House Backs Military Pension Measure By Connor O'Brien, CQ Roll Call

House lawmakers endorsed legislation Tuesday that would repeal a cut in the cost-of-living adjustment to pensions for military retirees of working age. The House advanced 326-90 the bill (S 25) under suspension of the rules, an expedited process that requires a two-thirds majority for passage. House Republican leaders had planned to attach the measure to a bill (S 540) to extend the federal government’s borrowing authority (S 540), but changed course after determining that a majority of Republicans would not support the debt limit legislation.

The bill would modify the December budget agreement (PL 113-67), which included a 1 percentage point reduction in the annual cost-of-living adjustment for the pensions of military retirees under age 62. Under the legislation, the pension adjustment would apply only to members of the armed forces, or former members, who joined the military after Jan. 1, 2014.

“We have a chance today to treat our veterans with the honor they deserve by ensuring that they are fully compensated for their service during retirement, while also addressing other concerns facing our nation,” said Michael G. Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.

The bill also would establish a $2.3 billion fund to pay for changes to Medicare’s physician payment formula, known as the sustainable growth rate. The money could be used for either a short-term patch, known as a “doc fix,” or for offsetting the cost of legislation to replace the SGR and create a new payment system. Lawmakers are hoping to pass major legislation replacing the SGR before March 31, when the current doc fix will expire and physicians will experience a 24 percent cut in payment rates.

The bill advanced by the House on Tuesday also includes offsets. The measure’s costs would be offset by extending sequestration for mandatory programs for one year, until FY2024. While most Democrats supported the bill, several expressed disappointment with the legislation’s offset. “This nation is not broke,” said Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee, who said that Congress should revisit the extension of sequestration after the legislation is enacted. “We can fully fund, and should fund, our military as it relates to preparedness.”

Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee said the impact of the legislation on the budget would be profound. Smith, who voted against the bill, said that it would be a blow to military readiness and criticized lawmakers for rejecting Pentagon proposals to slow the growth of personnel costs.

“Here we have up-front money being spent on the promise that eight years from now we will cover those costs,” Smith said of the extension of mandatory spending caps. “So we’re really simply robbing one group of deserving people to pay another group of deserving people.”

The Senate is currently debating its own bill (S 1963) to repeal the military pension reduction. Senators voted 94-0 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the measure on Monday evening. That proposal, sponsored by Sen. Mark Pryor,,D-Ark., does not contain offsets.

CLOTURE=

Cloture is a procedure used occasionally in the U.S. Senate to break a filibuster. Cloture, or Rule 22, is the only formal procedure in Senate parliamentary rules, in fact, that can force an end to the stalling tactic. It allows the Senate to limit consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours of debate.