January 27, 2015 1. Military Compensation, Retirement, and Benefit Proposals. On Thursday, 29 January, the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission (MCRMC) will issue the results of its findings and its recommendations for the future of military compensation, retirement, and benefit programs. AFSA Director of Military and Government Relations Morgan Brown explains just what this could mean to Airmen: “Established by FY 2013’s NDAA (now Public Law 112-239), the Military Compensation & Retirement Modernization Commission’s (MCRMC) … primary goal is to ensure the Uniformed Services can maintain a professional All-Volunteer Force, during both peacetime and wartime. Over the past 18 months, AFSA and its Coalition partners met with Commissioners and their staff to help paint the effects on enlisted members and their families. AFSA members also participated in several town hall meetings conducted by the panel as they went about their work. AFSA is scheduled to receive a briefing from the MCRMC later this week and hear firsthand about some of their conclusions and recommendations. Once their final report is released, we will examine it very closely before determining the Association’s position on any of its contents. “Military pay and healthcare delivery are sure to be scrutinized the most, but keep in mind this is the end of the first step – an evaluation of what is and a set of suggestions for what might be. The next step includes the President, DoD and Congress reviewing the possibilities, choosing which ones are best to start, which current practices are best to stop, calculating related costs, etc. In theory, any reforms would be seen in the legislative language of future budgets, but don’t be surprised if some sneak into FY 2016 discussions this year. “As a reminder, by law, any proposed changes by the MCRMC will ‘grandfather’ plans of those currently serving or already receiving a retirement annuity; meaning changes [will] only affect those who join the military after a change’s implementation date.” This info is repeated from the AFSA Website where you can view it at: hqafsa.org/mcrmc-report.html 2. VA to Reduce its Regions to Five. An article in Stars and Stripes reports, “The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a major restructuring effort Monday to streamline its often disjointed bureaucracy by standardizing service regions in the country and increasing coordination between them. “For years, the nine organizations within the department have divided the country into their own regions with little or no coordination. By June 30, VA aims to have the entire department under the same service boundaries through a program called MyVA, breaking the country into five regions. Officials said in a conference call with reporters that the move is a cornerstone of VA Secretary Bob McDonald’s push to overhaul the scandal-ridden organization.” To read more, go to: stripes/va-major-restructuring-will-streamline-services-set-standard-regional-boundaries-1.325880 3. National Debt and Budget Deficit to Rise. The major reason the Budget Control Act of 2011 was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama was to deal with the federal budget deficit and the national debt. This legislation included the sequestration cuts we are experiencing now. The annual budget deficit results when we, as a nation, spend more than we collect in the form of taxes. We can only spend more than we take in if we borrow. The national debt is the accumulated amount of money we have borrowed (to run our country), and that we must repay--including the ever-growing interest on that debt. Some of the money we have borrowed and the growing interest on those loans come from other nations—the two foremost being the Peoples Republic of China and Japan. The budget deficit was about $483 billion last year. The current national debt is over $18 trillion (18 million million dollars). Business Insider breaks down the sources of our borrowing (our national debt) in pointing out: • We owe most of the money to ourselves. • We owe a big chunk of the money — about $5 trillion — to the Federal government. So if there ever were a default (hopefully there wont be) the government would also be stiffing itself. • We owe about $5 trillion to other countries, including China. • The total debt to China is only $1.3 trillion. So were not in hock to China as much as some people think we are. • Yes, it’s a boatload of debt. But the experience of Japan, the U.S. after World War 2, and other countries, suggests that its a manageable amount, as long as we eventually get our long-term entitlement spending under control. Source: businessinsider/who-we-owe-federal-debt-to-2013-10 CNN Money gives a more comprehensive view of the various countries to whom we owe money and interest: money.cnn/infographic/news/economy/who-we-owe/ Those interested can read a Washington Examiner article about the national debt and the budget deficit and how our nation’s leaders are likely to deal with these challenges in the coming year at: washingtonexaminer/where-did-the-debt-go/article/2559089
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:11:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015