Military Update: House panel rejects most proposed military benefit curbs

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2014/05/military_update_house_panel_rejects_most_proposed_military_benefit_curbs.html



Joe (You lie!) Wilson, R-SC

Military Update: House panel rejects most proposed military benefit curbs
By Tom Philpott
on May 05, 2014 at 7:26 AM, updated May 05, 2014 at 7:29 AM

The House armed services’ subcommittee on military personnel has rejected Pentagon plans to slow increases in military housing allowances starting next year, raise TRICARE fees on families and retirees, and narrow coverage by ending TRICARE Prime, the military’s managed care option.

But in shaping personnel sections of the fiscal 2015 defense authorization bill (HR 4435), the subcommittee wouldn’t block a planned military pay cap for January. The Obama administration seeks a 1 percent raise versus 1.8 percent to match private sector wage growth.

Also, subcommittee chair Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) hinted that the Defense Commissary Agency’s budget would be squeezed, and presumably so would shopper savings, if base grocery stores can’t run more efficiently.

The bill would require the Secretary of Defense to conduct a new review of commissaries, in this case by relying on “the services of an independent organization experienced in grocery retail analysis.”