By midnight tonight the House and Senate will have to come to an agreement on the resolution to
keep the government running into next year.
But it seems there is also a lot of pressure and behind the scenes scrambling to reach agreement
on the National Defense Authorization Act before the Christmas break.
Congress has not failed to pass the authorization in 58 years. The bill covers military spending and
many personnel policy changes. The House of Representatives last week passed a revised version
last week with the DADT wording removed.
The new START debate is still going on, and several nominations to be confirmed before the year end;
so they may just run out of time.
The Senate has to pass their version, then it has to go to the House/Senate conference to hash out the differences.
Should the bill be passed and signed by President Obama, it would authorize a 1.4 percent pay raise
for the military starting next month. It would also extend Tricare coverage for dependents of military
members to age 26. Plus create a counter-IED database to help with troop protection efforts, direct
development of better lightweight armor for ground forces.
Plus we hope, finally have the Cold War Service Medal authorized. Then the battle will be with DoD
to approve and begin the process in order to have the medal issued.
Jerald Terwilliger
National Chairman
American Cold War Veterans
"We Remember"
---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996
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