Making Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2014 - Continued

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Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about an issue about which I am deeply concerned.

While I certainly appreciate the work done by Congressman Ryan and Senator Murray on the recent budget agreement, in my view there is a provision in this agreement which makes it a deal breaker. That provision is, there is $6 billion taken from our current military retirees over the next 10 years from their cost-of-living increases to pay for this budget agreement.

I do not believe we have to take from the backs of our men and women in uniform to pay for more spending. I believe there are other ways we can find $6 billion in the trillions and trillions we will spend over the next decade, rather than taking it from the men and women in uniform who have sacrificed the most for our country.

What troubles me most about this particular provision of this budget agreement is our military retirees under the age of 62 were singled out. There are some changes to the contributions that Federal employees will have to make to their retirement, but those changes are only made prospectively to new hires.

Our men and women in uniform were not grandfathered under this agreement. They are the only ones singled out under the agreement to have their benefits cut.

What I find most appalling is the question we pressed and we pressed the Department of Defense for an answer to, and that is: What happens to our disabled veterans?

Many of us have been to Walter Reed. We have seen the injuries our men and women in uniform have sustained fighting on our behalf in Afghanistan. Some did multiple tours in Afghanistan and also served our country in Iraq. When you have a disability that occurs in the line of duty, you are entitled to a disability retirement, and this agreement will also cut the cost-of-living increases for our disabled veterans, which I find appalling, particularly with some of the horrific injuries too many of our men and women in uniform have sustained in defending our country and taking bullets for us all.

Under this agreement, an E-7--sergeant first class--who retires at age 40 could stand to lose $72,000 by the time he or she turns age 62. To put that in perspective, the average retirement for an E-7 is roughly $25,000. So in that period, this cut of 1 percent to their COLA could equate to $72,000. Think about the impact that has on our veterans and our men and women in uniform who have done so much for our country. Why are they being singled out in this agreement?

The other issue I wish to raise is this notion about which some have said: We have to vote for this agreement or we are going to face another government shutdown. I think that is a false choice. We may be in a rush to get home to our families for the holidays, but the notion we can't find $6 billion somewhere else on a bipartisan basis for our men and women in uniform is a false one. We can keep this government open, we can address the budget issues, but we should not do so on the backs of our men and women in uniform singled out in this agreement.

Right now, as this agreement stands, the so-called amendment tree has been filled. That means any amendments which either side would want to offer cannot be offered right now because the majority leader has filled every part of the amendment tree, not allowing individual Members to offer amendments.

Were I allowed to offer amendments, I have filed two amendments which would address this issue for our military and have found other pay-fors to address the issue. Those are just two ideas which I came up with. I am sure if we committed in this body to working on this issue, we could quickly find $6 billion that would not be taken from the backs of our men and women in uniform and would not be taken from the backs of our disabled veterans, who have already suffered too much on behalf of our Nation. I do not believe this is too much to ask of us.

We are blessed to be in this country and blessed to enjoy the freedoms we enjoy in this country because of our men and women in uniform and what they have done to defend our Nation.

Make no mistake, a military retirement is not like any other retirement. When you retire from the military, you understand that you can be called back. You can be called back at any time. And who is most likely to be called back? Our younger veterans. In fact, since 2001, thousands of our veterans who thought they were going back into civilian life have been called back by our government to serve their Nation again. They didn't get to say yes or no. They agreed to do that even though they thought they would be retired. That is what distinguishes a military retirement from other retirements, or an average civilian retirement.

They earned this for defending our country. I believe we should fulfill our responsibility to them, and that they should not be singled out. Of all the groups to be singled out, they should not be the group to be singled out, especially after everything they have done for our Nation.

I ask that we take a few moments in this body and come up with $6 billion some other way instead of taking it from the backs of our men and women in uniform. Why don't we have an amendment process that would allow us to address this issue and allow us to fix this now?

To those who are saying: We will fix this later, that is such a Washington answer. For those who are serving our country right now in Afghanistan, what kind of comfort is that to them that we will fix this down the line after we vote on this agreement? How about fixing this now?

I ask my colleagues to fix this now on behalf of our military, the best in the world, those who have sacrificed the most for our country.

If this body is to pass this agreement, I would call on our Commander in Chief to veto this agreement. Bring us to the White House. Make the House and the Senate sit together so we can resolve this issue. As the Commander in Chief of this country, don't accept the cuts to the military and have our military retirees singled out, particularly our disabled veterans, in this agreement.

We can get this done. We can get this done before the holidays. Yes, we will suffer some personal inconvenience, but think about that. That is nothing compared to what our veterans have done for us and continue to do for us every single day in this great country.

With that, I yield the floor.

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