FW: VVA: Senate Set to Close Commissaries

I think that our elected officials do not care about we the people our all of us veterans

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible;

 and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

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From: vva@vva2.talklist.com
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 2015 00:07:02 -0400
Subject: Re: VVA: Senate Set to Close Commissaries
To: vva@vva2.talklist.com; brucew@atlanticbb.net

Letters sent to my two Senators.

Steve Mackey
California State Council

In a message dated 6/8/2015 4:05:58 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, vva@vva2.talklist.com writes:

From TREA – The Enlisted Association – News for the Enlisted – June 8, 2015

Please contact your US Senator/s and ask them to keep the commissaries.

Thanks

Bruce Whitaker

Senate Set to Close Commissaries

This week the full U.S. Senate begins debate on its version of the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Unlike the House version of the NDAA, the Senate will be debating whether or not to accept the language in the NDAA that was approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee which would close military commissaries as they exist today and turn them over to private companies like Kroger, Walmart, and Safeway.

As reported by Bloomberg news service, the Department of Defense has wanted to reduce its subsidy of commissaries for several years, but it never has proposed privatizing them. However, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is leading the charge to close the commissaries as a way of cutting the defense budget.

According to Bloomberg, "The bill … would require the Pentagon to come up with a plan to fully privatize the commissaries by March 1, 2016. After that report, the Government Accountability Office would have 120 days to evaluate the plan. The language in the bill states that at the end of that 120 days, no matter what the GAO concludes, the Pentagon would start a pilot program to privatize no fewer than five commissaries in the largest markets.

"The proposal would set conditions – customer discounts, client satisfaction and savings to the government – that private grocers would have to meet if they take over the commissary operations."

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency which provides to the United States Congress audit, evaluation, and investigative services. Over the years, the GAO has been referred to as "The Congressional Watchdog" and "The Taxpayers' Best Friend" for its frequent audits and investigative reports that have uncovered waste and inefficiency in government. 

But whatever the GAO's report says, Senator McCain apparently doesn't care. He wants to go ahead and do away with the commissaries as they are today – period.

The Bloomberg article also stated, "In the committee report accompanying the bill, the panel's second-most-senior-Republican, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, spoke up on behalf of the commissaries and said putting a pilot program in motion before the September report would be premature."

In the committee the vote was 11 for keeping the commissaries and 15 to privatize them, indicating a split and offering hope for repealing the provision on the Senate floor.

However, in order for that to happen, it is imperative that you contact your Senators and tell them you want them to keep the commissaries as they are now. If they don't hear from large numbers of military people, your commissaries could be gone forever.

Because the debate is this week, you need to call them. The U.S. Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121 and they can direct your call to your Senator's office. Be sure to contact both of your Senators.

Thankfully, even if the Senate does vote to close commissaries, the House did not and so when they meet to work out differences in the two bills we will have a chance to defeat the Senate provision. But we'd rather kill it now in the Senate to make sure it's dead and buried for this year.