‘Erosion’ of quality-of-life funding chafes lawmakers - Military Housing, rentals, home buying, real estate, VA home loans - Navy Times

‘Erosion’ of quality-of-life funding chafes lawmakers

Sharp declines in funding for military quality-of-life programs may signal a lack of commitment by service officials, lawmakers said April 17.

They also said the Pentagon must properly sustain these programs with funding requests that are part of the regular annual defense budget, rather than supplemental war funding.

“There has been enormous erosion throughout the services” in quality-of-life funding, Rep. John McHugh, of New York, ranking Republican on the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee, said at the panel’s April 17 hearing.

When the dollars are adjusted for inflation, the Army cut funding for quality-of-life programs by about 9 percent from 2003 through 2007, McHugh said. The cuts were even steeper in the Navy, 26 percent, and Air Force, 11 percent, he said.

“Those are big losses,” McHugh said.

The Marine Corps is the only exception, boosting its quality-of-life funding by 13 percent over those five years, he said.

McHugh asked if anyone on the panel of witnesses — which included defense and service officials responsible for quality-of-life programs — had “the courage” to describe what these funding cuts have meant to troops and their families.

“We’ve had significant budget cuts,” said Arthur Myers, director of Air Force Services, the only witness who spoke up. “We’ve seen our programs reduced across the board. Every one of our library services has been reduced. We ... needed additional spaces for child care, and funding for equipment and supplies. We finally got it approved to be funded in ’09 and ’10.

“The Air Force is getting smaller, and it’s a budget issue. We have to fight for all our requirements. We’re seeing our programs reduced dramatically. The word we’re getting from the field is that airmen are seeing ... that their quality of life is being eroded.”

While McHugh said he appreciated Army and Marine Corps promises to address the situation by putting funding for these programs in their regular budgets, he vowed to “regularize” the quality-of-life funding process “across the board.”

“There will not be a continuing blessing of supplementals,” he said. “This is a critical oversight function of this subcommittee. This is a very troubling, sadly long-term problem.”

Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., the subcommittee chairwoman, said she also is concerned about the commitment of the services to sustaining quality-of-life programs, which include commissaries, exchanges, child development centers, youth centers, libraries, gymnasiums, playing fields and parks, golf courses, clubs, restaurants, hobby shops and many others.

“With the exception of child care, appropriated funding support for these programs has not always been so terribly enthusiastic,” she said, noting that officials seem to be less concerned about maintaining a caring community environment.

“I hope the day does not come when we regret the loss of the sense of community in the military because we no longer appreciate its value as we once did,” Davis said.

Leslye Arsht, deputy under secretary of defense for military community and family policy, told the subcommittee that there have been “some small decreases” in funding, but she said officials are pleased that the 2009 budget request represents a 20 percent increase in funding.

Maj. Gen. John Macdonald, chief of the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command, said this year’s supplemental budget includes a $700 million increase for improving quality of life for Army families.

Army Secretary Pete Geren and Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey have committed to the increases.

Army families have told Casey that they don’t need different programs, simply adequate funding for existing programs, Macdonald said.

The one exception is a new outreach program for surviving spouses and children that offers them information and assistance, rather than making them seek it out themselves, he said.

While increases for quality-of-life programs have been included in supplemental requests in 2008 and 2009, the Army’s next budget proposal will include a request for funding in the regular annual budget, rather than the supplemental, Macdonald said.

The Marine Corps, which also has sought funding for family programs in its supplemental budget requests for 2008 and 2009, will include such funding in its regular annual budget starting with the fiscal 2010 request, said Timothy Larsen, director of the personal and family readiness division at Corps headquarters.

It will be a “topline increase,” which means these programs will not take money away from other Marine Corps programs, he said.

Larsen said the Corps has been ramping up money for quality-of-life programs since 1996, and has recently been working to sustain and refresh family programs.