Sen. Mark R. Warner wants to block proposed cuts to commissaries, a popular option for military families in Hampton Roads, because a high-level commission has yet to issue a report on the larger issue of compensation and benefits.

Warner and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., have introduced legislation to restore a 70-percent cut to the commissary budget included in the 2015 Pentagon budget introduced Tuesday.

Warner said there is no good reason to single out commissaries before the commission finishes its work.

"You've got to have a comprehensive approach," he said.

Hampton Roads has six commissaries, including stores at Fort Eustis and Langley Air Force Base. In 2013, the commissary at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach was in the top five commissaries worldwide for sales volume, according to a Defense Commissary Agency report from December.

Shoppers spent more than $5.8 billion at commissaries last year. The "East" region, which includes Hampton Roads, generated the most sales overall.

The 70 percent cut, which totals $1 billion, would not force any commissaries to close, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has said. But it would lessen the discounts that military families now enjoy.

Losing those discounts would cost as much as $3,000 per year, said Warner, calling it a real burden for young service members, reservists and retirees living on a tight budget.

The Warner-Chambliss bill does not specify how to restore the $1 billion cut. But Warner said it should be possible to find those savings in a $496 billion budget.

The commission to which Warner referred—and which he had a hand in creating -- is scheduled to issue its report in February.

The Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission is chaired by Alphonso Maldon Jr. He is a founding partner of the Washington Nationals baseball team and served as an assistant secretary of defense from 1999 to 2001.

Its members include retired Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who served as Army vice chief of staff from 2008 to 2012, and former Nebraska senator Bob Kerrey, who served in Vietnam as a Navy SEAL and received the Medal of Honor.

This marks the second time Warner has opposed a piecemeal change to military compensation and benefits. Last month, he teamed with fellow Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine to oppose a reduction in the cost-of-living increase for military retirees under 62 years old. Congress reversed that move, which was part of a bipartisan budget deal reached in December.

The commissary issue, along with other cuts, will be debated in the coming days and weeks as Congress dissects the 2015 defense budget, which seeks to downsize and reshape the U.S. military after 13 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, Hagel appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee to defend his plan.

Cutting $1 billion from commissaries will allow the military to spend more on training and readiness. The cut would be phased in over the next three years.

"Stateside commissaries have many private-sector competitors, and it's not unreasonable for them to operate more like a business," Hagel said in prepared testimony. "Since commissaries still operate rent-free and tax-free, they will still be able to provide a good deal to service members, military families, and retirees as long as they continue to shop there."