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Friday, March 16, 2012

USA - HASC Chairman Vows to Fight TRICARE Cost Increases

HASC Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon

OFF THE WIRE
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee vowed Wednesday to fight the Defense Department’s proposed cost increases for troop and retiree health care, warning that the government could breach a “sacred agreement” with servicemembers.
California Republican Rep. Buck McKeon used a major address to challenge the Pentagon and Obama administration’s plans to increase the health care fees it charges certain TRICARE customers, arguing that some increases might be reasonable but the ones in this year’s budget submission were unreasonable.
“In last year’s defense bill, we acknowledged that modest increases in certain areas of military health care were appropriate. Those raises were both reasonable and small,” he said. “But recent proposals to pump up military health care fees by up to three hundred percent is absolutely unacceptable.”
Continued McKeon: “When our troops made a decision to volunteer for service, they entered a sacred agreement with this government. Part of that agreement was that their medical needs [would] be met. We made a solemn covenant with them. We cannot, and we must not break it.”
McKeon also doubled down on proposals and criticisms that have become familiar as congressional defense advocates grapple with shrinking DoD budget growth; legislative gridlock; and the looming threat of automatic, across-the-board reductions set to take effect next January.
Because Congress’ “super committee” could not reach an agreement last year on how to reduce the long-term U.S. deficit by $1.2 trillion, it triggered the “sequestration” of $500 billion in DoD budget growth starting in January 2013.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Pentagon leaders at every level have said sequestration would be disastrous -- it would hit on the heels of a first round of $487 billion in reduced growth over that same decade. But the partisan logjam on Capitol Hill means it isn’t clear whether lawmakers can avert sequestration in time.


McKeon and Arizona Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, have proposed legislation that would defray the cost of the first year of sequestration by reducing the size of the federal workforce.
“It pays for the most damaging year of sequestration, next year, and moves the budget debate into calmer waters,” McKeon said Wednesday. “While this is a simple, acceptable solution to a tough problem, I am open to any compromise or any plan that pays down sequestration in a responsible manner, without crippling Americans with tax hikes. From there, it is my sincere hope that Congress can work in a bipartisan manner on a year-by-year basis, thus reining in spending without gutting our national defense.”
But McKeon’s and other Republicans’ opposition to “tax hikes” is a major stumbling block for compromise: Many Democrats, including the House Armed Services Committee’s ranking member, Washington Rep. Adam Smith, have said Congress must increase “revenues” to continue to afford the military force and other federal programs.
Smith has suggested that Congress could let the Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of this year and use $1.2 trillion -- of the estimated total $4.2 trillion in “new” revenue -- for deficit relief. Under last year’s budget law, that would be enough to lift the threat of sequestration.
McKeon’s speech Wednesday, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., was geared toward getting the defense debate out of Washington and into voters’ consciousness.
“To put it plainly, we need your help,” he said. “We need your help restoring the concept of the “Reagan military.” Just the name invokes the concept of strength and certitude. I need you to be advocates for the principles that President Reagan advocated. I need you to have our troops’ back ... These cuts can be stopped, averted, held off. But it requires you to be involved. To be vocal. To be strong.”
Although it was a message likely to fall on friendly ears in Southern California, where defense and aerospace companies are a big part of the economy, it wasn’t clear Wednesday how much national play McKeon’s appeal would get.
Congress may not get serious about resolving sequestration until after November’s elections, which each party is counting on to strengthen its position. Smith has said he expects lawmakers to wait until the last possible moment to deal with the Bush tax cuts, which could effectively be the vote to ensure or prevent sequestration.
In the meantime, Panetta, the service chiefs and the Pentagon’s own comptroller have said repeatedly they are not planning for what to do in case the ax does fall.
Let your elected officials know how you feel about the proposed TRICARE fee increases.