Lawmakers and Military Pay and Benefits

I understand that military pay and benefits are a sacred cow. For a couple of years now, I've watched lawmakers fall all over themselves to meet or exceed the president's requests for military pay raises. But it's a bit difficult for me to square Congress's refusal to tick up the amount military families pay for TRICARE when the military itself is asking for that change. It isn't worth sacrificing the effectiveness of other programs, which keep servicemembers functional and perhaps safe, just to avoid violating propriety. If top brass are saying TRICARE costs are cutting into the budgets for other programs, that needs to be addressed.