00                         HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 11                                                                        
01 In support of providing TRICARE program health care benefits to United States                                           
02 military retirees as promised.                                                                                          
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:                                                                         
04       WHEREAS recruiting and maintaining a high-quality, all-volunteer, effective                                     
05 military force to safeguard national security is a primary goal of the United States Department                       
06 of Defense; and                                                                                                         
07       WHEREAS persons who volunteer for military service are at risk of mortal harm                                   
08 throughout the time they serve; and                                                                                     
09       WHEREAS the people of the state and nation rely on the men and women who serve                                  
10 in the military to execute faithfully that service; and                                                                 
11       WHEREAS it is reasonable for the men and women who serve in the military to rely                                
12 on promises made to them by the people of the state and nation; and                                                     
13       WHEREAS men and women who serve in the military have been promised they will                                    
14 receive military retiree health care benefits from the TRICARE program of the United States                             
15 Department of Defense Military Health System (10 U.S.C. 55) after they perform 20 or more                               
16 years of honorable military service; and                                                                                

01       WHEREAS breaking that promise would be dishonorable;                                                          
02       BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives supports providing to military                                 
03 retirees who have kept their oaths of office and who have served the people of the state and                            
04 nation during times of war and armed conflict the TRICARE program health care benefits                                  
05 they were promised in exchange for that service without their being required to participate in                          
06 health care programs that are more expensive to them than the TRICARE program and                                       
07 without their eligibility for TRICARE program health care benefits being made subject to                                
08 means testing.                                                                                                          
09       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
10 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
11 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Leon E. Panetta, United States Secretary of                                 
12 Defense; General Martin E. Dempsey, Chair, Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Honorable Regina M.                               
13 Benjamin, Surgeon General of the United States; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the                                
14 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,                                 
15 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.