Subject: PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW
FROM: FCoC legislative Chairman, Lt Col Bob Bienvenue, USAF ret
TO: Chapter Presidents, Chapter LLs and FCoC Board
SUBJECT: Request for Action by Chapter Leaders and your Legislative Committees:
In the latest MOAA's Legislative Update and in the April 10th MOAA Affiliate there was a CALL FOR ACTION to send a message to our Congressmen and Senators in advance of the visits by our Florida Council of Chapters President, LTC Marc Oliveri, and several other MOAA Board and Staff members with a Florida connection.to their Capital Hill offices on April 13th.
The timing of these meetings precedes the open hearings and deliberations by the HASC and SASC on the Administration's 2017 DoD Budget proposal. If you have been keeping track of those proposals you know that MOAA has serious objections to several of the provisions in it, mainly because of the financial penalties proposed on the currently serving military and their families, retirees and surviving spouses through reductions to the next pay raise and to other benefits and increased co-pays and enrollment fees for health care.
By using the link that follows below you can send a timely message to your specific representative and our two senators in advance of the meetings scheduled for Wednesday.
http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/alert/?alertid=71304666
I have four suggestions to help make this message more impactful:
The first suggestion is to copy the following edited message that contains specific numbers regarding the people most affected here in Florida by those provisions and paste into the capwiz text boxes that appear when use follow the link above..
My second suggestion is to copy the message (or my edited version below) and send (via email or fax) it to the Representative's local District Office asking them to please let your Congressperson know of the grass roots support there is on this matter from his/her constituents at home!
The third suggestion is to forward this message to your chapter membership and encourage their action as well.
My final suggestion is to follow-up with a phone call to both offices on Tuesday or Wednesday morning.
Communicating with our elected officials this way reinforces MOAA's strategy to send multiple messages on the same which highlights the importance and urgency of those matters to our elected representatives.
FCoC LLs Suggested Edited Message
Also included as an attachment to this email
The Military Officers Association of America, the nation's largest professional association of military officers, is "Storming the Hill" on April 13th. More than 160 national, state, and local MOAA representatives will visit the offices of nearly every US senator and representative. This team includes MOAA officers from Florida who will be visiting the 29 offices of the Florida congressional delegation led by our Council President, LTC Marc Oliveri, USA ret.
They'll be making the case to oppose disproportional TRICARE fee hikes and repeal the SBP-DIC "widows’ tax" that penalizes 63,000 military widows up to $15,000 a year. This penalty affects approximately 5700 widows in Florida who need your help.
In addition they will address a proposal in the Pentagon's budget wherein service members would receive a capped pay raise for the fourth year in a row. The proposed 1.6 percent pay raise is another .5 percent below the average American's 2.1 percent raise, as measured by the Employment Cost Index (ECI). The proposed cap further expands the pay gap between the military and the private sector to 3.1 percent. Budget limits have disproportionally penalized service members and their families as each of the last seven military raises have been lower than any raise during the previous 48 years. The MOAA team will be asking you to please provide the appropriate pay raise to let our service members know that they are valued for their patriotism and sacrifices.
I stand with the more than 390,000 members of the Military Officers Association of America so that our voices will be heard on these important matters.
Please Broadcast to any and all that you can, Members & Non-Members, by whatever means available!
Thanks!!
George Tracy
President
MOAA Sarasota Chapter
