Battle of the Bilge

Background

One of the most common reactions to the ongoing reports of potential cuts to defense spending since the August debt agreement has been ‘Cut Congressional benefits first’. These comments are usually accompanied by a list of statements regarding Congressional pensions, raises and health benefits. However, the information that is presented in the reactions is rarely accurate and sometimes misleading. In the January 13th edition of MOAA’s Legislative Update, some of the more widely discussed items are evaluated.

That portion of the update, written by Legislative Issues Manager Matt Murphy, is presented below.

Fact or Fiction: Congressional Benefits

Approval ratings for Congress are at a historic low, and our members often ask us what sort of benefits legislators enjoy.

The following information isn’t presented to defend Congressional perks, but only to dispel some myths that perpetually float around the internet. If we’re to have credibility defending military programs, we need to have our facts right.

1) Members of Congress get full pensions for life after serving just one term.

Mostly Fiction. The Congressional retirement system is very similar to that of federal civilians. It’s true that a member of Congress can become eligible for retirement benefits after a minimum of 5 years of service if they’re age 62 or older, but only for a partial pension.

To qualify for a pension a member of Congress must meet one of the following service and age requirements:

5 years of service and age 62
20 years of service and age 50
25 years of service at any age

Like the military retirement system, Congressional retirement pay is calculated on a combination of their average high-three years of salary and a multiplier based on their length of service.

It’s also worth pointing out that members of Congress contribute to their own retirement and pay Social Security taxes. Once retired their Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) are sometimes held artificially below the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation.

Since the Congressional retirement system was overhauled in 1984 (to be less generous) the average annual pension is roughly $40,000.

2) Members of Congress don’t pay for their healthcare.

Fiction. Members of Congress and their staffs are eligible for the same health insurance as federal civilians, and they pay the same premiums. They can enroll in any insurance program offered under the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP).

One of the most popular plans under FEHBP (the Blue Cross Blue Shield Standard plan) costs beneficiaries $430 a month for a family, and $185 a month for individual coverage.

Starting in 2014, members of Congress and their staffs will be required to participate in the health care exchanges created under national health care reform.

3) Legislators receive free health care at military facilities such as Walter Reed.

Fiction. Members of Congress can receive care at the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, but the cost of such care is billed to their federal insurance.

4) Congress votes themselves pay increases every year.

Mostly Fiction. The law authorizes Congress a raise every year unless legislators vote to stop it.

Congress voted to forgo a pay raise in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Congressional pay increases are capped lower than the military raise. While military raises are tied to the average American’s (the Employment Cost Index), congressional raises are capped one-half percentage point below that.

In 2012 members of Congress will collect a salary of $174,000 (Congressional leaders receive more).

MOAA Online Help Center

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From MOAA’s Legislative Update

A particularly cruel hoax has hit the email circuit regarding an increase in compensation for disabled veterans, as highlighted in this week’s Legislative Update:

VA Disability Hoax

An e-mail making its rounds on the internet claims that new legislation will dramatically increase veterans’ disability compensation – in some cases by more than 100 percent.

But that claim about H.R. 4667, the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Act of 2010 is a hoax. The bill does exist, and it was recently passed by Congress, but it only authorizes the same COLA increase for VA beneficiaries that will be paid to Social Security annuitants this year (which almost certainly will be zero).

Unfortunately, a prankster created a fake version of the bill, put it out on the internet and it quickly turned viral. It just goes to reinforce the old adage: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Additional Information

The various emails that are being passed around contain an attached .pdf document with a critical paragraph taken out and replaced with fraudulent text. You can read the entire bill here.

Here is how the determination of increase paragraph actual looks:


The email attachment replaces that language with the following:


The hoax copy also has an additional page:


Raising the hopes of disabled veterans is pretty much as low as you can go. And there are many things about this that will make it more effective than the usual email forward. First, the information is presented in the attachment that perfectly mirrors the actual bill with the exception of the skewed scanning. People that do the usual run through of verification would be able to confirm that the bill was passed in the House earlier this year and passed the Senate by the use of Unanimous Consent on September 22nd. Unless you dig into the language of the real bill and do a comparison, the hoax can be effective.

Discussion

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Note of Apology

In response to the criticism in the comments I wish to extend my apologies for any partisanship that came through in my article. I attempted to address the facts and their presentation in the viral email and to point out that these new taxes are not realistically a given considering the (in)action that Congress would have to take for some of them to come into effect. This is something that is not stated in the email itself and supporting documentation is provided.

