Personnel Committee Goals

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Legislative Goals for 2019

This Committee works to ensure that military compensation and benefits are aligned to the levels needed to recruit and retain personnel end strength to meet National Security strategies. Compensation must be equitably applied to the seven Uniformed Services, reflect the unique demands of service, and allow service members and their families to maintain their readiness.

Quality Housing & Relocation Support
  • Increase oversight of privatized housing to ensure quality, standardized housing and service are provided, along with equitable utility rates.
  • Address the extent and proper abatement of health and safety hazards in military housing, barracks, and installation facilities to protect the health and well-being of service members and their families.
  • Fight any decreases to the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) and eliminate BAH Reserve Component/Transient (BAH RC/T), instead providing full BAH for any active duty service.
  • Monitor implementation of reimbursement for costs related to licensure or certification a spouse may incur resulting from a PCS move with a retroactive date of December 12, 2017. 
  • Request a report from DoD on the financial impacts of PCS on military families, including delayed or insufficient reimbursements related to travel or PCS, mandatory use of the Government Travel Credit Card and advanced allowances meant to reduce financial hardship.

Education
  • Keep the Tuition Assistance program in place and fully funded at 100% for all participating service members.
  • Ensure the Tuition Assistance program is being utilized at high quality institutions of higher learning by requiring schools to spend at least 40% of tuition on instruction.
  • Force schools to close the 90/10 loophole by limiting Tuition Assistance to schools with no more than 90% of revenue from all federal sources including VA and DoD
  • Ensure adequate funding of Impact Aid through both the Department of Education and DoD for schools with military children. Oppose any proposal that would divert funds from the Impact Aid program.

Family Readiness & Support Structure
  • Encourage Congress and the Services to fully fund effective, evidence-based programs and support mechanisms designed to assist military members and their families with deployment readiness, reintegration and transition.
  • Advocate for improved access to high quality, affordable child care to meet readiness needs of military families.
  • Advocate for continued expansion of family access to mental health counseling through programs such as Military Family Life Consultants and Military OneSource.
  • Advocate for uniformed spouse education and career opportunities that are accessible, effective and transferable. Ensure that legislative and executive actions support positive advancement in unemployment and underemployment rates among uniformed spouses.
  • Request a report to Congress on the Military Family Readiness Council’s recommendations to the Secretary of Defense and follow-on actions.
 
Financial Protections
  • Eliminate discrimination against uniformed service members in employment environments by ensuring enforcement of the USERRA. 
  • Maintain the integrity of the MLA and its protections of service members and their families by resisting weakening of any elements within the law. 

Compensation
  • Ensure annual pay raises remain tied to the Employment Cost Index (ECI) as prescribed by law, and work with Congress to restore the nearly 3% in accumulated lawful pay raises lost between 2014 and 2016.
  • Oppose proposals that reduce value of current compensation or undermine long-term retention.
  • Advocate for full “5% plus 1%” TSP government match originally recommended by the MCRMC in their retirement recommendation, and extension of the government match for the entire length of the service member’s career.
  • Change the calculation of a uniformed service member retiree’s defined benefit retirement entitlement such that any qualifying inactive duty performed for ‘points only’ when converted to active duty days at retirement shall be calculated with a 2.5% multiplier
  • Require that financial literacy and general benefits training be provided, for both the service member and spouse, at all major “touch points,” and emphasize member responsibility for contribution necessary for maximum benefit.
  • Promote authorization of flexible spending accounts to enable military families to pay health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.
  • Provide dislocation allowance for separating and retiring service members, especially those being separated for the convenience of the government.
  • Ensure that any changes to the current TRICARE system do not increase out-of-pocket expenditures to eligible currently serving members and their families, retirees, or survivors.
 
Wounded Warrior
  • Ensure that any restructuring of the current disability and compensation systems does not inadvertently reduce compensation levels for disabled service members and/or their caregivers.
  • Support compensation for loss of member's quality of life (QOL), and for programs assisting in the DoD to VA transition.
  • Eliminate the distinction between combat vice non-combat disabilities when determining retirement benefits.
  • Extend BAH and housing eligibility up to one year for medically retired, severely wounded and their families.
  • Include Enhanced Disability Severance Pay in the Combat-Related Special Compensation definition, but otherwise eliminate distinction between combat vice non-combat disabilities when determining retirement benefits.
  • Urge the Department of Defense to expand the Operation Warfighter internship program to include placing wounded, ill and injured service members with nonprofit organizations and civilian industry.

Defense Resale
  • Preserve the Commissary benefit as part of the overall pay and compensation package, including high quality products, maintained savings, access, and customer satisfaction.
  • Maintain appropriations for the Exchanges with proper support and vectoring of MWR dividends.
  • Ensure any consolidation of the Commissary and Exchange systems in no way degrades the earned benefit.
  • Ensure Congressional oversight of all changes impacting the military resale system.  Benefits derived from the resale benefit must be preserved, to include: quality, savings, and access for patrons; and sufficient MWR dividends to ensure access to quality of life and support programs.