Military Pay Increase...Veto? (political)

[Dar~]

White House: 3.5 percent pay hike unnecessary

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 17:34:13 EDT

Troops don’t need bigger pay raises, White House budget officials said Wednesday in a statement of administration policy laying out objections to the House version of the 2008 defense authorization bill.

The Bush administration had asked for a 3 percent military raise for Jan. 1, 2008, enough to match last year’s average pay increase in the private sector. The House Armed Services Committee recommends a 3.5 percent pay increase for 2008, and increases in 2009 through 2012 that also are 0.5 percentage point greater than private-sector pay raises.

The slightly bigger military raises are intended to reduce the gap between military and civilian pay that stands at about 3.9 percent today. Under the bill, HR 1585, the pay gap would be reduced to 1.4 percent after the Jan. 1, 2012, pay increase.

Bush budget officials said the administration “strongly opposes” both the 3.5 percent raise for 2008 and the follow-on increases, calling extra pay increases “unnecessary.”

“When combined with the overall military benefit package, the president’s proposal provides a good quality of life for service members and their families,” the policy statement says. “While we agree military pay must be kept competitive, the 3 percent raise, equal to the increase in the Employment Cost Index, will do that.”

The House of Representatives plans on passing the bill tomorrow. The Senate Armed Services Committee has announced it will start writing its version of the bill next week.

Two items in the House defense bill could lead to a veto, the policy statement warns. One is a change in the National Security Personnel system that would back away from the pay-for-performance initiative pushed by the Bush administration and reverse some of the flexibility provided in current law. The second issue that could prompt a veto are Buy America provisions in the bill that White House officials said “would impose unrealistically arduous requirements.”

In addition to the pay raise, there are other personnel initiatives in the bill that the White House opposes.

A prohibition on converting medical jobs held by military members into civilian positions drew opposition. “This will eliminate the flexibility of the Secretary of Defense to use civilian medical personnel for jobs away from the battlefield and at the same time use the converted military billets to enhance the strength of operating units,” the policy statement says.

A death gratuity for federal civilian employees who die in support of military operations, and new benefits for disabled retirees and the survivors of military retirees also drew complaints.

This includes the transfer of the GI Bill benefits program for reservists from the Department of Defense to the Department of Veterans Affairs, a step that GI Bill supporters said is needed to set the stage for increases in reserve benefits that have been kept low by the military because it views the program as a retention incentive rather than a post-service education program.

Refusal by lawmakers to approve Tricare fees for beneficiaries, something administration officials view as an important step in holding down health care cost, also drew opposition, along with a provision imposing price controls on prescription drugs dispensed to Tricare users.

How can they say it's not necessary. Do you know that I qualify for WIC, State paid Daycare, and Food Stamps. I could be on Welfare in some states. My husband is a staff sergeant in the Air Force and we shouldn't qualify for these things. He has been in since '99.
They argue that we get super benefits...tell me this, I get medical care, yes. Mostly from brand new docs who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground. I went through complete Renal failure and almost died before they even checked my kidneys!

My friend went in to see his PCM with a case of poison Ivy and got told he had Shingles.

Our life insurance...I can get that through State farm for 15 bucks a month and he can work in the civilian world as an electrician for 23 dollars an hour or more. Thing is, he's a patriot. He wants to serve.

He left for Guam today. He will be away from his children for their entire summer vacation. You know what they told him today just after they got in the air? Oh BTW, this isn't a 4 month TDY, its a 5 month TDY.

Yeah, its great to serve you all. ( politicians) I don't see any of you cutting your pay raises or picking up groceries with your food stamp card. Please, descend from on high with your ever flowing oil cans and fill my tank. I sure as fuck can't afford to.

 

[rgraham666]

I can't say I'm surprised. The Bush Administration has gone out of its way to fuck the people serving in the armed forces.

I remember a few years ago they instructed the Veteran's Administration to do no more marketing of their services for vets. Oh yeah, sure, they're entitled to them. But if the vets don't know about them they can't ask for them, right.

Shrugs. We're 'the help' to the Shrubbies. Expendable and easily replaceable. They have authority over us. They don't feel they have any responsibility towards us.

 

[Dar~]

What shocks me is the dichotomy that Bush and his administration are showing to us (soldiers.) Our presence is so necessary that he wants to allot billions to the war but none of that is for troops directly. The families suffer. The National Guard isn't guarding the nation, they are away from their families. The active duty guys are being grossly underpaid and also threatened with force shaping. Yet Bush calls for more money more money. If this is how good a republican president is going to treat us, I am damned glad I am a democrat.

 

[rgraham666]

All that money goes to the expensive stuff; new equipment, R&D and maintenance. Which means most of the money is going to 'friends' of the administration.

Pork barreling keeps a lot of U.S. companies in the black.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Hugs, Dar.

This is one petition I would sign.

 

[The_Fool]

What really sucks is the more things change, the more they stay the same. Same situation I was in twenty years ago. We made do. We had to. But we certainly did not have the good life. I really don't think they want career soldiers. They just want single termers so they don't have to pay what benefits you get.

 

[Dar~]

Hugs, Dar.

This is one petition I would sign.

Thanx Rox.

It just seems so wrong and wrong in a way that were I GW, I wouldn't be able to respect myself.

 

[3113]

I'm sure Bush has an explaination. Something about "emboldening the terrorists" if we give soldiers a raise. Because we all know, he supports our troops

 

[carsonshepherd]

Dar, you should write GW a letter and send copies of it to your state senators and representatives.

 

[Dar~]

I really don't think the man knows how to read...
Carson, I don't even know how to start without just sounding uneducated and belligerent. I don't know how it all works, I just know that we are hurting for money and he's saying we don't need a pay raise to make our pay equivalent to private source jobs. Like we aren't worthy in some way.

 

[Weird Harold]

...and he's saying we don't need a pay raise to make our pay equivalent to private source jobs. Like we aren't worthy in some way.

You're misreading the article. GWB isn't opposd to a pay raise, he's opposed to the extra half-percent raise congress added to the proposed budget.

This is an argument that the congress and executive branch go through every year. The Military never has been and never will be paid "equivalent to private source jobs," at least this year it looks like we're going to get a raise that matches the economy instead of being proportional -- which we get whether it's 3.0 or 3.5 percent.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

It used to be every time the Congress voted themselves a raise that the military got a raise. I guess that's changed.

 

[3113]

It used to be every time the Congress voted themselves a raise that the military got a raise. I guess that's changed.

Yeah, evidently they're trying to vote the military a raise instead of themselves...and it's the president who doesn't want to give out any more money.