MOAA is apolitical by law and by nature, and this blog was created by the Member Service Center to address the many viral emails that we encounter daily. Instead of responding to each one individually, we started it to have a reference point to refer members to. It in no way takes time away from our legislative team’s actions nor does it affect our mission or goals, which are clearly laid out on MOAA’s Legislative Action Center. This is for informational and discussion purposes only and should not be seen as an extension of MOAA’s core principles and goals.

I can certainly understand the sentiment expressed, especially by Colonel James Rogers, that wishful thinking and predictions of Congressional action can be seen as partisan. It was not meant to be a support of any group, but an attempt to address specific items in the email.

Continue Reading »

Too Successful to Keep

In 2009, the MyCaa program was initiated to help all servicemembers’ spouses further their careers by providing up to $6,000 in grants to take a variety of educational and credentialing programs. The program was meant to help with the disruptions to military families caused by frequent moves and deployments.

However, after the program proved to be incredibly popular and subsequently expensive, the program was cut off to new participants. After an uproar of complaints, the Department of Defense announced in July that the program would open up to new applicants again starting in October. At first the news seemed to be excellent. Furthering spouse education and career advancement should be a high priority of DoD to help military families.

Then we all took a closer look at what the new program entails.

Too Weak to Succeed

First, the amount of the aid was reduced to only $4,000 over a two year period, with a yearly ceiling of $2,000. This includes a total cap of $4,000 per person, so you can not continue beyond the initial phase. It also requires the spouse to complete their associates degree or certification or licensing program courses within three years, starting with the date of the first enrollment. In other words, DoD will help you start out on a program that will most likely take more than two years given the demands of family life (especially for spouses of deployed servicememebers), but they won’t help you go for a bachelors degree or post graduate education.

Second, and more important to our members and spouses, the program only applies to the most junior servicemembers’ spouses (E-1 through E-5 in the enlisted grades, warrant officers in grades W-1 and W-2, and officers in grades O-1 and O-2). Spouses of any other grades are not eligible for educational aid and it is also only applicable to active duty personnel.

Help Us Fix This

Our military force is stretched thin and deployments are stressing families to unprecedented levels. What kind of message is this reinstatement of the program at severely under funded and restricted levels sending to our troops and their families? If the program was too successful to fund originally, doesn’t that signal a very strong need in the community? And with the economy the way it is, shouldn’t we be promoting a program that will lead to a stronger workforce?

Many military organizations have praised the reopening of enrollment for MyCaa, but MOAA feels that it is not acceptable with the new guidelines. Please help us express this to Congress and get the inequity fixed.

Use this link to send a message to your elected officials. Share the link with friends. You don’t need to be logged in or in the military to use the link provided. Our military families are too important to be taken for granted.

Discussion

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Must Be Election Time

No need to go into deep detail in the introduction for this viral email targeting President Obama for the veterans audience. Battle of the Bilge will be back soon as MOAA once again proves it is a great place to work for and this author will be returning from Paternity leave.

The Email

Wounded Warriors Face New Tax This Independence Day
From John Kartch and Ryan Ellis on Friday, July 2, 2010 12:51 PM

As the nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day with parades and barbecues, America’s veterans face a new tax on prosthetic limbs and other vital medical devices.

The health care overhaul passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama earlier this year contains a new tax on medical devices such as prosthetic limbs, pacemakers, and wheelchairs. This tax, which its proponents claim will raise $20 billion over the next ten years, contains no exemption for the nation’s 22 million veterans. In fact, Senate Democrats specifically refused to exempt veterans from the tax.

On March 24 2010, Senate Democrats rejected an amendment offered by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to the healthcare bill. This amendment (SA 3644) would have prevented the medical device tax from hitting veterans covered by the Veterans Healthcare Program or TRICARE for Life. This amendment was rejected by a vote of 44-54. All but five Democrat senators voted in favor of retaining the tax for veterans.

The medical device tax was one of over twenty new or higher taxes in President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul. This permanent new tax is being collected now.

“On March 24, Senate Democrats had the opportunity to exempt our veterans from Obamacare’s new tax on medical devices such as prosthetic limbs. But 54 Democrats voted against the measure. They chose to side with the tax-and-spend crowd in Washington over our wounded warriors,”said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “This is one of the many reasons Harry Reid and the Democrats did not want Americans to read the 2,500 page health care bill before it was passed.”

In addition to those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Department of Veterans Affairs reports the following number of veterans from America’s wars:

World War II: 2,079,000

Korean War: 2,507,000

Vietnam War: 7,569,000

Desert Shield/Storm: 2,254,000

No, Just No

First of all, the tax that was approved will be levied against the companies that provide the equipment and prosthetics, not against veterans.

For the beneficiaries, the devices are provided without charge through the VA and are not taxed under TRICARE.

Discussion

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