MURRAY TO VETERANS VICTIMIZED BY HER BUDGET DEAL: RYAN’S BAD

As John and others have pointed out, the Murray-Ryan budget compromise cuts spending by reducing cost of living increases in military pensions. The reduction even applies to disabled veterans.

Naturally, there has been a backlash against these cuts. So naturally, Patty Murray (but apparently not Paul Ryan) is trying to distance herself from them. Murray’s people are blaming Ryan. But these cuts could not have seen the light of day if Murray hadn’t backed.

Murray’s other “out” is to argue that the cuts to military pensions are a placeholder — a gimmick, in effect:

We wrote this bill in a way that will allow two years before this change is implemented so that Democrats and Republicans can keep working to either improve this provision or find smarter savings elsewhere.

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