Posted on Jan 8, 2015
The race is on to save our hard earned money, what do you say leaders?
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New House Military Personnel Chair against More Pay and Benefits Cuts
Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nevada, new chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel (AP Photo)
Jan 08, 2015
Military.com by Richard Sisk
The new House subcommittee chairman on military personnel called on the Pentagon Wednesday to cut waste and cost overruns on weapons systems before looking for savings by trimming pay and benefits for the troops.
Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nevada, acknowledged that the Defense Department has a difficult task in managing budgets under the Congressionally-mandated sequester process, but "before you start making significant changes in compensation, you'd better figure out where every penny can be saved in procurement and acquisitions."
Heck said his goal was to make sure that the government does not "break faith" with the promises made to currently serving troops on pay and benefits to protect the budget line for "weapons systems that sometimes never come off the assembly line. That doesn't mean we can't change pay and benefits in the future."
In a phone interview, Heck was also critical of Pentagon leaders for pushing reforms on quality of life issues ranging from housing allowances to commissaries ahead of the recommendations of the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission, which was authorized by Congress in 2013.
Heck said that his top priority as new chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel was to review the Commission's final report and recommendations, which were expected on Feb. 1.
"That's the No. 1 area for the subcommittee," Heck said. "We want to take a hard look at the report and see what, if anything, should be adopted."
The stance of Heck, a brigadier general in the Army Reserves and one of 25 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the new Congress, foreshadowed another battle with the Defense Department and the Obama administration on military compensation in the House and Senate.
The compensation issue was also expected to figure in the upcoming Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearings in early February for Ashton Carter, President Obama's nominee to replace Chuck Hagel as defense secretary.
The current National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) limited military pay raises to one percent in 2015, as opposed to the 1.8 percent adopted by the House.
The NDAA also scaled back the Basic Allowance for Housing by one percent, meaning that the monthly BAH checks for 2015 will be calculated to cover 99 percent of the estimated cost of local housing. The Pentagon had pushed for a BAH cut of five percent.
For years, the Pentagon has said that personnel costs are growing too fast and taking up too large a percentage of the military's overall budget.
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said last fall that the Pentagon would push again this year for reforms in pay, benefits, housing, retirement, commissaries and Tricare. Without the reforms, the U.S. military would be left with a $90 billion shortfall in its budget, Work said.
"This whole idea of compensation is absolutely critical. Compensation (reform) is a really big deal" in DoD's efforts to maintain readiness, combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and shift forces to the Pacific while working under the budgetary restrictions of the sequester process, Work told the Council on Foreign Relations.
Congress has opposed "what we consider to be reasonable approaches. It's been no, no, no, no, no, no, no" to nearly every suggestion. "This is la-la land," Work said.
Norbert R. Ryan, Jr., president of the Military Officers Association of America, charged that Work and the Pentagon had gone too far already in pushing compensation reform.
"It looks like DoD is throwing a bunch of stuff on the wall and hoping that something sticks," Ryan said in November. "They think we have to fund readiness by taking the money away from the people who are being asked to do more and more."
The Pentagon has set up working groups to review the final report of the Military Compensation Commission when it is filed on Feb. 1 and to make recommendations to President Obama within 60 days. Heck said his subcommittee will be drawing up its own recommendations during that period.
The new subcommittee chairman said he expected a two-tiered approach to emerge from the Commission's recommendations to preserve pay and benefits for currently serving troops while proposing changes for the next generation of service members.
Alphonso Maldon, Jr., the chairman of the nine-member Commission, has signaled that the benefits of the current force would be maintained while also stressing that the Commission was "putting everything on the table, taking a look at everything."
In an interview with Federal News Radio last June, when the Commission filed an interim report, Maldon said the Commission members had learned in town hall meetings with troops that "cash is important."
"They want quality of life. They want to make sure that they don't lose benefits. They don't want the budget balanced on the backs of military members," he said.
For recruits entering the military in the coming years, pay and benefits would likely change under the Commission's final recommendations, said Maldon, a former assistant Defense Secretary for personnel and a founding partner of the Washington Nationals baseball team. "Their benefits would be affected by those recommendations."
Heck, a physician who served with the 325th Combat Support Hospital at al-Asad airbase in Iraq in 2008, said he had several bottom lines in mind when it comes to looking at the Commission's recommendations, beginning with Tricare.
"I am reluctant to pass along costs (in co-pays) to beneficiaries," Heck said.
Heck said he also would be against shutting down stateside commissaries – a frequent proposal of cost-cutters.
"I'm not sure that getting rid of commissaries is going to be a significant cost savings," he said.
-- Richard Sisk can be reached at [login to see] .
Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nevada, new chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel (AP Photo)
Jan 08, 2015
Military.com by Richard Sisk
The new House subcommittee chairman on military personnel called on the Pentagon Wednesday to cut waste and cost overruns on weapons systems before looking for savings by trimming pay and benefits for the troops.
Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nevada, acknowledged that the Defense Department has a difficult task in managing budgets under the Congressionally-mandated sequester process, but "before you start making significant changes in compensation, you'd better figure out where every penny can be saved in procurement and acquisitions."
Heck said his goal was to make sure that the government does not "break faith" with the promises made to currently serving troops on pay and benefits to protect the budget line for "weapons systems that sometimes never come off the assembly line. That doesn't mean we can't change pay and benefits in the future."
In a phone interview, Heck was also critical of Pentagon leaders for pushing reforms on quality of life issues ranging from housing allowances to commissaries ahead of the recommendations of the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission, which was authorized by Congress in 2013.
Heck said that his top priority as new chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel was to review the Commission's final report and recommendations, which were expected on Feb. 1.
"That's the No. 1 area for the subcommittee," Heck said. "We want to take a hard look at the report and see what, if anything, should be adopted."
The stance of Heck, a brigadier general in the Army Reserves and one of 25 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the new Congress, foreshadowed another battle with the Defense Department and the Obama administration on military compensation in the House and Senate.
The compensation issue was also expected to figure in the upcoming Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearings in early February for Ashton Carter, President Obama's nominee to replace Chuck Hagel as defense secretary.
The current National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) limited military pay raises to one percent in 2015, as opposed to the 1.8 percent adopted by the House.
The NDAA also scaled back the Basic Allowance for Housing by one percent, meaning that the monthly BAH checks for 2015 will be calculated to cover 99 percent of the estimated cost of local housing. The Pentagon had pushed for a BAH cut of five percent.
For years, the Pentagon has said that personnel costs are growing too fast and taking up too large a percentage of the military's overall budget.
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said last fall that the Pentagon would push again this year for reforms in pay, benefits, housing, retirement, commissaries and Tricare. Without the reforms, the U.S. military would be left with a $90 billion shortfall in its budget, Work said.
"This whole idea of compensation is absolutely critical. Compensation (reform) is a really big deal" in DoD's efforts to maintain readiness, combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and shift forces to the Pacific while working under the budgetary restrictions of the sequester process, Work told the Council on Foreign Relations.
Congress has opposed "what we consider to be reasonable approaches. It's been no, no, no, no, no, no, no" to nearly every suggestion. "This is la-la land," Work said.
Norbert R. Ryan, Jr., president of the Military Officers Association of America, charged that Work and the Pentagon had gone too far already in pushing compensation reform.
"It looks like DoD is throwing a bunch of stuff on the wall and hoping that something sticks," Ryan said in November. "They think we have to fund readiness by taking the money away from the people who are being asked to do more and more."
The Pentagon has set up working groups to review the final report of the Military Compensation Commission when it is filed on Feb. 1 and to make recommendations to President Obama within 60 days. Heck said his subcommittee will be drawing up its own recommendations during that period.
The new subcommittee chairman said he expected a two-tiered approach to emerge from the Commission's recommendations to preserve pay and benefits for currently serving troops while proposing changes for the next generation of service members.
Alphonso Maldon, Jr., the chairman of the nine-member Commission, has signaled that the benefits of the current force would be maintained while also stressing that the Commission was "putting everything on the table, taking a look at everything."
In an interview with Federal News Radio last June, when the Commission filed an interim report, Maldon said the Commission members had learned in town hall meetings with troops that "cash is important."
"They want quality of life. They want to make sure that they don't lose benefits. They don't want the budget balanced on the backs of military members," he said.
For recruits entering the military in the coming years, pay and benefits would likely change under the Commission's final recommendations, said Maldon, a former assistant Defense Secretary for personnel and a founding partner of the Washington Nationals baseball team. "Their benefits would be affected by those recommendations."
Heck, a physician who served with the 325th Combat Support Hospital at al-Asad airbase in Iraq in 2008, said he had several bottom lines in mind when it comes to looking at the Commission's recommendations, beginning with Tricare.
"I am reluctant to pass along costs (in co-pays) to beneficiaries," Heck said.
Heck said he also would be against shutting down stateside commissaries – a frequent proposal of cost-cutters.
"I'm not sure that getting rid of commissaries is going to be a significant cost savings," he said.
-- Richard Sisk can be reached at [login to see] .
Congress
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Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 6
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Get rid of the waste that goes into spending on contractors that do the jobs of military members. The amounts of money we pay is absurd. I remember the time when we had cooks etc.
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SSG (Join to see)
You are absolutely correct Sir. When I came back to active duty I could not believe how many civilians were in charge of things that were once a Solder's job.
