The Senate Appropriations Committee has voted to restore $200 million in cuts to the taxpayer subsidies that help fund military commissaries, according to CNN Money.
Back in February, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced taxpayer subsidies to stateside commissaries would be slashed by $200 million a year for the next five years, as Home Post previously reported.
The proposed cut in subsidies would have reduced the discount service members get at commissaries from 30 percent to 10 percent, prompting Home Post reader Rachel Larsen Brody to write on Home Post's Facebook page...
"...it will be too expensive to shop there, driving down patronage so that the decision to close them will be because nobody shops there anymore."
The nonprofit American Logistics Association agreed with Brody's assessment, predicting the Pentagon's proposal to cut funding would prompt many commissaries to close their doors:
“Make no mistake: pulling the funding rug out from under these operations will shutter these stores over time.”
But the restoration of funds for the commissaries is temporary, according to the Daily Press, and here's why:
In February 2015, a report is due from the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission. It is intended to make recommendations on military pay, retirement and many benefits troops now enjoy. The report will be closely watched by members of Congress who are looking for guidance on how to deal with these politically sensitive issues.
