White House: 3.5 percent pay hike unnecessary for military

[appleannie1]

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.”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/military_payhike_whitehouse_070516/

[SeattleGirl]

1. Don't you just LOVE how this Administration "support's" the troops?

Asshats! :grr: :grr: :grr:

[emilyg]

17. They make me sick

[Monkeyman]

2. Ah their not in the line of fire and it not for oil boys

[hobbit709]

3. They're just cannon fodder.

Why pay them anything if we can pocket the money ourselves with our nobid contracts appears to be idiot son and his cohorts thinking.

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. Yep, the Chimp Supports The Troops...

how can anyone in the military defend these pieces of shit?

[LonelyLRLiberal]

5. Recommended - this makes my blood boil!

Asshats

[WildEyedLiberal]

6. The next time a rightwinger claims they "support the troops" I just might puke

Rightwingers support the troops like vegans support McDonald's.

[appleannie1]

7. And then there is this gem

This is something else they oppose:




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.

[Lars39]

8. Tucking this away so I can flay the next person who claims bushco

supports the troops. :grr: Absolutely infuriating.

[sellitman]

9. So far 2 posters have called them Asshats.

I say they are ASSHOLES.

[Blashyrkh]

10. How is 3.5% a "hike"? Pricks.

[Canuckistanian]

11. No-bid contracts for Halliburton? Sure!

A raise for the troops? Well, er, ah, not so much.

[tanyev]

12. Why indeed when you can just use the Pentagon's secret budget to get more soldiers from Blackwater?

:grr:

[appleannie1]

13. Blackwater pays $4,000 a month according to this

According to reports last week in the Colombian news magazine Semana and the Financial Times of London, the 35 Colombians - mostly seasoned counter insurgency troops - alleged in a letter to Blackwater that recruiters had promised them salaries of $4,000 a month

http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=110329&ran=207256

[appleannie1]

14. UMM Blackwater $15,000 a month?

The deaths in Fallujah are symptomatic of a terminal disease. Contractors alter into security guards and mutate into mercenaries. Blackwater Security Consulting is in the business of recruiting legionnaires. "We employ only the most highly motivated and professional operators, all drawn from various U.S. and international Special Operations Forces, Intelligence and Law Enforcement organizations". Paying $15,000 a month for services, seems to qualify for - Have Gun Will Travel. So why dodge the factual in pursuit of an ignoble veneer that conceals the true nature and purpose of civilian hired guns?

http://batr.org/wrack/040404.html

Huge disparity between what they pay Columbians and what they pay Americans.
Either way, our troops deserve better.

[Screwfly]

15. Even $15,000 a month

(which works out to $500 per day) for being in combat is peanuts for a capably mercenary. Way back when I read in Soldier of Fortune magazine the going rate for a merc was $200 a day for just sitting around, and $2,000 a day if there was actual combat. IMHO these Blackwater mercs are either real chumps for working so cheap, or they consider the opportunity to kill people a sort of compensation money just can‘t beat.

[seafan]

16. Oh, yeah, the Bush administration supports the troops...

White House: 3.5 percent pay hike unnecessary

By Rick Maze
May 16, 2007

.....

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.

[appleannie1]

18. along with a provision imposing price controls on prescription drugs dispensed to Tricare users

Profit for pharmaceuticals is much more important that something that benefits the military and their families.

[OneBlueSky]

19. the need those $$$ to pay the Halliburton "contactors" $1000/day . . . n/t

.

[radfringe]

20. from the memory hole

Bush Nominates Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense
Aired December 28, 2000 - 2:05 p.m. ET
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/28/se.02.html

QUESTION: Mr. President-elect, during the campaign, you spoke a lot about military -- the decline in military morale and readiness. But since the election, you've focused on education and tax relief. So what priority will you give rebuilding the military in your first 100 days?

And, perhaps, Secretary-designate Rumsfeld?

BUSH: Well, first, in my budget, I can assure you, there's going to be a military pay raise greater than the pay raise which was enacted a year ago.



Powell, Schwarzkopf back Bush on military
By Dave Boyer
THE WASHINGTON TIMES - September 8, 2000
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39b874966428.htm

Mr. Bush told the audience in Dayton that the signs of erosion in military power are "disturbing."

"Recruitment goals are not being met," he said. "There's a shortage of equipment."

He pledged to increase military pay by $1 billion, as well as spend more on military housing and veterans' benefits. And he said if elected, he would order a task force to review immediately the overseas deployments of U.S. armed forces

[B Calm]

21. The Army Times went AWOL on this article!

That page has gone AWOL!

[salin]

23. interesting, isn't it.

by the way - follow up to an earlier thread - the gas prices in Indy just went up to 3.35-3.39 yesterday.

[seafan]

25. Try this link

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/05/military_payhike_whitehouse_070516/

[leftofthedial]

22. they are aggressive about preserving every penny of Halliburton's profit

if anyone deserves a bigger pay increase, it is Halliburton's executives

[gollygee]

24. Oh nice . . .have them do all your work, getting all your oil

but let the oil execs make all the profits.

[KillCapitalism]

26. Uhhh...bullsh*t a**holes!!!

They deserve the pay hike they are asking for. Being stuck in a hot desert in a war that never ends should be worth it.