AUSA testifies before retirement commission. The Defense Department’s claim that, if left unchecked, "personnel costs will consume the entire DoD budget" was among the topics discussed Nov. 5 at a hearing before the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission.AUSA’s Vice President for Education Lt. Gen. Guy Swan, USA, Ret., represented the Association.The commission, established by the fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, is charged with reviewing military compensation and retirement systems and to make recommendations to modernize such systems in order to ensure the long-term viability of the All-Volunteer Force.Swan told the members of the commission that the reality with regards to personnel costs is that they have stayed steady at about 30 percent for the last 30 years while the DoD budget continues to take a smaller percentage of total federal spending – about 17 percent now.Therefore, in the aggregate, personnel costs have been consuming less of the total federal budget over time.He also addressed other misconceptions such as:Compensation cost increases since 2001 prove that cost growth is out of control.AUSA firmly believes that 2001 is the wrong starting point for this argument. Congress implemented fixes throughout the 2000s to close a pre-existing chronic pay gap, repair recruiting and retention, and deliver promised health care coverage. Now that the fixes are in place, steep cost increases will not need to continue.The military retirement system is unaffordable and unfair.In reality, retirement costs as a percentage of pay have remained nearly constant over time. The 20-year retirement system was designed to ensure that enough mid-career service members would tolerate the hardships of military life and stay for a full career.It takes 5 – 8 years to create a professional NCO or junior officer and 15-17 years to create a battalion commander or command sergeant major.Experienced service members must be motivated to remain in service; they are irreplaceable. Without a robust retirement system, the All-Volunteer Force will not have enough new volunteers when the economy recovers and quality recruits have other career options.Health care costs are eating DoD alive.In reality, health care represents about 16 percent of the US GDP. In contrast, health care represents only about 10 percent of the DoD base budget.You know that DoD has underspent on TRICARE for three straight years by nearly $3 billion. Growth in FY 2012 was .6 percent.The TRICARE fee increases already put in place by Congress over the past three years mean the system can be sustained in its current cost structure.Continuous access to high quality health care is earned, deferred compensation for our troops – not an entitlement. Let’s remember that less than 1 percent of our citizen’s volunteer and they earn every penny they receive.Significant budget savings can be realized by cutting other forms of compensation.For example, adopting a "Chained CPI" approach for calculating cost-of-living adjustments could cost the average military retiree more than $100,000 over a lifetime, directly reducing quality of life, yet the savings realized from the military retiree population would be very small compared to the overall budget deficit.The commission’s report to the president and Congress is due by May 1, 2014, and will contain detailed findings and conclusions of the Commission, together with its recommendations for such legislation and administrative actions it may consider appropriate in light of the results of the study.Did you know that you can submit your comments/opinions to the Commission?Here is the link to their website. http://www.mcrmc.gov/index.php/public-comments.Make sure your voice is heard! 2014 COLA announced. The Social Security Administration announced that the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for 2014 will be 1.5 percent.This increase affects military retirement pay, VA rates for compensation and pension for disabled veterans and surviving families, and social security recipients and will begin on Jan 1.Additionally, based on the increase in average wages, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $117,000 from $113,700.Of the estimated 165 million workers who will pay Social Security taxes in 2014, about 10 million will pay higher taxes as a result of the increase in the taxable maximum. Veteran-related bills pass House and Senate. Under suspension of the rules, House lawmakers backed several bills that members of both parties called "bipartisan" and "common-sense" proposals.H.R. 1742, the Vulnerable Veterans Housing Reform Act of 2013, offered by Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., would exclude disabled veterans’ service-related benefits and expenses related to in-home care from being considered when calculating income eligibility for Section 8 rental assistance and public housing programs.Veterans’ Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., introduced H.R. 2189, a bill that would establish a commission to evaluate the backlog of veterans’ disability compensation claims and recommend ways to reduce the number of pending claims.As of Oct. 21, the number of pending claims reported by the Veterans Affairs Department stood at 717,007 – of which over 411,000 have been pending for more than 125 days.The Veterans Economic Opportunity Act of 2013 (H.R. 2481) would establish the Veterans Economic Opportunity Administration within the Veterans Affairs Department.The administration would be responsible for overseeing programs related to vocational rehabilitation and employment programs, veterans’ housing loan programs, veterans’ small business programs and educational assistance programs.The bill was introduced by Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas.Nevada Democrat Dina Titus’ bill (H.R. 1405) would require VA to provide, with notice of each denial on a claim for benefits, a form that may be used to appeal the decision.The bill also would permit employees of members of Congress and state and local governments to access the VA case-tracking system in order to inform veterans of the status of their benefit claims as they are being reviewed.The Veterans Advisory Committee on Education Improvement Act (H.R. 2011) would extend the Veterans’ Advisory Committee on Education by two years, until Dec. 31, 2015.Offered by Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., the bill would also expand the committee’s membership to include a veterans’ representative of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.After the bills were passed, Miller said, "Today, in a shining example of how our legislative process is supposed to work, Republicans and Democrats came together to support a range of legislation with two overarching goals: helping veterans, while improving accountability and efficiency at the Department of Veterans Affairs."Over on the Senate side, a bill that provides cost-of-living increases in veterans’ disability payments at the same rate as Social Security benefits passed by unanimous consent.Offered by Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013 (S. 893) would increase veterans’ disability compensation, survivor benefits and clothing allowances by the same percentage as Social Security old age, disability and survivor benefit increases scheduled to take effect on Dec. 1.The bill would also permit the Veterans’ Affairs secretary to administratively adjust benefits for veterans who receive compensation other than service-related disability benefits.