Veterans $665K Ad Buy Highlights Budget Failures and Military Pension Cuts; Thanks Rep. Cotton

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new ad produced by Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) blasts Congress for failing to address the nation's dangerous $17 trillion debt and instead cutting pensions for military retirees.

The 30-second ad—totaling $665,616 and running on statewide TV and radio in Arkansas for three weeks—is entitled "Priorities" and praises Rep. Tom Cotton (AR-4) for his principled stand in voting against the budget. Rep. Cotton, an Army veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, deserves praise for opposing a deal that neglects meaningful spending reforms and instead cuts pensions for military retirees.

"While Washington politicians are patting themselves on the back for completing and passing a budget for the first time in five years, there's little in this massive spending package for Americans to celebrate," said Pete Hegseth, CEO of CVA. "Washington is driving us down the path of fiscal ruin by increasing spending and failing to make substantive reforms to entitlement programs and other big ticket spending categories."

The budget and subsequent omnibus spending bill increased funding for the government by $45 billion above the level that Congress agreed to just over two years ago. However, Hegseth noted, one of the few areas of agreement on spending reductions was a $6 billion cut to cost-of-living adjustments for military retirees. Hegseth said that cutting veterans benefits in order to pay for higher spending in Washington is an "incomprehensible" policy decision.

"So while Congress and the president are unable to stomach relatively minor cuts to their favorite programs, they somehow mustered the courage to cut cost of living adjustments for military retirees, veterans and their dependent families," Hegseth said. "If cutting veterans' benefits were part of some broader spending reform package that required shared sacrifice from all veterans, it might be at least understandable. But to single out these Americans for cuts, while neglecting any other attempts at fiscal responsibility, is a slap in the face to those who have served in uniform, and utterly incomprehensible as a policy decision."

"CVA appreciates the leadership and courage of Rep. Tom Cotton, which stands in stark contrast to the political calculations of most in Washington. We're honored to support him, and hope Arkansans across the state will thank him for his steadfast support of veterans and all Americans."

For more information on this ad or to interview Concerned Veterans for America, please contact Matt Schuck at [email protected] or 703-307-1981

Concerned Veterans for America is a nation-wide, non-profit veterans organization established to advocate for policies that will preserve the freedom, liberty, and prosperity that veterans and their families have so proudly fought and sacrificed to defend. Since April of 2012, over 156,000 Americans have joined CVA on Facebook.

SOURCE Concerned Veterans for America

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