Ayotte Continues to Lead Effort to Repeal Military Retirement Cuts

Press Release

Continuing to lead efforts in Congress to repeal unfair cuts to military retirement benefits, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte today announced a new proposal to fully repeal the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) reduction for military retirees that was included in last month's budget deal - which she voted against. After participating in an Armed Services Committee hearing today that examined this issue, she held a press conference this afternoon with Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) to announce that she will offer her new proposal as an amendment to flood insurance legislation that is currently pending in the Senate.

The new legislative proposal would require that filers claiming the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) include a valid Social Security Number (SSN) for each child they are claiming. This language is similar to a previous proposal introduced by Senators Ayotte, Graham and Wicker - but it requires a valid SSN for the child, rather than the filer. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that this change would save approximately $20 billion over 10 years.

"It was absolutely wrong to single out our men and women in uniform for unfair military retirement cuts in the budget agreement, and there is a consensus among members of both parties that we need to right this wrong," said Ayotte. "The modified proposal I'm introducing addresses concerns I've heard from the other side of the aisle, and I'm hopeful that it will receive bipartisan support and be quickly scheduled for a vote."

In 2011, the Treasury Department's Inspector General reported that individuals who were not authorized to work in the U.S. received billions by claiming the ACTC, and several news investigations have found troubling instances of abuse of this tax credit. 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.

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 (which she opposed).

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