GOP-led Congress shaving the defense budget by taking money directly out of soldiers' pockets

[Stellar]

More at the link: DailyKos

The GOP-led Senate is advancing a way to shave a rather modest amount of money off the $600 billion Pentagon budget by dipping into the pockets of military personnel. In the latest defense budget bill, the Senate replaced a set monthly stipend for the housing allowance of service members with a reimbursement system that only covers their actual costs. The change will keep soldiers from pocketing any leftover cash from their housing stipend—"a popular way for single soldiers and "dual military" couples to offset low military pay," reports Max Rosenthal.

The stipends range from a little over $600 a month for an unmarried private to more than $5,000 a month for a high-ranking officer with dependents. [...] The changes would cost many soldiers hundreds of dollars of a month. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the move would save $2 billion over the next five years.

"This seems like a very odd thing to go after, just because it's such a drop in the bucket in the overall big scheme of things," says Dan Grazier, a fellow at the Project on Government Oversight, a government watchdog group.
Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says more meaningful cost savings can be found elsewhere in the budget, such as with the military health care system known as Tricare.

"Just the minor changes that Congress has

[yeoman6987]

1. A start would be for the congress stop making "toys" the military doesnt

Want or need. That would save a lot. Of course that would never happen in congress. Go after those with the already low paycheck.

[PearliePoo2]

2. Yet, the majority of military folks will vote Rethug AND Dump.

I'm hearing it from my own family members! Arrhhhggg! WTF? Yeah, vote G. O. P. and AGAINST your own pocketbook....cause, you know, Guns, God and Gays! fuck

[mercuryblues]

3. This could

actually end up costing more money in the long run.

You will need people to verify the amount paid in rent. Instead of a preset amount based on rank and family status, every allotment check will be different. Now you would need a department to handle complaints for the wrong amount and to see if there are over payments. Many soldiers pay more for rent than the allotment covers, will this program pay the actual rents people pay? A delay in allotments every time a soldier moves, while waiting for the forms to get verified and processed. Not to mention, I have never known anyone in the military to not have forms lost on quite a few occasions.

Now that I think about it, this legislation is a boondoggle waiting to happen. How many will be evicted while waiting for their allotment to be approved?

[Mc Mike]

4. When they yell 'Support our Troops!', they only mean 'shut up while we send them into combat!' nt.