Military Officer - April 2007 - (Page 36) washingtonscene for retired pay, basic pay, and other major military compensation elements. These core career incentive programs that are so critical to longer-term retention and readiness should not be subject to significant, budget-driven adjustments at the discretion of the secretary of defense. reduced to 4 percent. With the forces bearing such vast wartime sacrifices and having seen their past two raises more than eaten up by inflation, this is not the time to stop making progress toward full comparability. VA health care/fees: MOAA’s happy the FY 2008 VA budget includes $34.2 billion for health care — $3 billion more than budgeted for FY 2007. That’s a far more realistic budget than those sent to Congress in recent years. Unfortunately, for the fourth year in a row, this budget also proposes significant fee increases for certain nondisabled veterans enrolled in the VA health care system. It would nearly double pharmacy copayments from $7 to $15 for such veterans and impose a new annual enrollment fee of $250 to $750, depending on family income. MOAA has not supported such fee increases in the past, in part because the VA health care system offers no guaranteed access standards and has extended waiting times for appointments at many facilities. MOAA strongly believes servicemembers who are charged an enrollment fee deserve guaranteed access within reasonable time standards. Congress has rejected similar VA fee increases for several years in a row, and we expect these will be rejected as well. Can the nation afford this budget? At the press conference, the Pentagon’s comptroller observed that this defense budget represents 3.9 percent of national spending or GDP. MOAA notes that’s relatively modest, compared to past experience. Over the past 60 years, the defense budget has averaged more than 5 percent of GDP — in peacetime, excluding the Korea, Vietnam, and Gulf War I years. Our nation certainly can afford this defense budget and more. A government that expects our military to carry out these kinds of superpower responsibilities has to acknowledge that it can’t be done on the cheap. [CONTINUES ON PAGE 38] More People, More Money Budget would raise forces, pay, and VA fees. T he $2.9 trillion budget proposal the president sent to Congress includes $481 billion for defense and $87 billion for the VA. Here are some specifics, in addition to the TRICARE issues addressed in the article on page 31: Army/USMC manpower: MOAA is pleased that the new budget would avoid the previously programmed drop in Army and Marine Corps force levels for FY 2008 and instead would raise the strengths of those services by 7,000 and 5,000 each year, respectively, through 2012. But MOAA remains concerned that it also includes significant, budget-driven cuts to Navy and Air Force personnel. Military pay raise: The budget calls for a 3-percent January 2008 pay raise and a 4.2-percent increase in housing allowances. The 3-percent raise tracks to the percentage increase in private-sector pay last year. MOAA thinks the pay raise should be at least 3.5 percent to continue recent progress toward restoring full comparability between military and private-sector pay. Every year since the “military pay gap” bottomed out at 13.5 percent (with attendant retention problems) in 1999, Congress has authorized military raises at least one-half percentage point above private-sector pay growth. As of 2008, the gap has been 36 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2007
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