Ayotte Urges Vote on Proposal to Fix Military Pension Cuts, Pay for Unemployment Benefits Extension
Press Release
At a Capitol Hill press conference today, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) called for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to allow the full Senate to vote on an amendment she introduced Monday that would pay for a three-month extension of temporary long-term unemployment benefits and repeal the unfair Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) reduction for military retirees - including disabled military retirees - that was included in the recent budget agreement. Ayotte was joined at today's press conference by Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Rob Portman (R-OH), and John Hoeven (R-ND) - all of whom are cosponsoring her proposal.
During consideration of the budget agreement in December, Ayotte fought hard against a provision in the legislation that unfairly targeted military retirees by requiring a one percent annual reduction in their cost of living allowance. Her amendment is similar to the Keeping Our Promise to Our Military Heroes Act (S. 1869), a stand-alone bill she introduced in December following passage of the budget deal.
"We have a proposal that not only [fixes the military pension issue,] but that pays for the unemployment insurance extension and helps the deficit situation," said Ayotte. "Let's vote on this, let's solve this, and let's move forward with a common sense proposal."
Ayotte's amendment to The Unemployment Insurance Extension Act (S. 1845) would repeal and replace the $6.3 billion in military retiree benefits cuts and pay for a three-month extension of unemployment benefits by stopping a scheme that currently allows illegal immigrants to claim the Additional Child Tax Credit - which currently costs taxpayers billions. In just one example, according to a 2012 news report, an undocumented worker in Indiana admitted that his address was used to file tax returns by four other undocumented workers, who fraudulently claimed 20 children in total - resulting in tax refunds totaling nearly $30,000. Ayotte's amendment would make a simple fix to the U.S. tax code to require filers to have Social Security Numbers in order to qualify for the Additional Child Tax Credit, which the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates would save approximately $20 billion over 10 years.
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