washingtonscene
MOAA’s Top 10 Goals for 2017
Remove the sequester End disabled/survivor financial offsets and penalties Ensure TRICARE reform sustains access to and performance of top-quality care Prevent dispropor- tional TRICARE fee hikes and inordinate program changes End military pay- raise caps and restore pay comparability with private sector Guard against erosion of earned compensation and commissary benefits Sustain wounded war- rior programs and ex- pand caregiver support Credit Guard and Reserve call-ups for retirement purposes Improve and sustain spouse and family support Assure timely access to VA care and elimi- nate claims backlog
2017 Goals A
s the 115th Congress takes shape, there are many reasons to head to Capitol Hill — not only to meet new legislators and their staffs but also to express our appreciation to staunch MOAA supporters. We welcome 52 new representatives and seven new senators, three of whom are former representatives. We look forward to sitting down with Con- gress to ensure constructive and transpar- ent efforts toward achieving our 2017 goals. One major priority is to make a concert- ed effort to end sequestration. Significant cuts to the defense budget already have directly affected compensation and benefits. Military service is a calling, but for some, its appeal is fading. MOAA’s focus is on ending sequestration, supporting troops and their families, increasing force levels to match demand, and convincing legislators we are on the wrong road and need their leader- ship to find a better way forward. Constraining access to funds hurts
government programs such as Social Se- curity, Medicare, federal civilian pay and retirement, COLAs, and virtually every- thing else the government spends money on. Convincing individual legislators to support MOAA’s initiatives is one aspect of our task; getting the collective com- mittees to align with our efforts is an- other. Beating competitors to the funding trough is even more difficult. Stay focused on these priorities at home and at the national level. MOAA will need all hands to make a difference in 2017.
36 MILITARY OFFICER JANUARY 2017
Once again, sequestration; military health care, retirement, and pay; force levels for the services; and wounded warriors and caregivers top MOAA’s legislative goals list.
The remainder of this column provides a summary of key MOAA legislative objec- tives for 2017. To help fulfill these objec- tives, we strongly urge you to subscribe to MOAA’s Legislative Update e-newsletter. Call (800) 234-MOAA (6622) or visit
moaa.org/email to subscribe.
Defense Budget
Fund people and weapons MOAA believes strongly that maintaining military manpower, replacing and upgrad- ing weapons and equipment worn out by years of war, and treating military people fairly are not mutually exclusive. Addressing the nation’s debt is a prior-
ity, and all Americans must be prepared to share the sacrifices required to accomplish it. But a nation still in conflict must meet funding needs for both people and weapons, rather than sacrificing one for the other. Arbitrary sequestration cuts will force service planners to impose even steeper force-reduction efforts in the midst of ongo- ing military operations. This threatens the nation’s ability to respond to threats and places the burden of these operations on the shoulders of the remaining troops and fami- lies. The recent two-year budget agreement does not fix the problem; it only defers it. To the extent force cuts require sepa-
ration of members with lengthy service, MOAA supports the use of early retire- ment authority and enhanced voluntary separation incentives to more fairly recog-
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