washingtonscene
MOAA, TMC Testify
Advocates push pay and benefits fixes.
A
t March 10 and March 23
hearings, before the Senate and House Armed Services Commit-
tee personnel subcommittees, respectively, representatives of MOAA and The Military Coalition (TMC) testified on personnel, pay, and benefits priorities for FY 2011. Government Relations Director (and
TMC Cochair) Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF-Ret., represented MOAA. Senate Subcommittee Chair Jim Webb
(D-Va.) underscored his empathy with the military community (as the son of a career Air Force officer and father and father- in-law of two Marines). He intends to “exercise continuous and active oversight of all our military personnel matters” and particularly is concerned about lengthy, re- peated deployments. He also acknowledged concerns about rising defense personnel costs, especially for health care. “Sustainability of health care is the
issue,” agreed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R- S.C.). “There’s been no TRICARE pre- mium increase since 1995, and eventually we’ll have to deal with that.” At the House hearing, a CBO witness
outlined the limitations the Armed Services Committee has in proposing retirement or survivor benefit upgrades, explaining that, under congressional rules, the committee would have to find offsetting reductions in spending on retirement, survivor, or TRI- CARE For Life benefits. But Rep. Joe Wilson (R-N.C.) observed, “When House leadership deems it a prior- ity, rules can be set aside.” Strobridge and other TMC witnesses
urged subcommittee leaders’ attention to a number of priorities for FY 2011:
3 6 MI L I T A R Y O F F I C E R MAY 2 0 1 0
Military pay raise: The TMC urged add-
ing at least 0.5 percent to the Pentagon-pro- posed 1.4-percent military pay raise. TRICARE: Strobridge urged the panel to include language in this year’s defense bill to acknowledge career military people pay huge, in-kind and up-front premiums through decades of service and sacri- fice over and above fees paid in cash. He also urged the subcommittee to stop a scheduled Oct. 1 increase of more than $110-a-day above the current $535-a-day TRICARE Standard inpatient copayment. Concurrent receipt: TMC witnesses sup-
ported the president’s initiative to end the disability offset for all medically retired ser- vicemembers, with the ultimate goal of end- ing the disability offset to retired pay. Survivor benefits: When the TMC urged
ending the deduction of VA survivor ben- efits from military Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities, Webb noted his mother was an SBP annuitant and said how much it meant to her when Congress ended the So- cial Security offset to SBP several years ago. Guard/Reserve: Priorities included au-
thorizing reduced retirement-age credit for all active service since Sept. 11, 2001, extending Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to full-time Title-32 guard personnel, and authorizing U.S Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Government Relations Director Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF-Ret., defended MOAA’s priorities at a March 10 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
PHOTO: COL. MARV HARRIS, USAF-RET.
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