00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 21                                                                     
01 Opposing cuts to retirement benefits owed to members of the armed services of the                                       
02 United States; and urging the United States Congress to approve legislation allowing                                    
03 members of the armed services of the United States to receive promised retirement                                       
04 benefits.                                                                                                               
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06       WHEREAS the United States Congress has cut more than $6 billion in retirement                                   
07 benefits owed to American men and women who are under 62 years of age and who earned                                    
08 the retirement benefits by honorably and voluntarily serving as members of the armed forces                             
09 of the United States; and                                                                                               
10       WHEREAS that cut affects persons who have served as members of the armed forces                                 
11 of the United States, including persons who are eligible for medical retirement because of                              
12 battlefield injuries; and                                                                                               
13       WHEREAS that cut affects the spouses and children of American warriors, as well as                              
14 the warriors themselves; and                                                                                            
15       WHEREAS American men and women have served admirably in the armed forces of                                     

01 the United States during some of our nation's most troubling times; and                                                 
02       WHEREAS, time and time again, members of the armed forces of the United States                                  
03 have borne the cost of fiscal recklessness by the United States Congress; and                                           
04       WHEREAS American men and women who have served in the armed forces of the                                       
05 United States have already sacrificed so much on behalf of our nation that the United States                            
06 Congress should not put additional burdens on them; and                                                                 
07       WHEREAS the United States Congress should keep its promises and should do                                       
08 everything possible to maintain the sacred vow our nation has made to those who have                                    
09 honorably served in the armed forces of the United States; and                                                          
10       WHEREAS requiring persons who have served or are now serving in the armed                                       
11 forces of the United States to sacrifice promised retirement benefits is unjustified; and                               
12       WHEREAS people and military organizations everywhere should lend their voices to                                
13 a forceful call to restore those retirement benefits to persons who have served in the armed                            
14 forces of the United States;                                                                                            
15       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes cutting retirement                                     
16 benefits the nation promised to members of the armed forces of the United States; and be it                             
17       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the President of the                                   
18 United States and the United States Congress to exempt disabled veterans from these cuts;                               
19 and be it                                                                                                               
20       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                      
21 Congress to pass legislation that allows persons who have served as members of the armed                                
22 forces of the United States to receive promised retirement benefits.                                                    
23       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
24 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
25 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of                                  
26 Representatives; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the                                      
27 Honorable Chuck Hagel, United States Secretary of Defense; and the Honorable Lisa                                       
28 Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young,                                    
29 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.