House Votes to Undo Mil Pension Cuts (which it just passed) by Extending Sequestration

Yesterday, the House passed a bill to undo the cuts to military pensions from the Murray-Ryan budget deal and to pay for this change by extending sequestration cuts to mandatory spending under Medicare for an additional year, to 2024 instead of 2023.

The budget deal had cut the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for veterans under the age of 62.

Republicans quickly wrote the bill language yesterday after deciding against attaching the restoration of pension funding to the debt ceiling. They attached it to S. 25, the South Utah Valley Electric Conveyance Act as a means for passage.

The bill passed easily 326 to 90. 206 Republicans and 120 Democrats voted for it. 71 Democrats and 19 Republicans voted against it.

The Hill reported on the grounds for each faction's opposition:

"So we're really simply robbing one group of deserving people to pay another group of deserving people," said House Armed Services Committee ranking member Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.). "That is hardly responsible and hardly helpful." Republicans had their own reasons for opposing the measure — many GOP members have said they disapprove of the idea of paying for current spending by promising cuts 10 years out.

The 19 Republicans were the following: 

Joe Barton (TX-26)
Doug Collins (GA-09)
Scott DesJarlais (TN-04)
Joe Heck (NV-03)
Tim Huelskamp (KS-01)
Adam Kinzinger (IL-16)
Pat Meehan (PA-07)
Mick Mulvaney (SC-05)
Richard Nugent (FL-11)
Reid Ribble (WI-08)
Todd Rokita (IN-04)
Paul Ryan (WI-01)
Mark Sanford (SC-01)
Aaron Schock (IL-18)
David Schweikert (AZ-06)
John Shimkus (IL-15)
Marlin Stutzman (IN-03)
Frank Wolf (VA-10)
71 Democrats opposed it. 36 out of the 71 are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. 23 of them also voted against the Murray-Ryan budget deal in December.
Karen Bass (CA-37)
Xavier Becerra (CA-34)
Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Bob Brady (PA-01)
Matt Cartwright (PA-17)
Yvette Clarke (NY-09)
Lacy Clay (MO-01)
James Clyburn (SC-06)
John Conyers (MI-13)
Elijah Cummings (MD-07)
Danny Davis (IL-07)
Susan Davis (CA-53)
Diana DeGette (CO-01)
Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)
Mike Doyle (PA-14)
Donna Edwards (MD-04)
Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Eliot Engel (NY-16)
Chaka Fattah (PA-02)
Lois Frankel (FL-22)
Marcia Fudge (OH-11)
Alan Grayson (FL-09)
Raul Grijalva (AZ-03)
Janice Hahn (CA-44)
Colleen Hanabusa (HI-01)
Rush Holt (NJ-12)
Mike Honda (CA-17)
Steny Hoyer (MD-05)
Jared Huffman (CA-02)
Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08)
Hank Johnson (GA-04)
Eddie Johnson (TX-30)
Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
Robin Kelly (IL-02)
Rick Larsen (WA-02)
John B. Larson (CT-01)
Barbara Lee (CA-13)
Sander Levin (MI-09)
Ben Luján (NM-03)
Doris Matsui (CA-06)
Betty McCollum (MN-04)
Jim McDermott (WA-07)
Jim McGovern (MA-02)
Jerry McNerney (CA-09)
Gregory Meeks (NY-05)
Grace Meng (NY-06)
George Miller (CA-11)
Jim Moran (VA-08)
Jerry Nadler (NY-10)
Grace Napolitano (CA-32)
Gloria Negrette McLeod (CA-35)
Rick Nolan (MN-08)
Frank Pallone (NJ-06)
Donald Payne (NJ-10)
Nancy Pelosi (CA-12)
Mark Pocan (WI-02)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40)
Linda Sánchez (CA-38)
Jan Schakowsky (IL-09)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Allyson Schwartz (PA-13)
Jose Serrano (NY-15)
Louise Slaughter (NY-25)
Adam Smith (WA-09)
Jackie Speier (CA-14)
Mike Thompson (CA-05)
Paul Tonko (NY-20)
Nydia Velázquez (NY-07)
Peter Visclosky (IN-01)
Maxine Waters (CA-43)
Henry Waxman (CA-33)
Frederica Wilson (FL-24)

Loretta Sanchez (CA-46) voted present.

Most of the Congresspersons who voted for the House bill to undo the military pension cuts voted for the military pension cuts in the first place. This shows the idiocy in governance these days.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure no one is going to put any effort in undoing the cuts to civilian worker pensions.