There's a storm brewing for military families on Capitol Hill -- and it comes in the form of a budget deal crafted by House and Senate budget leaders from both sides of the aisle.
I admit it -- when I first heard a deal was reached that would allow the Defense Department to avoid any more sequestration cuts I was relieved.
"It's about time these people came up with a solution," I thought.
But that was before I realized the negative, long term ways the deal would impact military families and the pay and benefits which we thought were a done deal when our servicemembers joined the military.
This budget deal doesn't seem to be a good deal for families at all, according to all the military family advocates we've heard from.Through it lawmakers are cutting the amount you can expect to take home after military retirement by somewhere around $124,000 for a typical officer retiree and $83,000 for a typical enlisted retiree, according to some number crunching done by MOAA.
Like we've talked about before, this budget deal represents a sharp turn from all the promises we've heard before. In the past lawmakers pledged that any retirement cuts would be made only to those of future servicemembers, so that pension expectations were clear before they joined. We were told that no cuts would be made to current retirees or the future pension of currently serving members.
Now if you want to know more about how this deal, which has already passed the House and will be voted on by the Senate this week, will impact YOU or if you just want to voice your opinion we have the perfect opportunity for you -- a Military Family Twitter Town Hall meeting.
TONIGHT SpouseBuzz will be joining NextGen MilSpouse and several other military spouse groups and organizations (including MOAA, National Military Family Association and MilitaryOneClick) on Twitter to discuss the deal and military families.
Here are the details:
What: Military Family Twitter Town Hall Meeting
When: 9 p.m. ET, Monday, Dec. 16 (TONIGHT)
Where: Twitter! Join us at #KeepYourPromise
Don't know how to join a twitter meeting (often known as a "twitter party")? Don't worry -- here are some great instructions.
