Ron DeSantis Slams Murray-Ryan Budget Impact on Retired Military

U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., continues to take aim at the federal budget agreement crafted by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., which passed both chambers of Congress last month. On Monday, DeSantis slammed the deal for hurting military retirees.

The Ryan-Murray budget deal contained a provision to reduce the cost-of-living increases for military pensions for retired military personnel under the age of 62, DeSantis wrote on his congressional websites blog on Wednesday. Military retirees are essentially the only group affected by the budget; the changes to federal civilian retirement programs only applied to federal civilian employees not yet hired. This was not even done to fix Americas spending and debt problems but to mask the spending increases the deal institutes by busting the budget caps established in 2011 for fiscal years 2014 and 2015.

There are much better ways to save money, DeSantis added. I am co-sponsoring HR 3788, which will repeal the changes to military retirement programs and replace those changes with a requirement that taxpayers provide a valid Social Security number in order to be eligible for tax refunds under the child tax credit. This loophole allows individuals, some of whom are in the country illegally, to fraudulently claim child tax credits. This reform will save roughly $7 billion over 10 years, which is more than the changes to military pensions are forecasted to save over the same time. Shouldnt we take this sensible step to stop fraud and abuse in the federal government before fiddling with the pensions of military retirees?