Tag: budget

Here is the latest military budget fight happening in Congress:

A dispute between House and Senate armed services committees over whether to slow growth in military housing allowances and raise off-base pharmacy co-payments has put at risk passage of a defense authorization bill.
“This is as bad as I’ve ever seen it,” said one armed service committee staffer, describing the impasse between House-Senate negotiators striving to reach a defense policy bill compromise two months into the new fiscal year. (Stars and Stripes)

This passage here just confirms what I have always believed that Congress rather have equipment built with no one to man it than protect personnel from cuts:

Buyer cautioned that he wasn’t speaking for the commission. But as a former lawmaker with years of experience on armed services, as a career reserve officer and as someone who has studied compensation issues for the past 18 months, Buyer said he believes the “baseline argument” that current pays and benefits are unsustainable “is false.”

“I learned immediately as a freshman congressman on the House Armed Services Committee [in 1993] about the power of the defense industrial base in Washington D.C.” Its “appetite on programmatic” defense spending “is so strong” that personnel budgets feel “tremendous pressure” and those backing other programs “will do everything they can to either cut personnel numbers or benefits to gain access to money to pay for programs.”

You can read more at the link.

The Air Force Times has an article about ideas airman submitted that helped save money. Of more interest were the ideas submitted to save real money that the AF rejected:

FIVE COMMONLY REJECTED
These ideas are commonly submitted and have been, and will continue to be, rejected, Yepsen said.

The five most common:

1. Overseas housing allowance
Modify the overseas housing allowance system to allow the government to recoup the housing allowance not utilized by the member. This idea can’t be implemented because overseas housing allowance is governed by policy external to the Air Force.

2. Temporary duty air travel
Allow members to book travel at fares lower than the government contracted rate. This idea can’t be implemented because temporary duty air travel is governed by policy external to the Air Force.

3. Commissary privileges
Open the commissary to civilians and contractors who work on base. This idea can’t be implemented because commissary privileges are governed by policy external to the Air Force.

4. Terminate Tops in Blue
The cost of the Tops in Blue program is 80 percent covered by nonappropriated funds, with a significant portion coming from commercial sponsorship dollars. After each Tops in Blue show, base and wing commanders provide feedback; these surveys indicate that 96 percent of commanders feel that Tops in Blue is an excellent value to their Airmen and to the Air Force. Additionally, MAJCOM commanders in 2011 overwhelmingly expressed the need for Tops in Blue. Based on this feedback, the service believes the program brings outstanding value and is an excellent tool for morale-building, community relations and recruiting.

5. Stop fallout money
Modify end of year spending habits to limit wasteful spending. The end of year closeout process is a deliberate process that carefully executes prioritized Air Force needs.

Number 1 has been discussed here quite a bit at the ROK Drop and the best way to implement this would be to have the servicemember and military split whatever the difference in cost savings is. For number 5 this is a colossal waste of money every year throughout the government I never see ending. Anyone else have some money saving ideas that the military should consider?