It’s kind of strange. Republicans say that they care more about our military than Democrats. President Barack Obama just gave the entire military a raise, and the GOP is pissed off.
Obama orders 1.6 percent military pay raise for 2017 https://t.co/N7dvIzrqqk pic.twitter.com/QLk60EKLKW
— Military Times (@MilitaryTimes) August 31, 2016
The president just announced that the military will get a 1.6 percent raise in 2017 via a letter. The Republicans are unhappy because it is not a big enough raise.
From the letter:
“I am strongly committed to supporting our uniformed service members, who have made such great contributions to our nation over more than a 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.
This effort requires tough choices, especially in light of budget constraints.”
This doesn’t guarantee the raise however, Congress is still trying to decide what the military pay will be next year. They could find a way to get around the president’s suggestion.
Civilian employees will also get the same raise.
National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Tony Reardon said:
“NTEU believes this is far too low given the last few years’ erosion in federal pay — from the recent three-year pay freeze to the last three years of meager raises. We continue to highlight the impact on federal workers of low pay increases and the impact on federal agencies’ ability to recruit and retain the skilled workforce our nation needs.”
What Do The Presidential Candidates Say About The Military?
This morning, Donald Trump gave a speech to an American Legion chapter in Cincinnati.
On Trump’s site, he has this video just saying he will make the military stronger:
He wants to cut defense spending, but he also wants to “rebuild” the military. I don’t even know what that means. He just throws out buzzwords.
Roger Zakheim, defense lobbyist and visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said:
“Everything he says on national security really jettisons key policies and principles that have kept us safe and made us prosperous. The notion that you think that you can build up military strength given all the threats and do it while cutting the budget or spending less on defense is dangerous.”
According to Hillary Clinton’s website:
“Provide budgetary certainty to facilitate reforms and enable long-term planning. The recent budget deal reached between the Congress and the White House is a promising first step in providing government agencies with much needed fiscal stability. But we must go further by ending the sequester for both defense and non-defense spending in a balanced way.”
Hopefully, Clinton will treat our military well when she takes the Oval Office.
Featured image by DVIDSHUB via Flickr, available under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
