The chairman of the House panel that oversees the commissary benefit said his message to the military community is that his panel's goal is to improve the commissary system, not slash the benefit.
"The goal is to modernize commissary services that will preserve an important and expected benefit for customers," said Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., chairman of the military personnel subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, in an interview Tuesday. Among the panel's responsibilities is the oversight of commissaries and other resale activities.
"[The Defense Department] is looking to squeeze the budget wherever they can. That's not our approach," said Heck, a physician who is a brigadier general in the Army Reserve. "We're looking to make the system better through modernization and long-term sustainability."
At a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, the subcommittee will hear feedback from beneficiaries and industry groups about potential changes to commissary operations.
If the improvements "result in savings, great. But that's not my driving force," said Heck, whose father was in the grocery business.
The hearing is one of the efforts by the subcommittee to gather information related to commissary reform and whether to recommend any changes in law.
DoD's plans for changes to the commissary system have not yet been outlined. The fiscal 2016 National Defense Authorization Act required defense officials to come up with a plan by March 1 to operate the commissaries without taxpayer dollars by fiscal 2018, while maintaining the customer benefit.
Over the last couple of years, DoD has proposed drastically reducing the amount of taxpayer dollars used to operate commissaries, but Congress has restored the funding, which has been about $1.4 billion per year. Taxpayer funding enables commissaries to sell items at cost, plus a 5 percent surcharge that is used primarily for construction and renovation of stores.
While DoD must come up with a plan, Congress must approve it, as well as any pilot programs that will test different approaches. And although the requirement for the plan is in law, Heck said he doesn't think it's possible to operate the commissary benefit without any taxpayer dollars. He said he's waiting to see whether DoD officials think they can get to zero funding without affecting the benefit. He said there could be a decrease in the amount of taxpayer dollars used, but is doubtful DoD could get to zero funds.
"The goal should be a stronger, more secure, more modern" benefit, he reiterated.
Some of the ideas that have been floated by defense officials include a "variable pricing" system where there is flexibility in pricing items. Theoretically some items still could be sold at cost, while others are marked up to help pay for operating costs at the commissaries. Still, others might be decreased. Another idea is offering a commissary private brand with items possibly cheaper to customers — a program that would generally be created and managed by commissary officials.
But the subcommittee will also be monitoring these pilots, if they are approved, Heck said. "The idea behind a pilot is to prove something can be effective," he said. "We'll monitor whether they can achieve X, Y, Z, without decreasing the benefit to the beneficiary."
They'll also make sure there are safeguards in place and monitor the pilot programs so the programs don't have adverse effects on other commissaries.
The panel will review information from the hearing, from previous briefings and DoD's plan to brainstorm potential courses of action, Heck said. They'll determine whether any changes in law are warranted.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