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1) Create an MOS with a unique command structure. These finance individuals would work at the Company and BN levels to oversee the expenditures and look to reduce waste.
a) Reporting would not be through the BN command but through another chain as to avoid overlap
b) These individuals would be required to be part of the budgeting process and help avoid when BN spend thousand on items not needed just to keep last years budget
c) Individuals would be responsible for ensuring purchases meet the needs of the army at reasonable costs. In other words, when something is available at a cheaper costs, the individual authorizes the purchase of the "hammer" at the local store
2) Percent of cost savings are shared as a percent of pay for each soldier in a BN
a) incentives for individuals to save costs
b) those the arrive at ideas to save money can quickly create receive on the spot, cash awards
3) Make those that negligently overspend responsible for it
a) GEN on personal trips around Africa see jail time; commit a fiscal crime and go to jail
b) individuals that are poor at budgeting/management are assigned solid forecasters/fiscal managers
c) ratings should reflect ability to limit costs and maintain budgets
a) Reporting would not be through the BN command but through another chain as to avoid overlap
b) These individuals would be required to be part of the budgeting process and help avoid when BN spend thousand on items not needed just to keep last years budget
c) Individuals would be responsible for ensuring purchases meet the needs of the army at reasonable costs. In other words, when something is available at a cheaper costs, the individual authorizes the purchase of the "hammer" at the local store
2) Percent of cost savings are shared as a percent of pay for each soldier in a BN
a) incentives for individuals to save costs
b) those the arrive at ideas to save money can quickly create receive on the spot, cash awards
3) Make those that negligently overspend responsible for it
a) GEN on personal trips around Africa see jail time; commit a fiscal crime and go to jail
b) individuals that are poor at budgeting/management are assigned solid forecasters/fiscal managers
c) ratings should reflect ability to limit costs and maintain budgets
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SPC Steve Bright
We could but the individuals should have a solid background in accounting, fraud control, auditing, statistical analysts, forecasting etc. Most DFAS individuals will have the background but some will.
Because of this I'd make the requirements for the position different from that of DFAS.
Because of this I'd make the requirements for the position different from that of DFAS.
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SPC Steve Bright
Maybe we need to make it a civilian position but I'd like to see less civilians and more military. I think we could train smart individuals in this MOS though it would take about a year of training if from scratch.
Basically be cramming CPA material and financing concepts into the MOS.
When a soldier ets then they'd be able to easily get a good job in numerous areas given the training as well.
Basically be cramming CPA material and financing concepts into the MOS.
When a soldier ets then they'd be able to easily get a good job in numerous areas given the training as well.
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SPC Christopher Smith
This would be the best idea, and we know the military is allergic to great ideas.
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I think there are a number of things that can be done, but it will take work.
1. TOO many Flag officers. Look at history. We have hundreds where fighting a 2 front "global war" (WW2) we had Tens.....
2. Streamline and improve the process of research, acquisitions, and purchasing. developing something that never gets to troops is a waste of DoD funding. Put it on the backs of companies....then they can pitch a final product to DoD and it can be purchased or not.
3. Healthcare: THIS is a hot topic. Of course, I can probably be streamlined more...but co-pay and deductible for active duty families is not the way to go. and as it is a benefit of serving to retirement, then don't mess with that either...cost of doing business.
4. Vesting (aka Retirement): Ok, so they don't like having to pay 50% at a 20 year retirement for the rest of the member's life. I understand that. There may be alternate options that would allow for a reduction of % paid out during the "working years" of retirement and a bump back to 50% at "retirement age" say 62 or 65. There are a number of different angles, but they need to be evaluated for both cost savings to the DoD/USA AND to the military member that has made the sacrifice. What is fair? This needs to be a very slow and deliberate evaluation.
I am sure there are other angles that should be looked at...this was just the low hanging fruit.
1. TOO many Flag officers. Look at history. We have hundreds where fighting a 2 front "global war" (WW2) we had Tens.....
2. Streamline and improve the process of research, acquisitions, and purchasing. developing something that never gets to troops is a waste of DoD funding. Put it on the backs of companies....then they can pitch a final product to DoD and it can be purchased or not.
3. Healthcare: THIS is a hot topic. Of course, I can probably be streamlined more...but co-pay and deductible for active duty families is not the way to go. and as it is a benefit of serving to retirement, then don't mess with that either...cost of doing business.
4. Vesting (aka Retirement): Ok, so they don't like having to pay 50% at a 20 year retirement for the rest of the member's life. I understand that. There may be alternate options that would allow for a reduction of % paid out during the "working years" of retirement and a bump back to 50% at "retirement age" say 62 or 65. There are a number of different angles, but they need to be evaluated for both cost savings to the DoD/USA AND to the military member that has made the sacrifice. What is fair? This needs to be a very slow and deliberate evaluation.
I am sure there are other angles that should be looked at...this was just the low hanging fruit.
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SSG (Join to see)
If #2 were handled correctly we would have plenty of wiggle room in the budget without needing to cut any troop benefits.
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