http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-strategy/196611-pentagon-military-pension-cuts-should-be-grandfatheredPentagon officials on Tuesday called for the $6 billion cut to military pensions to be changed so current service members and veterans are not affected.
Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Christine Fox said at a Senate hearing the Pentagon would ?strongly recommend? grandfathering the cuts included in last month?s two-year budget deal.
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This would ensure that current retirees, and people now in the military who will retire and see their pensions reduced, would not be affected by the cuts. Only future members of the military would see their pensions reduced.
This is the first time the Pentagon has called for a change to the pension cut, and it is likely to spur momentum to change the controversial provision. More than a third of lawmakers have endorsed repealing the $6 billion cut altogether, and veterans groups have lobbied fiercely to reverse it.
The cut was included along with a separate reduction to the pensions of civilian workers. That cut only affected civilian workers hired after Jan. 1, 2014.
The budget deal reduces the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for working-age military retirees under the age of 62 by 1 percentage-point below inflation. Retirees have to have served 20 years in the military to be eligible for the pension.
The Pentagon is in an awkward position on the retirement cuts because they endorsed the overall budget deal, which reversed $31 billion of the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester over the next two years.
Fox and Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, appeared to seek a middle ground on the COLA cuts at Tuesday?s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, recommending grandfathering in current service members and a review of the overall issue.
