By Here is some good financial news for US troops admidst all the economic doom and gloom surrounding the rest of America:
The House on Wednesday passed a 3.9 percent military pay raise next year and nearly $5 billion for bomb-resistant vehicles as part of their final draft of the 2009 Defense Authorization Bill.
The budget measure, which passed by a 392-39 vote, outlines $531.4 billion in funding for Defense Department programs next year and $68.6 billion more for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Senate still must OK the measure before the president can sign it into law.
House members were also expected Wednesday to vote on the 2009 Defense Appropriations Bill as part of a $630 billion omnibus spending bill designed to keep the federal government operating past the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.
The authorization and appropriations legislation together set spending priorities and limits for all defense spending.
But the two do not overlap perfectly. The appropriations bill contains only $487.7 billion in funding for its Pentagon programs, and does not include money for ongoing combat operations overseas.
The plans contain a 3.9 percent pay raise, the highest increase for military personnel since 2004, and a $500 monthly bonus for stop-lossed troops starting next year. Lawmakers praised the pay boosts. [Stars & Stripes]
2:47 am on September 26th, 2008 1
US is facing bankrupsy yet they're handing out raises like it's Christmas.
Crazy if you ask me.
4:08 am on September 26th, 2008 2
Exactly what Tom says. Yes, good news for troops but not for the nation as whole that these troops have pledged to defend.
Congressional leaders should be concentrating on how to loosen up the credit market not needlessly adding to the national debt.
But still, GI, "congratulations".
11:33 am on September 26th, 2008 3
LOL, "Lawmakers praised the pay boost". These are the same snarks who will quietly underpay the troops during peacetime. The old saying that " a little war is always nice for increased pay and benifits" holds true. The same snarks will later stick thier fingers up thier noses while proclaiming " during these times of 'economic austerity' the military must, 'lead the way' in fighting the budget deficit." Politicians make me want to "puke". Sorry.
2:49 pm on September 26th, 2008 4
GI: Congress didn't pass the pay raise, the House of Representatives did. It only passes Congress when both bodies, the House and the Senate which comprise "the Congress" pass legislation, conclude a conference to work out the differences between the two bills and then vote on the conference report and send it to the president. Only then is the headline "Congress Passes Payraise" correct.
Pay raises for the miitary are unique in that they must be "authorized" in the Defense Authorization Bill and "funded" in the Defense Appropriations Bill and both must be signed by the president. And that is the short version of "how a bill becomes law." So no, there is no pay raise yet.
7:45 am on September 29th, 2008 5
Not to come back and harp on this issue, but I just read the headlines from the NYT, Washington Post, and listened to the anchors on CNN and can't helped but be pissed.
Let me put it to readers this way: the fundementals of the US economy-the flow credit-is most likely about to freeze. Yet the Republican ideological Jacobins in the House decide to pass a massive defense bill while ignoring that the US financial system is about to meltdown.