The Briefing Room
General Category => Military/Defense News => Topic started by: mystery-ak on September 08, 2013, 02:47:36 pm
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http://news.newsmax.com/?Z64DacSB.0An91IPvSs6KGgZUxbeNfRZZ (http://news.newsmax.com/?Z64DacSB.0An91IPvSs6KGgZUxbeNfRZZ)
Obama Slashes Pay Raises for Military
President Obama has told Congress he will cap next year's pay raise for U.S. military personnel at 1 percent instead of boosting pay by 1.8 percent as called for by a federal law.
The president's move will negatively impact American combat troops scheduled to remain in Afghanistan through 2014.
The federal law says military pay raises must be based on the Employment Cost Index compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which ties military raises to private sector pay growth. Under that formula, military personnel should be getting a 1.8 percent pay raise beginning in January 2014, CNS News reported.
But the law also states that the president can inform Congress of an alternative pay adjustment "if because of national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare, the president considers the pay adjustment which would otherwise be required by this section in any year to be inappropriate."
Obama wrote to congressional leaders: "I am strongly committed to supporting our uniformed service members, who have made such great contributions to our nation over the past decade of war. As our country continues to recover from serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare, however, we must maintain efforts to keep our nation on a sustainable fiscal course."
He also asserted that his decision "will not materially affect the federal government's ability to attract and retain well-qualified members" of the military.
The House passed a bill in July authorizing the 1.8 percent raise, but the Senate has set the raise at 1 percent as recommended by Obama.
Military pay rose 1.7 percent this year and 1.6 percent in 2012.
Retired Air Force Col. Mike Hayden, director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), calculated that the reduced pay raise could cost an officer with 10 years of service about $52 a month next year, or $8,000 over the remaining years of his or her career. It would also cost a service member $20,000 in retirement pay.
Hayden wrote on the MOAA website: "Over the past 12 years, Congress worked hard to fix the 13.5 percent pay gap (and resulting retention problems) caused by repeatedly capping military raises below private-sector pay growth in the 1980s and 1990s.
"History has shown that once Congress starts accepting proposals to cap military pay below private-sector growth, pay caps continue until they have weakened retention and readiness."
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Obama a living douche bag.
8888madkitty
new gadsen8888
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Obama a living douche bag.
8888madkitty
new gadsen8888
For any leftwing types reading this...I surely meant that in the nicest possible terms. :smokin: :whistle:
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How much will he "cap" pay raises for his favored federal employees, though?
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How much will he "cap" pay raises for his favored federal employees, though?
Which shows who he favors more.
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Once again he acts as if he is a law unto himself: President Obama has told Congress he will cap next year's pay raise for U.S. military personnel at 1 percent instead of boosting pay by 1.8 percent as called for by a federal law.
Yes, I know he has an escape hatch, But the law also states that the president can inform Congress of an alternative pay adjustment "if because of national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare, the president considers the pay adjustment which would otherwise be required by this section in any year to be inappropriate."
; but what precisely is the "national emergency" that makes the full pay raise "inappropriate"? Is Air Force One low on fuel?
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Wow. So, this guy is about to ask a large number of military servicemembers to put their lives on the line for his sorry little foreign adventure, but he's pre-emptively punishing them by taking away almost have of their pay raises next year?
Is this some sort of new-wave liberal morale boosting? 'Cause from the perspective of reality it looks like the exact opposite.
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He wants to weed out the patriots, I guess. Perhaps they'll either resign or commit mutiny - and then what sort of military will we have left?
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Excuse me, but why should ANYBODY paid by the federal government be getting a pay raise in these hard economic times?
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Why should Obama and his troll of a wife be going on $100 million vacations? Why should congressional employees be subsidized on Obamacare? Talk about a pay raise. Why should federal agencies be spending 10s of thousands on "meetings" in places like Hawaii? The point is there is enough money somewhere but not for the troops. It is simply another of Obama's slap in the face moves because he truly hates the military. :smokin: