Bachmann Says Cuts to Pentagon Budget are Possible

[peterd]

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann says cuts to defense spending have to be considered as Washington weighs massive budget cuts, and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas says slashing the Pentagon budget needs to start with bringing home U.S. forces from South Korea and Japan.


Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday says foreign spending needs to be examined, including defunding the United Nations. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney says spending abroad needs to make sense and says it is foolish to borrow money from China to give foreign nations.

The Republicans seeking the GOP presidential nomination are debating whether the country can weather cuts to the Pentagon.

www.military.com/news/article/2011/bachmann-says-cuts-to-pentagon-budget-are-possible.html?col=1186032310810

[warrior1972]

Accord­ing to the Asso­ci­ated Press, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) sent a let­ter to the bipar­ti­san bud­get super­com­mit­tee in which he indi­cated is open to cost-saving steps in mil­i­tary ben­e­fits.

The AP reports that McCain indi­cated his sup­port for Pres­i­dent Obama’s pro­posal to start charg­ing older mil­i­tary retirees a $200 annual enroll­ment fee for TRICARE for Life. In addi­tion, McCain urged the super­com­mit­tee to con­sider restrict­ing working-age mil­i­tary retirees and their depen­dents from enrolling in TRICARE Prime. McCain pointed out that the Con­gres­sional Bud­get Office has esti­mated that such a move would save $111 bil­lion over 10 years.

McCain also said he sup­ports the administration’s pro­posal for a com­mis­sion to review pos­si­ble changes to the 20 year mil­i­tary retire­ment sys­tem and the cur­rent mil­i­tary pay and com­pen­sa­tion model.



Read more: militaryadvantage.military.com/20..../#ixzz1b5020iXI
MilitaryAdvantage.Military.com

[Sailor]

McCain also said he sup­ports the administration’s pro­posal for a com­mis­sion to review pos­si­ble changes to the 20 year mil­i­tary retire­ment sys­tem and the cur­rent mil­i­tary pay and com­pen­sa­tion model.

I don't know where McCain has been but that 20 year system has been revamped a couple of times over the last 10 or 15 years. Parts of it allow retirement with less than 20 years constructive time and have reduced the 50% base pay at 20 years to less (about 40%) as well as other changes.

Still, if the "BiPartisan Budget Commission" fails in its job the automatic cuts to Defense will be huge. I figure those 12 partisans won't be able to get their heads out of their back pockets and will fail.

[chillyd]

Wonder if McCain's ready to lead by example?

He's got a couple real sweet retirements in place -- I think there needs to be limitations put on his Congressional retirement package as well.

[peterd]

After reading McCain's proposal, I decided to send him an e-mail. Nothing nasty, but asked if he is willing to cut his salary. I am almost sure that he will not repply.

[peterd]

Young men and women are put in the harms way to many place. To be deployed into dangerous area take lot out of you. It chances a person. Today's and future military force earn their right to the current retirement. Many of us past veterans went through many things. We were promised many things, but our "fearless" leaders from past made sure that benefits will be shrinking. I wonder if government officials will cut their benefits down. I know it is a stupid question.

[Sailor]

Oct 21, 2011 2:20:26 GMT -8 peterd said:

After reading McCain's proposal, I decided to send him an e-mail. Nothing nasty, but asked if he is willing to cut his salary. I am almost sure that he will not repply.

I'm sure, he won't.