The Defense Commissary Agency's (DeCA) 2013 price comparison study confirms a 30.5 percent savings for commissary patrons, but those savings might disappear if Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's 2015 budget proposal for the Pentagon passes. As reported by the Military Times, Hagel's proposal will reduce subsidies to military commissaries from 1.4 billion dollars to 400 million dollars over the next three years.
According to a news release from the DeCA, military commissaries saved their customers 2.6 billion dollars.
Commissioner Don Salter, District 3, said with military raises almost nonexistent, cuts to commissaries would be an additional strain on military families. He said he can't see how the budget for commissaries can be reduced without closing them.
The budget cuts focused mainly on troop reductions and program shrinking. Congressman Jeff Miller said, "The world situation remains very volatile and this proposal would make it difficult for us to be prepared for future engagements." In response to proposed commissary cuts, Miller said, "The President has cut the Department of Defense to the bone and now he is proposing cuts that negatively impact the war fighter and their families."
In a press conference, Representative Buck McKeon of the House Armed Services Committee said, "What we're trying to do is solve our financial problems on the backs of our military and that can't be done."
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Commissary cuts put strain on families