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HONORING OUR COMMITMENT TO THOSE WHO SERVE:

Claire McCaskill's Military Bill of Rights


As the daughter of a serviceman, Claire McCaskill knows that Americans owe their freedom to those who have bravely served their country at home and abroad in the military. She believes we have a responsibility to provide these men and women with the resources they need to do their jobs and the benefits and opportunities they and their families deserve during and after their service to our country.

As a U.S. Senator, Claire has pledged to keep our promise to these Americans by working with them to improve the lives and well being of our troops, our veterans and their families:

"Our armed forces embrace a code that says no one should be left behind. As a nation we should embrace this same ethic when it comes to providing for the men and women who choose to lay their lives on the line. Today I offer a Military Bill of Rights to honor their service and provide them programs worthy of their sacrifice."

ARTICLE I: PROTECTING OUR SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN IN COMBAT


Currently, over 6,035 brave men and women from Missouri are currently serving their country in Afghanistan and Iraq. The proposed funding for the National Guard falls short of authorized levels, even though our troops are already overcommitted. Despite the obvious needs, our forces have not been provided the equipment and resources they need to get the job done and return home safely.

Section 1: Provide Adequate Troop Levels To Meet Our Military Obligations And Achieve Our Objectives

A tremendous strain has been placed on our troops due to the number of American military operations abroad. The U.S. Army has been stretched by frequent troop rotations. A recent report prepared for the Pentagon concluded that the Army has become a "thin green line" that could snap unless relief comes soon. In failing to fund and recruit the number of forces authorized by law, there is an insufficient number of troops needed to effectively address the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Recruitment is suffering. In recent history, there has been no real call to national service, which has contributed to a recruiting crisis in the Army. At the end of Fiscal Year 2005, the active Army fell 6,627 short of its annual goal of 80,000 new accessions and the Guard fell 20% short of its annual goals.

Our National Guard and Reserves are similarly being stretched thin. The current proposed budget would fund 17,100 fewer Army National Guard and 5,000 fewer Army Reserves than are authorized by law. Any additional National Guard forces recruited, equipped, and paid, will require taking funds from other Army programs. Many units are on their second or even third tour in Iraq or Afghanistan. At least 40 percent of those who have been deployed are from the Guard and Reserve.

Claire McCaskill supports:

  • Increasing the size of the active U.S. Army by increasing our pool of deployable forces in the Army by at least 30,000 personnel to ensure that we have enough troops to meet our national and homeland security challenges without stretching our forces too thin.
  • Increasing support for recruiting and retention by giving the military services the flexibility they need to tailor and target recruiting and retention incentives to be as effective as possible, from education benefits to down payment assistance for first homes to referral bonuses for soldiers who bring in new recruits.

Section 2: Provide Our Troops With The Equipment To Do Their Job

The President's fiscal year 2007 budget fails to include requested equipment totaling more than $7 billion for the Army, $4.5 billion for the Navy, $5.6 billion for the Air Force, $2.5 billion for the Marine Corps, and $1.61 billion for the National Guard. The Army is requesting $450 million for unmet depot maintenance needs to repair the equipment broken during combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Army Reserve reported that in 2005 alone it had only about 76% of the equipment it requires and as much as 44% of its equipment needed servicing.

As we enter into the fourth year fighting the war in Iraq, thousands of troops are still without adequate body armor to protect them in combat. The Pentagon reports that 80% of the Marine fatalities caused by bullet wounds to the torso were preventable with extra body armor. An untold number of soldiers and their families have been forced to purchase their own body armor to ensure their protection, and while legislation was passed requiring the Department of Defense to reimburse families for their purchases of body armor, many of them have still have not been reimbursed.

According to news reports, many of the problems with military equipment "stem from a 40-year-old procurement system that stymies the acquisition of new equipment quickly enough to adapt to the changing demands of a modern insurgency.

Claire McCaskill supports:

  • Fully funding the military's equipment maintenance requirements.
  • Modernizing the federal government's 40 year-old procurement system.
  • Ensuring that our troops have the armor they need to prevent these unnecessary deaths.
  • Winning approval of a short term list of private body armor suppliers where service men and women are able obtain body armor until an adequate list of private suppliers has been made official.
  • Making certain that families are reimbursed for the purchase of such products.
  • Investigating all failures to provide our troops with best available equipment.
  • Holding contractors accountable and demand more openness and competitiveness in the bidding process and better performance for those who win contracts to provide protection for our servicemen.

ARTICLE II: PROTECTING MILITARY FAMILIES


No military family should ever have to worry that service to their country could adversely impact their pay, their homes, their health care, or their future.

Section 1: Protect Their Pay And Benefits

Right now, nearly 30 percent of National Guard and Reserve troops that get called up face a "Patriot Penalty," being forced to take a pay cut when they lose their civilian salaries. In November, 2005, the Senate unanimously accepted an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization bill offered by U.S. Senators Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) that would help eliminate the Patriot Penalty. The amendment would provide reservists with a direct payment of up to $3,000 a month to make up for the difference between their civilian salary and their military salary. However, the amendment limits compensation to no more than $36,000 a year. Plus, it does not kick in until 18 months into deployment, and reservists can only be deployed a maximum of 24 months so it would only cover 6 months of pay cuts.

