Mayor Krasnoff graduated from Queens College and National college of Chiropractic.  He received a Master’s in Urban Education and Counseling, from NSU.  He was elected to the City Council in May 1990.  He was elected to Mayor in May 2008 and re-elected in 2012.

In a bit of high tension on Thursday night, the House of Representatives narrowly avoided derailing a $1 trillion funding measure to keep the government open. With only hours before the government was set to shut down, Congressional leaders cleared a major hurdle before finalizing the agreement.  Part continuing resolution (CR) and part omnibus appropriation bill, the funding measure has been dubbed a “cromnibus” by Washington insiders. The CR will keep the government running for a few days while Congress finishes an omnibus appropriations package funding 11 out of 12 federal agencies until October 1, 2015.  In a major win, the omnibus proposal includes two year advanced appropriations for VA benefit programs through FY 2016. These accounts include VA compensation and pensions, readjustment benefits such as the GI bill, and insurance and indemnities for survivors. This comes in addition to advance funding for VA health care, which MOAA helped secure in FY 2010. The VA advanced appropriation effort was championed by Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who worked closely with MOAA and other service groups on the measure. The provision will ensure veterans and survivors benefit checks would continue in the event of a future government shutdown, and allow important VA research programs to continue unhindered by annual budget negotiations. With House passage late Thursday, the bill cleared the Senate shortly thereafter.  The measure includes $554 billion for DoD, slightly less than what President Obama originally requested. In another win for the military community the deal protects the commissary benefit. It restores $90 out of the $100 million in commissary funding originally cut by the defense authorization bill. This will help commissaries maintain adequate staff levels and operating hours.  Failure to pass a funding measure would have resulted in another short term CR, or worse, a government shutdown. CRs significantly reduce the ability of the services to provide necessary training, and place considerable stress and uncertainty on the active duty force. On the budget deal, MOAA’s Director of Government Relations, Col. Mike Hayden, USAF (Ret) praised the inclusion of VA advanced appropriations, “We applaud Congress and especially Senator Mikulski for looking out for the best interests of our nation’s veterans. VA advanced appropriations will ensure veterans’ health care and compensation programs are not held hostage by future partisan budget debates.”

A recently released Military Times survey shows that troops are beginning to feel burned out, underpaid and unsupported by senior leadership.  These findings come from nearly 2,300 active duty personnel participating in a survey between July and August of 2014. Only 56 percent of surveyed servicemembers indicated their quality of life is “good” or “excellent.” This pales in comparison to the 91 percent of respondents in a similar 2009 survey.  More than two thirds (70 percent) believe their quality of life will further decline in future years.  On senior leadership, only 27 percent viewed senior military leaders of having servicemembers’ best interests in mind. More than half of respondents felt that way in 2009.  Views on military compensation and health care have also dipped.  In 2009, 87 percent of respondents indicated their pay and allowances were either good or great.  In 2014 only 44 percent took the same view.  For health care, the numbers plummeted from 78 percent to 45 percent.  Despite the grim outlook, DoD officials continue to report that recruiting and retention remains high.  But underlying problems are easily masked by the ongoing drawdown.  This survey – echoed by similar surveys conducted by Blue Star Families and the Navy Retention Study – should serve as a bellwether for the health of the all-volunteer force. These surveys highlight what MOAA has said for years: short-sighted cuts to compensation and benefits prove to be a slippery slope—once started, cuts historically continue until they damage recruiting and retention.  “It’s not surprising servicemembers would show increased signs of disappointment with current compensation,” said MOAA’s Deputy Director of Government Relations, Col. Mike Barron, USA (Ret).  “2009 and 2010 saw the last pay raises that exceeded private sector wage growth.  Those plus ups were critically needed to eliminate a 13.5 percent pay gap that existed between troops and their private sector counterparts.  Since then, today’s active duty force has had two straight years of pay caps that represented the smallest pay raises in 50 years. Their health care benefit has been eroded with the elimination of Prime Service Areas and service members will soon see out-of-pocket costs for their housing.  High operational tempo and the uncertainty of the drawdown leave many service members and their families wondering what tomorrow will bring.