Pentagon Promises to Try to Cut Pay and Benefits Again

Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work said Tuesday that the Pentagon will continue pressing to trim military pay, pensions, and housing allowances despite rejections by Congress.

The Pentagon will also try again to reform the Tricare health care system and kill the A-10 attack aircraft despite nearly universal opposition from veterans service organizations, Work said at a Council on Foreign Relations forum.

“This whole idea of compensation is absolutely critical. Compensation (reform) is a really big deal” in DoD’s efforts to maintain readiness, fight wars in Afghanistan and the Mideast and rebalance forces to the Pacific while working under the budgetary restrictions of the Congressional sequester process, Work said.

Matters will come to a head in February when DoD presents its next budget and the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission presents its long-awaited reform recommendations, Work said.

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