Veterans $770K Ad Buy Highlights Budget Failures and Military Pension Cuts; Thanks Rep. Cotton and Rep. Coffman

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New ads 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 ads—totaling $770,136 and entitled "Priorities"—will run statewide on TV and radio in Arkansas, on radio in Denver, Colorado, and online throughout the country for three weeks.  The ads praise Rep. Tom Cotton (AR-4) and Rep. Mike Coffman (CO-6) for their principled stand in voting against the most recent budget deal. Rep. Cotton, an Army veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, and Rep. Coffman, an Army veteran of Iraq, both deserve praise for opposing a deal that neglects meaningful spending reforms and instead cuts pensions for military retirees. In addition to these specific ads, a national ad online will run entitled #CutDebtNotVets.

"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 our debt burden and failing to make substantive spending reforms."

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 could 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 and Rep. Mike Coffman, which stands in stark contrast to the political calculations of most in Washington. We're honored to support them, and hope Americans across the nation will thank them for their 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].

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.

Video with caption: "Priorities: #CutDebtNotVets Petition." Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ4Al_8CH1Q

SOURCE Concerned Veterans for America