Gallego Sponsors Bipartisan Legislation to Avoid Pension Cuts to Military Retirees

San Antonio, Texas – U.S. Representative Pete P. Gallego (TX-23) joined with other Democratic and Republican members sponsoring bipartisan legislation to eliminate cuts to cost of living adjustments (COLA) for military retirement payments. The bill is being introduced by U.S. Representative Jeff Miller, a Republican and chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

The recently enacted Bipartisan Budget Act temporarily relieves sequestration – thus reducing many risks for active duty military members. However, at the same time, it made changes to cost of living adjustments (COLAs) to certain military retirement payments.

“The Bipartisan Budget Act temporarily addressed sequestration, but the military pension issue is problematic for many families. Since passing the budget deal, I’ve been working to find the right solution.  The legislation I’ve sponsored eliminates cuts to the cost of living adjustments brought about by the budget deal,” Representative Gallego said. “It’s difficult to get certain members of Congress to move fast on anything, but I’m glad this fix started moving within a week of passing the budget deal.”

This legislation is in response to the recent passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act, which was spearheaded by U.S. Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington). The Bipartisan Budget Act passed with support from large majorities of both Republicans and Democrats.

Initially, the budget deal from last week stated that working age veterans, between the ages of 42 and 62, would see a slight reduction to their cost of living adjustments in their military pension payments.  The original budget deal stated there would be a ‘catch-up adjustment’ once the veteran turned 62 years of age, so that the actual dollar value of a veteran’s pension would remain the same.

Overall, the budget deal passed by a 332-94 vote last week (78 percent of all members of the House voted in favor), with the support of 169 Republicans and 163 Democrats. The majority of Texas Republicans and the majority of Texas Democrats backed the deal.

For more information about Representative Gallego’s work in the U.S. House of Representatives, visit his website: http://gallego.house.gov.