Is the current administration really supporting the troops, the way it claims? John Kerry doesn’t think so.

It’s no secret that the brave members of our volunteer military services have been getting short-changed in the field for several years now. Units have been called up and sent overseas without enough supplies, without enough equipment, without enough training, without enough body armor, without even enough ammunition. Tours of duty have been extended and time between tours compressed or eliminated, pushing the soldiers and sailors and pilots and their families right to the breaking point.

The many ways in which the current administration continually short-changes service members and their families here at home is nothing short of scandalous. Published reports over the last several years have indicated that anywhere between one-third and one-half of all military families in the U.S. have to rely on food stamps and welfare payments to make ends meet. Those numbers are skewed by the fact that military families living in on-base housing are ineligible for such social services, despite what their financial needs might be. The families of National Guard troops who’ve been called up to serve long tours abroad are in similar but even more difficult straits, since local employers often cannot afford to hold the outbound service members’ jobs open and continue to pay benefits to their families while so many of their key employees are deployed overseas.

Is this the way that our country ought to treat its volunteer military service members in the field? John Kerry doesn’t think so. Is this the way that our country ought to treat its volunteer military services at home? John Kerry doesn’t think so, either.

There is simply no excuse for making those who volunteer to serve their country pay such a high economic cost for their sacrifices, nor should their families have to suffer the fears and indignities of being forced to live below the poverty level here at home. If tens of billions of dollars can be thrown away in Iraq through fraud, waste, corruption, and basic mismanagement every year, then why do military families have to live on food stamps and welfare payments?

Is there any way in which this kind of systematic inequity can be justified? John Kerry doesn’t think so.

The latest example of the current administration’s disregard for the fundamental economic fairness involved in giving our volunteer service members and their families enough of a basic wage to live on is their recent refusal to allow a .5% increase in base pay for active duty service members.

Last week, the White House opposed a provision in the FY 2008 National Defense Authorization Bill to increase military pay to 3.5 percent, calling it “unnecessary.” In addition, Bush has opposed a $40 monthly benefit for surviving spouses and military families.

According to a Boston Globe article published on May 19,

The White House is trying to kill a Democratic plan to increase the size of a military pay raise next year, contending it would be too costly and that members of the armed forces are already sufficiently compensated.

In a letter from the White House Office of Management and Budget to congressional committees overseeing the military, OMB director Rob Portman said Wednesday that the administration “strongly opposes” a Democratic plan to bump up military salaries by 3.5 percent instead of Bush’s request for a 3 percent jump.

“The cost of increasing the FY 2008 military pay raise by an additional 0.5 percent is $265 million in FY 2008 and $7.3 billion” if similar raises are enacted over the next five years, Portman’s office said in a six-page memo outlining concerns about the defense spending bill that was approved by the House early Friday and will be taken up by the Senate this week.

The 3 percent raise proposed by Bush is equal to the increase in the Employment Cost Index estimated by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. New recruits currently make a base salary of $15,617 but are eligible for various bonuses and receive extensive benefits.

Top Democratic leaders vowed to continue their efforts to enact a larger raise, arguing that members of the armed forces and their families deserve annual pay raises higher than the private sector due to the dangers of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[...]

In a letter circulated to Senate colleagues yesterday urging their support for the higher pay raise, Senator John F. Kerry , Democrat of Massachusetts, chided the Bush administration for opposing the measure even as it lobbies Congress to extend tax cuts for some of the wealthiest Americans.

In a separate letter to Bush yesterday, Kerry said he was “extremely disappointed” by the White House position on the pay raise, saying it stands “in direct contrast to the will of the American people who support all the efforts to support our troops.”

Kerry previously coauthored the Military Family Bill of Rights, which is now law, that increased the death benefit for surviving spouses and family members of troops killed in action to $250,000. The Kerry legislation also extended the amount of time survivors can remain in military housing after their loved one is killed to a full year.

Kerry’s new call for greater military pay was echoed by a group of Iraq veterans yesterday.

“The pay raise in the bill is equivalent to approximately $6 a month in troop pay-raise increases,” VoteVets.org, a Democrat-leaning military advocacy group said in a statement.

The group’s spokesman, John Bruhns , an Iraq veteran, said that “for President Bush to begrudge our troops a pay raise of [one-half] percentage point is outrageous, appalling, and just unacceptable.”

He said more financial compensation is especially needed at a time when Army deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have been extended from 12 months to 15 months.

The veterans group also urged the White House to support another provision in the House bill that would provide an additional $40 a month for family members of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The House defense bill authorized $644 billion for the Department of Defense for the year beginning Oct. 1, including $142 billion to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The bill provides our troops with more than the Bush administration requested, including a pay raise more in keeping with what they deserve,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement yesterday.

