UPDATE???: Troops in Iraq face pay cut; Pentagon says tough duty bonuses are budget-buster

[Guest guest]

anyone have an update on this story?

-

 

Troops in Iraq face pay cut; Pentagon says tough duty bonuses are

budget-buster

 

 

 

How does this Administration plan to become the World's Police Force

if it cannot afford to pay its men? Does this mean we need another

tax cut?

 

<http://www.sfgate.com>www.sfgate.com

 

Troops in Iraq face pay cut

Pentagon says tough duty bonuses are budget-buster

<eepsteinEdward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Thursday, August 14, 2003

©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback

 

URL: <http://drudgereport.com/>http://drudgereport.com/

 

Washington -- The Pentagon wants to cut the pay of its 148,000 U.S. troops

in Iraq, who are already contending with guerrilla-style attacks,

homesickness and 120- degree-plus heat.

 

Unless Congress and President Bush take quick action when Congress returns

after Labor Day, the uniformed Americans in Iraq and the 9,000 in

Afghanistan will lose a pay increase approved last April of $75 a month in

" imminent danger pay " and $150 a month in " family separation allowances. "

 

The Defense Department supports the cuts, saying its budget can't sustain

the higher payments amid a host of other priorities. But the proposed cuts

have stirred anger among military families and veterans' groups and even

prompted an editorial attack in the Army Times, a weekly newspaper for

military personnel and their families that is seldom so outspoken.

 

Congress made the April pay increases retroactive to Oct. 1, 2002, but they

are set to expire when the federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30 unless

Congress votes to keep them as part of its annual defense appropriations

legislation.

 

Imminent danger pay, given to Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force members in

combat zones, was raised to $225 from $150 a month. The family separation

allowance, which goes to help military families pay rent, child care or

other expenses while soldiers are away, was raised from $100 a month to

$250.

 

Last month, the Pentagon sent Congress an interim budget report saying the

extra $225 monthly for the two pay categories was costing about $25 million

more a month, or $300 million for a full year. In its " appeals package "

laying out its requests for cuts in pending congressional spending

legislation, Pentagon officials recommended returning to the old, lower

rates of special pay and said military experts would study the question of

combat pay in coming months.

 

 

 

WHITE HOUSE DUCKS ISSUE

 

A White House spokesman referred questions about the administration's view

on the pay cut to the Pentagon report.

 

Military families have started hearing about the looming pay reductions,

and many aren't happy.

 

They say duty in Iraq is dangerous -- 60 Americans have died in combat-

related incidents since President Bush declared an end to major combat

operations in Iraq on May 1. Another 69 have been killed by disease, the

heat or in accidents.

 

" Every person they see is a threat. They have no idea who is an enemy or

who is a friend, " said Larry Syverson, 54, of Richmond, Va., whose two

sons, Brandon, 31, and Bryce, 25, are serving in Iraq. Syverson appeared

with other military families at a Washington, D.C., news conference to

publicize efforts to bring the troops home.

 

" You can get shot in the head when you go to buy a Coke, " added Syverson,

referring to an incident at a Baghdad University cafeteria on July 6 when

an Army sergeant was shot and killed after buying a soda.

 

 

 

AFRAID FOR HER SON

 

Susan Schuman of Shelburne Falls, Mass., said her son, Army National Guard

Sgt. Justin Schuman, had told her " it's really scary " serving in Samarra, a

town about 20 miles from Saddam Hussein's ancestral hometown of Tikrit.

 

Schuman, who like Syverson has become active in a group of military

families that want service personnel pulled out of Iraq, said the pay cut

possibility didn't surprise her.

 

" It's all part of the lie of the Bush administration, that they say they

support our troops, " she said.

 

It's rare for the independent Army Times, which is distributed widely among

Army personnel, to blast the Pentagon, the White House and the Congress.

But in this instance, the paper has said in recent editorials that Congress

was wrong to make the pay raises temporary, and the Pentagon is wrong to

call for a rollback.

 

" The bottom line: If the Bush administration felt in April that conditions

in Iraq and Afghanistan warranted increases in danger pay and family

separation allowances, it cannot plausibly argue that the higher rates are

not still warranted today, " the paper said in an editorial in its current

edition.

 

On Capitol Hill, members say the issue will be taken up quickly after the

summer recess when a conference committee meets to negotiate conflicting

versions of the $369 billion defense appropriations bill.

 

" You can't put a price tag on their service and sacrifice, but one of the

priorities of this bill has got to be ensuring our servicemen and women in

imminent danger are compensated for it, " said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut

Creek, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

 

" Since President Bush declared 'mission accomplished' on May 1, 126

American soldiers have died in Iraq, and we are losing more every day, "

Tauscher said. " If that's not imminent danger, I don't know what is. "

 

The Senate bill calls for making permanent the increases in combat pay --

the first in more than a decade -- for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The

House wants to pay more for service in those two countries than for such

duties as peacekeeping in the Balkans. With the money saved, the House

wants to increase the size of the active military by 6,200 troops.

 

What won't be clear until Congress returns is whether the Pentagon will

lobby against keeping the increase.

 

The Pentagon reiterated Wednesday that its goal was for service personnel

to rotate out of Iraq after a maximum of a year in that country. Units of

the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which played a major role in last March's

invasion, have already come home.

 

----------

By the numbers

 

U.S. troops in Iraq: 148,000

 

U.S. troops in Afghanistan: 9,000

 

Imminent danger pay: $225 per month, but is scheduled to drop to $150 a

month

 

Family separation allowances: $250 per month, but scheduled to drop to $100

per month

 

E-mail Edward Epstein at

<eepsteineepstein.

 

©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback

 

Page A - 1

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/08/14/MN94780.DTL & type=

printable