Politicians on both sides of the aisle agree that deep cuts are essential to bring the federal budget under control. But they are still having trouble agreeing on how to implement the necessary reductions before next year.
The Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 requires the federal government to reduce spending by more than $1 trillion by 2021. This amounts to cutting about $109 billion from the budget each year. To accomplish this, the BCA created the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, otherwise known as the Super Committee.
“Sequestration” was the name given to the mandatory, across-the-board spending cuts that would occur automatically should the committee fail to compromise.
Policymakers in Washington are still struggling to find common ground, and now there is a great deal of worry over what will happen — especially to U.S. service members and military families — if sequestration is allowed to occur.
Depending on which branch of service you’re in, Government Travel Charge Card ATM withdrawal fees will increase to 2.2 percent in June or July. Based on pay cycles, these are the following dates of change:
Every year veterans play a waiting game to see if they’ll receive a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).
Congress has never failed to pass legislation to grant these increases. But keeping the adjustment in legislative limbo each year continues to rile veterans groups and some elected officials.
“Congress has routinely provided this increase, but it is an added step that confuses and leaves veterans feeling uneasy until the COLA bill is passed,” Raymond Kelly, director of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), said in a statement to the Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee.
A New Jersey Congressman recently introduced legislation that would end the waiting game through automatic COLA increases. It’s the latest attempt to give veterans greater peace of mind when it comes to these increasingly important adjustments.
After three years of planning, the Thrift Savings Plan will unveil its new Roth investment option on May 7. The much-anticipated program will allow already-taxed investments to create future earnings without any tax liability. The original plan allowed before-tax earnings to be invested but taxed upon withdrawal. See More
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