Budget/Appropriations

Senior U.S. military leaders soon will commission a sweeping study aimed at paring skyrocketing retirement costs, and it might be ordered by the commander in chief.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey told troops during a town-hall meeting at Germany's Ramstein Air Force Base that military retirement and benefits reform has been “pushed to the side of the table” as officials implement a first round of budget cuts.

That means Pentagon officials have been able to implement the first tranche of a $350 billion, 10-year budget cut without making changes to the military’s retirement and benefits system. The Pentagon says that will equal up to a $490 billion cut to planned spending.

But, the chairman said, “it’s still on the table.”

He announced Pentagon officials soon will launch the sweeping study of the retirement system, saying: “The president may even be the one who commissions [it].”

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U.S. generals often say troops fight the nation’s overseas wars and they handle the battles in Washington — and 2012 will feature several.

 In a repeat of 2011, Pentagon budget cuts will be at the center of just about every defense fight next year.



House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) is proposing a measure that would avoid the first year of sequestration cuts by reducing the federal workforce by 10 percent in the next decade.

McKeon’s legislation, which he announced in a Thursday press conference, is designed to help stave off a potential $500 billion in automatic defense cuts through sequestration.

His bill cuts $127 billion, McKeon said, by reducing the federal workforce through attrition and hiring back only one federal worker for every three who retire.

Ninety-two House members signed a letter supporting Obama's threat to veto any attempt to undo the automatic defense cuts.

Republican senators face an uphill battle in their effort to replace $600 billion in Defense Department cuts.

The House approved the bill once lawmakers were assured it does not allow the administration to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) introduced legislation Wednesday to undo the automatic defense cuts.

McKeon’s announcement comes on the heels of a group of four senators led by Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) declaring they will offer legislation early next year that would reverse the defense cuts through sequestration.

McKeon, McCain and other defense hawks in Congress have vowed to stop the sequestration trigger, which would prompt $500 billion in defense cuts in January 2013, since the supercommittee failed last month.

McKeon’s plan, which he’s discussing at a press conference Thursday, proposes a 10 percent reduction in the federal workforce through attrition, which he says would pay for the first year of sequestration cuts for both defense and non-defense spending.

While many people have predicted that the sequestration cuts won’t be dealt with until after the 2012 election, McKeon has said it has to be taken care of sooner because of the way the Pentagon budgets.

“The coming political year is likely to be marked with gamesmanship and brinksmanship.  My bill gives Congress a shot at statesmanship.  Over half of the deficit reduction efforts to date have come out of the military,” McKeon said in a statement. ““The troops simply don’t have any more to give.”

The House on Wednesday afternoon approved the rule for the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), setting up an hour of debate and a vote in the House later this afternoon.

Members approved the rule by a 245-169 vote that saw 13 Democrats join all but two Republicans.

The senators are concerned automatic cuts would hobble the military and leave it unable to carry out some future missions.

The White House threatened to veto the bill because of a provision regarding the detention of terror suspects.