<!-more-> Hmm. At the average troop level, that half-percent difference comes to something like six dollars a month per person. Six whole dollars a month. That’s enough for one loaf of bread and a big jar of peanut butter, if you’re living at the lowest economic fringes. (Or it’s enough for an extra large custom cappucino with whipped cream and chocolate and a biscotti if you’re not.)

Is that fair? John Kerry doesn’t think so.

Our brave troops in the field and their families here at home deserve far better than the treatment they’re getting at the hands of the current administration. And, as always, they can count on JK to stand up for them in the Senate.

Here’s what JK had to say about it in a letter that he sent to President Bush on Friday:

Kerry Asks Bush Not To Cut Military Pay Raise
Says White House Should Reward Troops, Not Short-Change Soldiers on Memorial Day

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Kerry today asked President Bush to back off his plan to cut a proposed military pay raise. Kerry also asked Bush not to cut a proposed benefit for surviving spouses, which Congress and veterans groups say would help grieving families with a $40 month benefit to help cover expenses when a loved one is killed in action. Last week, the White House opposed both of those provisions in the FY 2008 National Defense Authorization Bill.

“It’s unacceptable that this White House continues to choose more tax breaks for the richest Americans and less pay and fewer benefits for our military families,” Senator Kerry said. “Our Democratic Congress has put forth a plan to give our troops a raise at a time of war, and no White House opposition will stand in the way of our commitment to our military. Our troops make incredible sacrifices for our country and we owe them a pay raise and benefits that make it clear we honor their sacrifice. We will fight for this pay raise for our troops until it becomes a reality.”

The Office of Management and Budget said that the House bill’s moves to increase military pay by .5 percent (from 3.0 to 3.5 percent) and give a $40 monthly benefit for surviving spouses and military families were unnecessary. On the same day, the White House expressed opposition to the FY 2008 Budget Resolution Conference Report because it failed to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Last year’s pay increase for members of the uniformed services was just 2.2 percent, the lowest since 1993. Congress has made a commitment to keep pay raises for the military ahead of private sector pay raises.

Kerry is the author of the Military Family Bill of Rights, which has become law. Kerry’s Bill increased the death benefit for surviving spouses and families of troops who die in action to $250,000 and extended the amount of time they can remain in military housing to one full year, along with increasing TRICARE benefits and promoting better care for those suffering from PTSD and other mental illness.

Below is text of the letter Kerry sent to President Bush on Friday:

May 18, 2007

Dear Mr. President:

We are all proud of our men and women in the American military who continue to perform magnificently in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world. They represent the best that this country has to offer, and America owes them and their families a special debt of honor and gratitude. In light of their sacrifice, I ask you to change your position and support a 3.5 percent increase in military pay and an increase in the Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance to help American military families.

On May 16, the Office of Management and Budget’s Statement of Administration Policy for the House FY 2008 National Defense Authorization bill opposes Section 644 of the bill, which would pay a monthly Special survivor indemnity allowance of $40 from the Department of Defense Military Retirement Fund, calling the existing benefits “sufficient”. The Statement of Administration Policy also “strongly opposes” Sections 601 and 606 of the House bill, which provide a 0.5 percent increase in military pay above the President’s proposed 3.0 percent across-the-board pay increase, calling it “unnecessary”.

I am extremely disappointed in these decisions. This position fails to honor our military families who have made the ultimate sacrifice. It also stands in direct contrast to the will of the American people who support all efforts to support our troops.

Most disappointing, on the same day your position on a military pay increase was announced, the Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman expressed opposition to the FY 2008 Budget Resolution Conference Report because it failed to extend tax cuts to provide billions for the wealthiest in our country.

Those who have stood for us should know that we stand with them, today and always. These provisions can do something to ease their burden—but truly supporting our troops requires that we act not just as individuals, but as a nation.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely, John F. Kerry

To date there has been no official response from the White House on this matter.

However, at 11:30 am EST this morning, Senator John Kerry and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel will hold a press conference to respond to President Bush’s opposition to a 3.5 percent military pay increase for American troops. Be sure to check back here for updates on what JK and Rep. Emanuel have to say about this sad state of affairs later in the morning.

For more information on the military pay inequities and the stress that puts on troops and their families, as well as what you can do to help:

Navy Times, Bill to help military families get food stamps Military.com, Food Stamps are not the Answer Military.com, Surviving on Military Pay Alternet.org, The Odd Welfare State San Diego Union-Tribune, Helping the hungry on base Time Magazine, Helping the Food-Stamp G.I. Boston Globe, Perpetual war hits military families hard D.O.D./AFP Library, Cohen Addresses Food Stamp Housing-Income Equity Armed Forces Relief Trust www.4militaryfamilies.com