washingtonscene \\ COLA News //

COLA Free Fall The Consumer Price Index (CPI) plummeted 0.7 percent in November 2014 as oil prices con- tinue to fall. The CPI is now 1.1 percent below the FY 2014 baseline. Follow the trends for yourself at www.moaa.org/cola.

Major Wins in I The measure includes $554 billion for

Spending Bill The bill includes a measure to protect the VA and commissaries.

n a bit of high tension at the end of the lame-duck session, the House narrowly avoided derailing a

$1 trillion funding measure to keep the government open. With only hours before the government was set to shut down, congressional leaders finalized an agreement to fund the government through the fiscal year. Part continuing resolution and part omnibus appropriation bill, the funding measure was dubbed a “cromnibus” by Washington insiders. The continuing resolution kept the

government running for a few days while Congress finished an omnibus appropria- tions package funding 11 out of 12 federal agencies until Oct. 1, 2015.

In a major win, the omnibus includes

two-year advanced appropriations for VA benefit programs through FY 2016. These accounts include VA compensa- tion and pensions, readjustment benefits such as the GI bill, and insurance and indemnities for survivors. This comes in addition to advance funding for VA health care, which MOAA helped secure in FY 2010. Senate Appropriations Chair Sen.

Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who worked closely with MOAA and other service groups on the measure, championed the VA advanced appropriation effort. The provision will ensure veterans and sur- vivors benefit checks would continue in the event of a future government shut- down and allow important VA research programs to continue unhindered by an- nual budget negotiations.

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DoD, slightly less than what President Barack Obama originally requested. In another win, the deal protects the commissary benefit, restoring $90 mil- lion out of the $100 million in commis- sary funding originally cut by the defense authorization bill. This will help com- missaries maintain adequate staff levels and operating hours. On the budget deal, MOAA Direc-

tor of Government Relations Col. Mike Hayden, USAF (Ret), praised the inclu- sion of VA advanced appropriations. “We applaud Congress and especially Senator Mikulski for looking out for the best interests of our nation’s veterans,” Hayden said. “VA advanced appropria- tions will ensure veterans’ health care and compensation programs are not held hos- tage by future partisan budget debates.”

Hard-Fought Victories

The defense bill contains SBP and reserve retirement wins.

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OAA and its partners have been working for years on two important issues that finally

were addressed in the FY 2015 Defense Authorization Act. Early reserve retirement credit: The defense bill contains a long-sought par- tial resolution on a technical glitch con- cerning the full crediting of earned early reserve retirement credit for reservists called to federal active duty. The FY 2008 National Defense Autho- rization Act (NDAA) authorized National Guard and Reserve members to begin re- ceiving retired pay earlier than age 60 for qualifying active duty service performed after Jan. 28, 2008.