00                   CS FOR HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 11(STA)                                                                  
01 In support of providing TRICARE program health care benefits to United States Coast                                     
02 Guard and 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 and the United States Coast                                     
14 Guard have been promised they will receive military retiree health care benefits from the                               
15 TRICARE program of the United States Department of Defense Military Health System (10                                   
16 U.S.C. 55) after they perform 20 or more 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 served the people of the state and nation the                          
04 TRICARE program health care benefits they were promised in exchange for that service                                    
05 without their being required to participate in health care programs that are more expensive to                          
06 them than the TRICARE program and without their eligibility for TRICARE program health                                  
07 care benefits being made subject to means testing.                                                                      
08       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
09 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
10 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Leon E. Panetta, United States Secretary of                                 
11 Defense; the Honorable Janet A. Napolitano, United States Secretary of Homeland Security;                               
12 the Honorable John E. Bryson, United States Secretary of Commerce; the Honorable Kathleen                               
13 Sebelius, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services; General Martin E.                                       
14 Dempsey, Chair, Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Honorable Regina M. Benjamin, Surgeon General                                
15 of the United States; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich,                                   
16 U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                  
17 delegation in Congress.