Additionally, the proposed budget fails to include funding for the promised increase in death benefits for the families of the servicemen and women who are killed in action. The budget also fails to provide targeted pay raises for senior enlisted personnel, junior officers, and warrant officers - the troops we most need to retain.

Claire McCaskill supports:

  • Ending the Patriot Penalty for ALL National Guard and Reservists by providing a tax credit of up to $15,000 a year for companies already doing the right thing by paying the salary difference for their guard member-employees and offer a direct payment, of up to $50,000 a year, to Reservists whose companies cannot or will not make up the difference.
  • Increasing penalties for companies and institutions that violate the Service Members Civil Relief Act, which protects military families from foreclosure and eviction.
  • Requiring the Department of Defense to better educate military families about their rights under the Service Members Civil Relief Act.
  • Offering returning veterans $5,000 toward a down payment to purchase a home, in addition to existing Veterans Affairs home-loan guarantees.

Section 2: Protect Their Health Care


Last year, 5,552 of Missouri's veterans were shut out of the VA health care system.

The VA system is still plagued by long backlogs, with some veterans waiting months to be accepted into the system. Nearly half of the military servicemen and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan will require health care services for the physical and psychological traumas of war, yet the Veterans Administration's medical services has been underfunded by at least $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2007 alone. This is the second consecutive year that the proposed budget falls $1 billion short of the veterans' health care needs. The VA budget can be cut because it is a discretionary program, which means that there are veterans who, after having served this country, have to go without some of the basic care they were promised they would get. By requiring the mandatory full funding of the VA, veterans will not have to risk such shortfalls on a yearly basis.

Currently, Reservists and National Guard members who sign up for the military health care system risk losing their right to reinstate their old employer-sponsored plans, and while soldiers can restore their old policies, there are currently no protections against premium increases.

Claire McCaskill supports:

  • Fully funding the Veterans Administration.
  • Protecting access to employer-sponsored health care for those troops who wish to remain covered by their civilian employers while they are on active duty.
  • Blocking increases to health insurance premiums for reservists and members of the National Guard who return from war and reinstate their old policies.

Section 3: Protect Their Future

The Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) was written long before today's soldiers enlisted.

As a nation, we must be committed to enhancing the G.I. Bill and job training programs while providing full cost of tuition and fees and a living allowance for 36 months of school for those who enlist for at least four years of active duty military service. Furthermore, we must provide first-rate education benefits to reward those who have served and to recruit our most able young men and women to serve our nation in the Armed Forces.

We must provide first-rate education benefits to reward those who have served by enhancing the GI Bill and Job Training Programs. We should be covering the full cost of tuition and fees, for those who enlist for four years of active duty military service rather than less than two-thirds of the average cost of attending a four-year public college, which the current Montgomery GI Bill pays right now.

Claire McCaskill supports:

  • Modernizing the GI Bill to bring the benefits up to today's standards.
  • Providing a generous college or vocational training package for returning veterans: $75,000 over 48 months to pay for college or vocational training or to repay existing student loans.
  • Making returning veterans eligible for assistance with down payment on a first home: $5,000 down payment to purchase their first home, in addition to existing VA home-loan guarantees.

ARTICLE III: PROTECTING OUR VETERANS


We must commit to honor those men and women who make the sacrifice to serve our country by providing them with the benefits they deserve when their service is complete.

Section 1: Protect Healthcare for Veterans and Their Families

The 2007 budget would raise health care costs for 1 million veterans by imposing new fees that would cost them more than $2.6 billion over five years and drive at least 200,000 veterans out of the system. It would double the co-payment for prescription drugs from $8 to $15, and impose an enrollment fee of $250 a year for category 7 and 8 veterans, who make as little as $26,902 a year. The budget also increases TRICARE health care premiums for 3.1 million of the nation's military retirees under 65. Premiums will double for senior enlisted retirees and triple for officer retirees by 2009 and drug co-payments will increase.

In 2003, Priority 8 veterans banned from receiving VA services. This has prevented 1 million veterans, who make as little as $26,902, from enrolling in VA health care. (Priority Group 8 veterans are those veterans with no service-connected disabilities and with incomes above a threshold amount that is based on geographic location.)

Claire McCaskill supports

  • Blocking proposed increases in Veterans' co-payments and enrollment fees.
  • Protecting bonuses and special pay for those who are permanently and severely injured or wounded or killed in service.
  • Continuing combat pay and other additional compensation during recovery from combat injuries
  • Eliminating the ban on Priority 8 Veterans.
  • Providing exemplary mental health services to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, who many experts predict will soon be 170,000, and for whom the President's budget calls for only about a 14 percent increase in funding.

Section 2: Protect Disabled Veterans

The Disabled Veterans Tax, which forces disabled military retirees to give up one dollar of their pension for every dollar of disability pay they receive, must be fully repealed. Approximately 400,000 military retirees with service-connected disabilities to continue to pay the Disabled Veterans Tax. In 2003, the Bush Administration threatened to veto the entire defense authorization bill if it included a provision to end the Disabled Veterans Tax. The Disabled Veterans Tax affects the promised benefits for 6,406 military retirees in Missouri.

Claire McCaskill supports:

  • Fully Repealing the Disabled Veterans Tax.