Congress Taking Aim At Military Personnel Budget?

The Congressional Budget Office has issued a report laying out some alternatives to reign in the defense budget. One of their proposals is to bring back the pay gap:

Personnel expenses, he said, are a prime example. After adjusting for inflation, the average cost of an active-duty service member is 45 percent higher today than in 1998, he said. And, he added, that doesn’t even include health care costs, which have grown by an average of 7 percent annually. In the defense budget, health care costs are funded out of operation and maintenance accounts, not personnel accounts.

The Congressional Budget Office prepared some budget alternatives for Congress to deal with defense budget shortfalls. One of its options calls for capping military and federal civilian pay raises through 2015. For several years, raises approved by Congress have been 0.5 percentage point more than the average annual increase in private-sector wages. The CBO proposal would cap raises at 0.5 percentage point less than average private-sector raises, but would increase some special pays and bonuses to make up for the reduced pay.

Yikes!