Can anyone tell me why the president doesn't think the people in the military deserve a 3.5% increase in pay

Question

I think those in the military deserve to be compensated for their services. Apparently, the president thinks it's acceptable that 20% of military families must use some type of government aid, such as food stamps, wic.
I'm looking for some honest, non partisan, reflective answers.

Answer 1

OK all you opinionated robots! This from the Military Times newspaper:

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.
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So, everyone wants the troops to get a raise. The question is how big? 3.5% or 3%.

Personally, I think they deserve 200% so they might make as much as the mercenary thugs BushCo has hired to privatize our military. That's what we should all be fighting for - left and right.

When you hear a conservative say the government can't afford 3.5% what he is really saying is "I don't want to pay my share of it so you heroic soldiers will just have to do without. Take that you poor, stupid suckers!"

Answer 2

The House of Representatives wants a 3.5% increase and the Bush administration wants a 3% increase. The White House said that the extra amount was “unnecessary.” The Democrats are trying to reduce the gap between military and civilian pay. They also want increases in 2009 through 20012. The White House opposes those also.

The House defense bill also contains a “Buy America” provision which might trigger a presidential veto because the Bush administration says it “would impose unrealistically arduous requirements.”

EDIT: To Robert S below: If Bush really wanted a larger increase he would just say so and wouldn’t be objecting to the 3.5% increase. The Bush administration is stating that it “strongly opposes” the 3.5% increase.

Answer 3

Bush didn't want the minimum wage to increase let alone a raise to inflation for the military. It took the Democrats to raise the minimum wage just like it was the Democrats that raised it 14 years ago with Bill Clinton's Administration. Republicans are all about interest rate hikes and inflation, and always have been. I have lived through Republican Presidents from Richard Nixon to the present George Bush and the policies have always been the same. Republicans are for the rich, and not for the people.

Answer 4

The administration wants a 3% raise to exactly match the private sector index. The proposal they're objecting to would give military personel an additional .5% premium above the established benchmark annually for the next 5+ years. Stop blowing this out of proportion.

BTW, if you're seriously "looking for some honest, non partisan, reflective answers", you should ask questions the same way.

Answer 5

I don't understand where you are getting this information. Since GW became president all members of the military have benefited from annual pay increases and there are already discussions in congress for next years raise in base pay. The annual increases are have normally weighted so that E-1 through E-4 have seen the larger annual increases than any other pay-grades. This has been targeted to attempt to keep military members off of these programs.
Trust me, a blanket 3.5% increase would be nice, but I don't think that you have been given all the information on this topic. You have only been given what the liberal media puts out.

For more information do research on military pay charts compared to the inflation rate on that particular year and you will see that in most cases the pay has risen higher than the inflation rate for most pay-grades since 2000.

Answer 6

The president did not think the wounded and the maimed do not deserve any medical treatment, so why would he think now that the military deserve the 1/2% more pay raise than he asked for?

Answer 7

Oh GAWD, people who don't understand the process !! It's the STUPID way that Congress (both parties) play the game... it's the way that legislation is written and passed through Congress.

Sadly, Congress has attached to the pay-raise OTHER things that the President won't and can't support !!

And of course, the Supreme Court sadly ruled the Line-Item-Veto unconstitutional... so the President can't take the PAY RAISE and pass it while rejecting funding for abortion etc. that is attached to the bill.

Personally, President Bush is one of those who I THINK would love to give the SERVICES a 5% pay-raise and fund it by cutting CONGRESS's pay-checks !

Answer 8

Why do you think that the President does not want to give the military a raise? If you think that is the reason he keeps rejecting the bill then you are incorrect. You will get your raise, this BS with the military budget has been going on every year since to coin a very old phrase... Since Christ was a corporal.

Answer 9

Welcome to the selfish minds of the Republican world :(

The rich deserve tax cuts while the military &
their families deserve as little government aid as
possible...esp. if they come home injured in the war...
(The Republican just argue...hey its not our fault
they volunteered & got injured or killed)

Bush laughs & dances
while mothers & wives cry....

Answer 10

If they are not high rollers in big business he doesn't even care one iota about them. He never has and never will.