The new Congress just started, but members have already launched into the old fight of military pay and benefits.

Lawmakers are less than a month away from the roll out of the White House's fiscal 2016 defense budget and the final report of the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission.

Both will help shape troops' pay and benefits for years to come, and both are already being eyed anxiously by congressional committees overseeing the services.

On Wednesday, new Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said Republicans on the panel have already discussed hearings and study of the commission report when it's released Feb. 1, and are working on plans to react to the findings.

"We're going to have to do some serious examination of the committee's recommendations," he said. "We all know there needs to be reforms made, and that's why this commission was appointed two years ago."

The commission's report was originally due out last spring, but lawmakers approved a nine-month delay to allow board members to finish their work. The nine-person panel has been reviewing new proposals in how the Pentagon handles military paychecks, housing benefits, health insurance, retirement rules and a host of related compensation issues.

Pentagon officials last year promised not to propose any retirement or major pay changes until after the report's release, but still included trims in the rate of military pay raises and in the growth of housing stipends in the fiscal 2015 budget request.

The commission's report is due out the same week as the administration fiscal 2016 budget proposal, offering lawmakers a chance to tackle both immediate fiscal problems in defense funding and long-term changes to the personnel accounts structure during their springtime budget hearings.

Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee said they'll broach the topic during next week's party planning retreat, including how to handle potential pay and benefits reforms while seeking to undo mandatory sequestration spending trims already creating havoc on defense budget planning.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who will chair the Senate Armed Services' personnel subcommittee, said he isn't sure what to expect from the commission report, but he expects it to be contentious.

"It's gonna be tough politics, but necessary politics," he said. "We've got structural problems with our general budget, we've got structural problems with our personnel system. It's going to be a tough political project, but long overdue."

Graham wouldn't outline his preferences for recommendations for improvements he'd like to see in the report, but said he is confident there are ways to save money on military benefits without breaking faith with troops and retirees.

"I want to be fair, I want to be generous, but I want it to be sustainable," he said. "It's going to take Republicans and Democrats looking over the commission report and finding common ground."

Outside advocates have warned that severe changes in retirement rules -- including 401k style retirement plans and a change in the 20 years required for benefits -- could undermine retention efforts of mid-career servicemembers, even if those changes don't apply to those currently serving.

They also fought against the lower pay raise and housing stipend trims included in the current defense budget, and have promised to renew efforts to roll back those changes during this year's budget debates.

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