January 1, 2012
Active/Reserve Force/Family
Issues
- Sustain active duty, Guard and Reserve force sizes to meet
mission requirements
- Sustain military pay comparability with private sector
- Credit all post-9/11 active duty service toward
Guard/Reserve early retirement
- Restore tax deduction for reservists’ out-of-pocket
expenses for drill travel of 50 miles or more
- Create new incentives for employers to hire and retain
drilling Guard/Reserve members
- Provide incentives for employers/government/contractors to
hire military spouses
- Protect funding for commissary/exchange, dependent schools
and family support programs
- Improve educational transition for military children
- Establish flexible spending account coverage for out-of-pocket
health/dependent care expenses
- Improve access to affordable child care
- Expand career advancement account program (MyCAA) to
career spouses and degree programs
- Require better education
on serious financial disadvantages of the REDUX retirement option
Health
Care Issues
- Avert 30% Medicare/TRICARE payment cut and fix statutory
formula to improve access to care
- Protect against disproportional increases in TRICARE fees
- Oppose enrollment fee for TRICARE For Life or curtailment
of TFL coverage
- Allow three years of active-duty-level TRICARE coverage for disability
retirees/families
- Improve seamless transition between Defense and VA health
care/benefits systems
- Authorize option to subsidize
retention of operational reservists' civilian family health insurance
- Increase orthodontia payment
cap under active duty dental plan
Retirement/Survivor
Issues
- Oppose military benefit
changes that are inconsistent with service career sacrifices
- Preserve full-inflation cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs)
- End deduction of VA disability compensation from military
retired pay
- End deduction of VA
survivor benefits (DIC) from military Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities
- Implement a more
equitable military disability retirement system
- Restore VA survivor
annuities for qualifying widows who remarry after age 55
- Expand permanent ID card eligibility for elderly/disabled
beneficiaries
- Authorize survivors to retain a deceased retiree’s full final-month
retired pay
- Authorize SBP annuities
to be paid to Special Needs Trusts for permanently disabled annuitants
- Reform the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act
(USFSPA)
Veterans
and Other Issues
- Improve quality, efficiency, and timeliness of VA
claims-processing system
- Establish Post-9/11 GI Bill
benefits for Surviving Spouses of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts
- Authorize pre-tax payment of health, dental and long-term
care premiums
- Reduce Social Security penalties for certain civil service
and state retirees/survivors
- Prevent disproportional
Social Security/Medicare penalties for any population segment