*Military Retiree Budget Provision

In February, Congress repealed potential changes to the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for military retirees contained in the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) and the repeal was signed by the President.

I do not support balancing the budget on the backs of our military and our veterans, which is why I cosponsored legislation (H.R. 3788 and H.R. 3789) to repeal the COLA changes and prevent any adverse impact to the Survivor Benefit Plan. Because the changes were not scheduled to take effect until the year 2016, there was time to fix this provision, which was accomplished.

I supported the BBA because it represented the best opportunity for our divided government to keep its doors open for the next two years, while reducing the deficit and bolstering military readiness. The Department of Defense, including troops in the field and TRICARE, was to be the only target of January’s $20 billion sequester cuts. Thanks to the BBA, we were able to replace the harmful, across-the-board cuts with targeted savings and still reduce the budget deficit by $23 billion without raising taxes at a time when the Senate wanted to increase spending by $1 trillion.

The federal government has no greater obligation than to keep Americans safe and to fulfill the promises we make to our service men and women. We will not be able to meet this obligation -- in the near or long terms -- if the budget deficit and the $17.5 trillion dollar national debt continue to grow unabated. If we are to face this challenge as a nation, there will be no easy choices. My commitment to my constituents is that I will approach such value judgments with the respect they deserve.