Members, below is an e-mail from our International President, Doc Mc Causlin regarding some HOT issues on Capitol Hill. The key take-away is that Doc is fighting for our benefits and has the respect of members of Congress. The best thing we can do to support his efforts and the efforts of our lobbyists is to keep our memberships current and convince our friends and coworkers to join.
I hope your Columbus Day was a good one, and I hope your Legislative Awareness week is productive and safe.
Subject: Pres Doc sends re: Support in Congress
About 3 weeks ago I had 6 meetings on the Hill (3-Senate, 3 House). At all, I really pushed for some “fine tuning” improvement on the recently enacted Military Education Benefits transferability area and planted some serious seeds to HALT any movement towards the QDR Panel recommendations back in July/August. That Panel recommended that all military retirement compensation not be paid until reaching age 57 regardless of what age a member retired at. They also recommended that NO medical benefits begin until reaching age 65 regardless of what age the member retired at. During the interim years, you would have to purchase your own medical insurance plan(s) for you and family even tho, they would not be paying you retirement pay until age 57.
I received a letter from Congressman Bob Filner (Chairman, Veterans Affairs Committee) dated 18 Sep and I wanted to share his comments with you. He is a strong advocate for quality of life concerns.
“Dear Doc, It was a pleasure to meet with you again. I anticipate another year of progress in meeting the needs of our veterans! I appreciate your suggestions about the issues that are important to tackle: transferability of the GI Bill educational benefits, no delay in retiree pay, and health care for military retirees. Working together, we will accomplish our goals.
Sincerely, Bob, Member of Congress”.Please tell our AFSA members and the thousands of potential members and their families that AFSA is not standing by idle on these critical issues that affect our active duty, Guard, Reserve, and retired folks and their families. There is a lot of rhetoric on the tube and radio with the General Election just around the corner next month but we are continuing to stay the course on the aforementioned issues.
Thanks and have a great Columbus Day Holiday. Pres Doc
