thedrifter
05-22-07, 07:19 PM
Clinton, Kerry support 3.5 percent pay raise
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday May 22, 2007 14:10:59 EDT
The Bush administration’s opposition to the 3.5 percent military pay raise approved by the House of Representatives has emboldened key Democratic senators to put the same increase in that chamber’s version of the 2008 defense budget.
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and John Kerry, D-Mass., said Tuesday that the 3.5 percent pay raise for 2008, with additional raises in 2009 through 2012 that are 0.5 percentage point more than the private-sector average, is the least Congress can do in a time of war.
The Senate Armed Services Committee began writing its version of the 2008 defense authorization bill Tuesday morning. Clinton, a member of the committee, said she was not allowed to talk about the outcome until the entire bill was completed, but “you can be assured that a number of us are proposing the House-passed pay raises.”
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget said in a statement of administration policy issued last week, as the House was debating the bill, that it “strongly opposed” the 3.5 percent raise. President Bush has proposed a 3 percent raise, and OMB officials said the higher increase is “unnecessary.” The policy statement also opposed the larger 2006 through 2012 raises, which the House Armed Services Committee had passed in hopes of shaving the gap between average military and private-sector pay to 1.4 percent by 2012.
Kerry, who ran against Bush for president in 2004, said White House objections present a “major test” for Democrats, who have said for years they want to do more for the troops.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and a former White House staff member in the Clinton administration, said he was surprised that OMB would oppose a modest half-percentage point difference in pay for troops, saying someone at the White House should have thought about the message it would send to troops.
“I really want to know who the knucklehead is who said 3.5 percent is too much,” he said.
The difference between a 3 percent and 3.5 percent raise is about $1,000 a year for junior service members. That may not seem like much to lawmakers, but could mean a lot of service members and their families, said Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., an Iraq war veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee.
If anything, the 3.5 percent raise isn’t enough, Murphy said.
“It is not the raise they deserve,” he said.
Ellie
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday May 22, 2007 14:10:59 EDT
The Bush administration’s opposition to the 3.5 percent military pay raise approved by the House of Representatives has emboldened key Democratic senators to put the same increase in that chamber’s version of the 2008 defense budget.
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and John Kerry, D-Mass., said Tuesday that the 3.5 percent pay raise for 2008, with additional raises in 2009 through 2012 that are 0.5 percentage point more than the private-sector average, is the least Congress can do in a time of war.
The Senate Armed Services Committee began writing its version of the 2008 defense authorization bill Tuesday morning. Clinton, a member of the committee, said she was not allowed to talk about the outcome until the entire bill was completed, but “you can be assured that a number of us are proposing the House-passed pay raises.”
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget said in a statement of administration policy issued last week, as the House was debating the bill, that it “strongly opposed” the 3.5 percent raise. President Bush has proposed a 3 percent raise, and OMB officials said the higher increase is “unnecessary.” The policy statement also opposed the larger 2006 through 2012 raises, which the House Armed Services Committee had passed in hopes of shaving the gap between average military and private-sector pay to 1.4 percent by 2012.
Kerry, who ran against Bush for president in 2004, said White House objections present a “major test” for Democrats, who have said for years they want to do more for the troops.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and a former White House staff member in the Clinton administration, said he was surprised that OMB would oppose a modest half-percentage point difference in pay for troops, saying someone at the White House should have thought about the message it would send to troops.
“I really want to know who the knucklehead is who said 3.5 percent is too much,” he said.
The difference between a 3 percent and 3.5 percent raise is about $1,000 a year for junior service members. That may not seem like much to lawmakers, but could mean a lot of service members and their families, said Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., an Iraq war veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee.
If anything, the 3.5 percent raise isn’t enough, Murphy said.
“It is not the raise they deserve,” he said.
Ellie