Warner and Kaine introduce Military Retirement Restoration Act to repeal benefit cuts

U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) have introduced legislation to repeal and replace the proposed $6 billion cut to military pensions included in the Bipartisan Budget Act, according to a joint news release Dec. 18 from their offices on Capitol Hill.

The compromise budget agreement, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week and is scheduled for a Senate vote today, Dec. 18, would cut $6 billion over 10 years by reducing cost-of-living adjustments (COLA)  for working-age military retirees by 1 percent beginning in January 2015, the news release went on to say. 

The Military Retirement Restoration Act would replace this provision with new legislation that could raise as much as $6.6 billion over ten years by preventing companies from avoiding U.S. taxes through the use of foreign tax havens.

Sen. Warner was quoted as saying, “While the changes to military pension COLA increases may look insignificant to some, this is real money to a lot of families…. I remain committed to pursuing a comprehensive deficit reduction package, but we should not unfairly single out our military families.”

The news release quoted Sen. Kaine as saying,“The Senate worked hard to pass a budget last March that did not contain reductions in COLA for military pensions because it was not the way we felt we should be dealing with the budget. It’s my hope that we’ll be able to undo these changes before they take effect in 2015.”