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SPECIFIC BILLS:
Honor America's Guard-Reserve Retirees Act,
H.R. 679
Sponsored by Reps. Tim Walz (D-Minn), Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Tom Latham (R-Iowa). This bill would authorize 'veteran status' for National Guard and Reserve members who are entitled to a reserve retirement at age 60, but were never called to active federal service for a long enough period during their military careers.
Reserve Retirement Deployment Credit Correction Act, HR.690
Sponsored by Reps. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) and Tim Walz (D-Minn.). This bill would eliminate the per-fiscal year calculation of days of certain active duty or active service used to reduce the minimum age at which a member of a reserve component may retire for non-regular service.
Reserve Retirement Deployment Credit Correction Act, S.240
Sponsored
by Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Saxby Chamblis (R-Ga.). This bill would allow accumulation of days into 90 day periods over two fiscal years of certain active duty or active service used
to reduce the minimum age at which a member of a reserve component may
retire for non-regular service.
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SPECIFIC EQUIPMENT OR POLICY ISSUES:
Stop Sequesration Now!
The admininstartion's new defense strategy guidance bases force structure of budget limitations. This is only further complicated by the Budget Control Act of 2011 that has triggered sequestration.
Sequestration automatically cuts the federal budget, the Department of Defense faces a trigger of an additional $500 billion in budget reduction starting on 1 March 2013 unless Congress finds an offset or agrees to reconciliation.
Secretary of Defense Panetta has warned Congress that if the automatic cuts of sequestration are allowed to take effect then the number of U.S. ground troops would fall to pre-1940 levels; the Navy would have the smallest number of ships since 1915; and the Air Force would be the smallest ever. Severe cuts would be taken from the Reserve Component.
It is important to get Congress to resolve the budget now, rather than wait until after cuts have begun.
Doc Fix - Stop Medicare physician fee cuts
Time is running out, fees can be cut at the end of 1912. While Congress passed legislation and subsequently President Obama signed into law to avoid a 27% cut in Medicare physician fees, Congress still needs a permanent fix rather than kicking the issue down the road. The cuts will reduce the number of physicians accepting Medicare patients and it will have a detrimental effect on military health care as well. TRICARE physicians must accept payments based on the Medicare fee structure.
If the fees are cut in the future then military families of those Actively serving, National Guard and Reserve members and their families, military retirees, and retirees' families will all be affected. Rather than cutting costs, the scheduled reductions will cut access to health care. While legislation postponed the cuts until December 31, 2012, action must be taken by Congress to stop these accumulating reduction and fix the problem.
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