Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) introduced legislation that if approved would “prohibit a reduction in funding for the defense commissary system in [Fiscal 2015],” according to a March 5 joint statement. The Defense budget calls for “reducing the annual subsidy for these military stores by $1 billion, or almost 70 percent, by 2017,” states the March 5 release. The Senators are requesting the Pentagon wait until after a report on a comprehensive set of recommendations on military pay and benefits is released. The Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission is working on this report, which is due next February. “These cuts to commissaries are an unfair burden on many of our military men and women,” Sen. Warner said.
United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket is slated to fly its second national security mission in February—nearly six months after its first operational launch and almost a year after it was certified to fly military payloads for the Space Force.
