Gates Faults Congress for ‘Crisis on Doorstep’
Defense Secretary Robert Gats is accusing Congress of dumping a “crisis on my doorstep” by holding the Pentagon to last year’s spending levels and creating a potential $23 billion gap that could weaken a wartime military.Ý Congress has not acted on the $549 billion request for the budget year that began on October 1. Congress last fall passed a stop-gap government spending measure that keeps budgets at the previous year’s levels. For the Pentagon, that means a budget of about $526 billion, not counting war funding.Ý If the stop-gap approach is not replaced by a new budget, the Pentagon will face a money pinch that “could have an impact on training across the entire force, and in other areas,” Gates said.Ý To read this article in full, please go to: http://www.military.com/news/article/gates-faults-congress-for-crisis-on-doorstep.html
NEW LEGISLATION SPOTLIGHT
Congress recently offered three new pieces of legislation that The Military Coalition of which EANGUS is a member strongly supports.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla, introduced legislation (S. 260) that would repeal the SBP/DIC offset and allow survivors to receive both their survivor benefit plan annuity from DoD and their dependency indemnity compensation from the VA.
Legislation (S. 146) that would provide a $2400 tax credit to employers who hire a veteran who has served over 180 days of active service in the last 5 years was offered by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
H.R. 303 was introduced by Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla. The legislation would end the disability offset of retired pay for service members with 20+ years of service and disability ratings of less than 50%.Please add your voice to ours by writing your elected officials and urge them to support these important pieces of legislation.
Go to www.eangus.org, click on “Legislative” at the top of the page.Ý Click on Call 11-1 and follow the instructions. Make your voice heard!
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