White House Against Troop Pay Increase

President Bush is threatening to veto the National Defense Authorization Act. The bill would increase the pay of enlisted and officers. The White House has objected to sections 804, 809, 845, and 846. Those have already been strickened from the bill. The pay increases appear to be what the White House objects to.

The Army Times reports the White House calls the pay increases "unnecessary."

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.”

This administration has no problem approving record breaking spend or sending troops into combat. They wil battle over a 0.5 difference in troop pay. The lack of compassion these people have continue to amaze me.

Jon Soltz of Votevets.org nicely summed up Bush's stupidity.

With the military dreadfully unable to meet recruiting goals, or retain our best men and women, you think the president would see the wisdom of paying troops as much as we possibly can. That's just the practical side of the equation. On the moral side, how could the president possibly oppose a half a percent increase in pay over what he asked for, when he has offered absolutely no hope that troops will ever be able to get out of the Iraqi civil war, and back home?

There is the matter of Bush fighting over military personal pay after his appointee's mismanaged Walter Reed. This is fucking disgraceful.