Dusty Johnson: “I first want to thank Senators Warner and Levin for their continued hard work in the Armed Services Committee in…”

“I first want to thank Senators Warner and Levin for their continued hard work in the Armed Services Committee in attempting to address this critical and urgent issue. Last year, the Senate began to address critical recruitment and retention problems currently facing our nation's armed services. The pay table adjustments and retirement reform enacted with my support in the fiscal year 2000 Department of Defense authorization bill were, frankly, long overdue improvements for our active duty military personnel. However, these improvements did not solve our country's difficulty in recruiting and keeping the best and the brightest in the military. In order to maintain a strong military for now and in the future, our country must show that it will honor its commitment to military retirees and veterans as well. Too often, military health care is treated as an afterthought rather than a priority. That's why on the first day of this legislative year, I introduced the Keep our Promise to America's Military Retirees Act, S. 2003.”