Congress Will Be Paid But Troops Will Not

Apr 8, 2011 by James

As the most powerful nation runs out of money and begins to shut down the government the people who make it the most powerful nation will not be getting paid. But of course the people who couldn’t reach a deal on the budget due to political posturing for 2012 will be paid on time. Unless a deal is reached before the 15th of this month our troops will not see a paycheck. Even those fighting in Afghanistan won’t be able to see their hard-earned money. What’s even worse is this will stop the payments to family members whose service member died while serving.

The military is however bracing for the government shutdown by tricking the computer system into paying troops within a day after the government re-opens. This way troops and families won’t have to wait until May 1st to receive checks. Although if a government shutdown lasts beyond May 1st the troops will be without a check yet again. While the military is trying to change its systems to benefit troops during the shutdown Congress doesn’t seem to care.

Congress apparently has all the reason in the world not to care because they’re getting paid. Not only are they getting paid but they are of course receiving full pay. While families of dead service men and women go without a check your congress person will get his or hers. Now since this is a very well known fact many politicians will likely be using the troops and their lack of pay to push through a shitty deal. It makes you wonder if it was done on purpose. Why can Homeland Security be paid but the military cannot? Why can the FBI be paid but the military cannot? In my opinion it’s because when people hear things like ‘the troops are not getting paid’ it gives politicians an opening to strike at the heart of Americans. Most Americans don’t like their troops being screwed over so the party that abuses the troops lack of funding the most will have their bill pushed through. Who is the most notorious proponent of troops? Republicans.

Republicans and Democrats alike have been pushing to get their budget bills passed but the reason a deal isn’t likely is because of what Republicans are proposing. The Republican plan would cut 5.8 trillion from the budget over 10 years and 74 billion for this year but it does it by eliminating programs that benefit the needy, elderly and our environment. While the cuts fall short of eliminating the $100 billion from the budget that they campaigned on it’s still cutting programs that many hold as government staples. Since the troops will not be paid I’m sure the Republicans will use it to their advantage to push through their cuts. No doubt Democrats will use it as well to try and leverage the Republicans off of their hardline stance.

There is a bipartisan agreement that areas of government need to be slashed but no one can agree on what to cut so our troops will bear the consequences. If troops are not being paid on time then in my opinion they shouldn’t be fighting. Politicians sent them to battle and politicians are the reason they’re not being paid so what are they for exactly? Yes I understand that the military is far more complex than that but taking away a soldiers’ pay isn’t right. Nor is using their sacrifice for political gain but the real outrage here shouldn’t be over our troops pay. It should be because the people we trusted to lead our government are letting it run out of money. It doesn’t matter who the President is as the budget bill hasn’t even made it to that office yet. It’s the people who were elected last year.

Source: CNN Source: Fox News Source: CBS