reduced housing allowances, the recommendations would slash the subsidies for commissaries that provide groceries to veterans, service members, and their families at reduced cost.

The commissary cuts could be a particularly heavy lift, a senior defense official told the Journal. “These are near and dear to the retired population’s heart,” he said. “The commissaries will be a battle.” Source: CBSNews

The reasoning for the cuts is that caring for the health and welfare of our warriors is a slice of pie too big in the overall military budget. At the same time, the waste in government goes on and on and on. Look at that number, $295 BILLION, every year, for duplicative and overlapping programs with a cut of $6 BILLION over 10 years in meaningful cuts to military cost-of-living adjustments that will make a major difference in quality-of-life to each military family.

According to Military.com, a veterans’ retirement benefits will be cut by 20 percent while the fat cats in Congress receive no decreased benefits for their retirement, after sitting in a nice office and in the esteemed, world-renowned, Chambers, the gyms and dining, the paid travel, and who knows what else — oh yes, the handy Congressional subterranean train that transports them from building to building, and let’s not forget the limos that pick them up morning and evening, and most special, the “elevator boy” who punches the buttons for them. They move on to public speaking, writing their books and consulting for lobbyists whom they’ve already made wealthy. They personally make many millions after years of writing bad laws, and as we see today, doing nothing to protect our liberties.

Hagel said the proposed cuts should “not apply to medically disabled veterans,” and he welcomed a “comprehensive look” at the cost-of-living adjustment proposal with both houses of Congress. [emphasis mine]…

Note, “should,” not “would.”

On the Senate floor earlier this week, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who worked out the budget deal with Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the proposed pension cut “will allow two years before this change is implemented so that Democrats and Republicans can keep working to either improve this provision or find smarter savings elsewhere.”

The Defense Department has projected that the change in the cost-of-living adjustment, which has prompted fierce opposition from veterans groups, would save an estimated $6 billion over 10 years.

Think of the respect these people demand from us:

Taxpayers are sending nearly a trillion dollars of their income to the Treasury every year, just to watch Congress waste it on thousands of programs that duplicate other federal, state, and private efforts and cannot demonstrate any measure of success. Despite promises from Washington politicians that government programs can solve every challenge—taxpayers are being ripped off.

Ignoring their responsibility to conduct oversight and determine if a given federal program is effective, members of Congress are often beholden to special interest groups and would rather continue funding an old program instead of eliminating it. At the same time, Congress will then create new programs that do the very same thing and do it just as poorly. There’s no ineffective, inefficient program that the government can’t recreate at an even higher cost.

Thoughtful and careful legislating is a thing of past, and instead, Congress is in the business of creating press release programs, established not to truly fix a problem, but simply to give the appearance of action and concern. The result is a maze of bureaucracy and overlap, hundreds of billions of dollars spent on thousands of duplicative programs, and government waste and mismanagement as far as the eye can see. ~ Senator Tom Coburn

Can you imagine the 2014 elections rhetoric we will hear soon? ‘Republicans Paul Ryan and Chuck Hagel’ cut your benefits. Democrats are happy campers today for two reasons: 1) they can blame Republicans and 2) they believe in military cuts.

Linked at BadBlue – uncensored news 24/7. Read it here.

Linked at Grumpy Opinions. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Stands with NYC’s Charter Schools – read that story here and then New York Commie Mayor, Bill de Blasio’s Universal Pre-K

If you would like to receive Maggie’s Notebook daily posts direct to your inbox, no ads, no spam, EVER, enter your email address in the box below.