Navy, AF money keeps Army running until July

[CommunityEditor]

In an announcement that puts troops and their families in the middle of a political dispute, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday that the Army will not be able to pay soldiers after June 15 unless Congress approves an emergency war funding bill.

The claim drew a quick rebuke from Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, who is working on such a bill.

Murtha said there is no threat to military paychecks and that it is inappropriate for the Pentagon to try to involve soldiers and their families in a political dispute over how much money is needed to pay for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and exactly when the money is needed.

However, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell was very clear in a meeting with reporters.

“June 15th is the last payroll the Army at this point can make without congressional action,” he said.

Morrell said the Pentagon has “for months” been funding the wars by borrowing from personnel budget accounts. But those accounts “are about to run dry,” he said.

Morrell also said Army payroll accounts “are just running dry faster” and that if Congress does not act by May 26, “we will have to come back to them and ask them for permission to reprogram money so that we can take money from some of the other services — the Navy, the Air Force — and use those payroll dollars to pay the Army.”

“But all of these measures — the reprogramming request, if we get to that point — will not buy us much more time,” Morrell said. “And we’re talking weeks of additional funds; not much more than that.”

The Pentagon, which received $70 billion in war funding last fall, is seeking an additional $108 billion — a figure that includes money for State Department wartime operations — to pay for operations through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing an average of $11.5 billion per month, according to the Pentagon.

Providing that money has proven difficult due to a lack of votes. With many anti-war Democrats refusing to vote for additional funding for Iraq operations, House leaders are trying to put together a bill that will get votes by adding some nondefense items. They are operating under an assumption that they have until Memorial Day to pass a bill.

Murtha said threatening paychecks is a mistake. “It is unacceptable for them to say something like that,” he said. “It is unacceptable for the Pentagon to make a political statement like that, scaring troops and their families in time of war.

“They know they’re going to be paid, and we know they’re going to be paid,” Murtha said. “They did this same thing one time before, and I told them to knock it off because it was unnecessarily scaring people.”

Morrell said Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent letters to congressional leaders Monday night saying he is “encouraged” to hear of what he described as Congress’s intention to approve the supplemental funding by Memorial Day. And a Pentagon budget team briefed Capitol Hill staffers Tuesday morning.

Still, Gates wrote, “We also have a responsibility to plan for the possibility that this goal may not be achieved.”

Gates said he has ordered his staff to keep Congress informed of Pentagon contingency planning.

Troops would get paid, if history is any guide. The Civil War-era Feed and Forage Act allows the Pentagon to spend more than is budgeted in a given year for clothing, subsistence, fuel, quarters, transportation and medical supplies. Invoking the Act requires congressional notification, and Congress must appropriate the funds.

It was last invoked in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It was also invoked in 1990, when a total of $1.6 billion was obligated to meet the military’s needs during the run-up to the 1991 Gulf War.

In December, Morrell raised the possibility of invoking the act again should the need arise.

On Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee announced plans to meet Thursday afternoon to put together its version of the war funding bill.


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...nding_050608w/

[CommunityEditor]

The Army will be able to meet its next military and civilian payroll and all defense operations will continue full-bore, thanks to last-minute congressional moves to let the Pentagon shift Navy and Air Force personnel and operations funds into the Army and other defense accounts, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

Officials had announced May 28 that unless Congress approved by June 9 its remaining emergency supplemental war funding request of $102.1 billion — or, at least, $9.7 billion as a stopgap — the Army would not be able to meet its payroll after June 15.

On Wednesday, Congress gave permission to reprogram $1.6 billion into the operations and maintenance accounts of the Army and other agencies, Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

That came on the heels of congressional approval to reprogram $5.7 billion into military personnel accounts to avert the impending Army payroll shortfall, said Army Lt. Col. Brian Maka, a Pentagon spokesman.

“We will now be able to pay our troops until the end of July,” Morrell said. “And operations and maintenance accounts will remain solvent until mid-July.”

Morrell said the approvals “bought us a little additional time. But we still face a very grave situation if we don’t get our full supplemental funding.”

Officials said the shortfall developed when the Pentagon’s initial $178 billion war supplemental request was only partially funded last fall, forcing it to pay for war costs this spring and summer out of normal operations and maintenance accounts funded by the baseline $471 billion fiscal-year budget.

The Pentagon’s initial $9.7 billion transfer request would have drawn $5.7 billion from the military personnel accounts of the Navy and Air Force and, separately, $4 billion from those services’ operations and maintenance accounts and the Department of Defense Working Capital Fund, for transfer to the Army and U.S. Special Operations Command operations and maintenance accounts.

But the Pentagon came up $2.4 billion short in stopgap funding. The additional money would have allowed the Pentagon to continue operating past mid-July, Morrell said.

Defense officials previously said that if Congress does not pass the entire $108.1 billion supplemental request by mid-July, all remaining military personnel and operations funding will be exhausted by late July, leaving the department unable to meet both military and civilian payroll.

Morrell said details on what will happen if the supplement continues to sit in limbo won’t be known until June 30.

Earlier this week, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England sent out a memo asking all military departments and agencies to begin planning for a possible shutdown and determine which civilian personnel would have to continue working in that event, Morrell said. Responses are due back to England no later than June 30.

Should funding run out, service members and certain “essential” civilian personnel, including those serving in the war zones, would continue to serve without pay. Nonessential civilian employees would be laid off per applicable personnel rules, the Pentagon earlier said.

No furlough notices have yet been prepared, Morrell said.


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...shift_061108w/

Wow. So now they not only want us to go to war for a phoney cause but they want us to do it for free. Gotta love the government.

[Sgt Grandpa]

Originally Posted by CommunityEditor

Should funding run out, service members and certain “essential” civilian personnel, including those serving in the war zones, would continue to serve without pay. Nonessential civilian employees would be laid off per applicable personnel rules, the Pentagon earlier said.

No furlough notices have yet been prepared, Morrell said.[/i]


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...shift_061108w/

So these soldiers don't get paid, they run afoul of getting their bills taken care of, which leads to the bill collectors calling the units, which leads to an ART15 for not paying on time, which leads to reduced rank, which leads to reduced pay, which leads to not paying your bills on time... does anybody else see a vicious circle here?

And don't tell me they should have savings. Based on our economy right now, anybody with a decent savings is either rich (oil execs, drug dealers) to begin with or evading taxes.

I cannot believe our government really expects these men and women to want to continue to be loyal to their country, fight for freedom, work 24/7, see things no one should have to witness, and not get paid at all, when they do not make enough money already. How are they supposed to survive?? They certainly do not have a choice to get another job!!!! I hope you people in Washington can come to your senses and figure out a solution to this problem!!!

The Goverment, our "elected leaders", expect us to perform a service without compensation? I thought slavery was abolished after the Civil War. If something like this gets goes into effect NOT ONE LAWMAKER HAD BETTER COLLECT A DIME OF THEIR PAYCHECKS!

Sure, I'll serve for free...after the White House, Congress, Secretaries, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the rest of the CoC also cast their paychecks into the pot. And, I expect to keep whatever loot I plunder during my missions on the high-seas, no questions asked, because that will be my only source for buying food, clothing, and shelter when I return to land.

Yes, my division is perfectly capable of handling this. I'll just keep morale up by hosting extra bingo nights in the mess deck.

It's just congress playing chicken with the white house. Everything is going to be fine, and if for some reason the problem doesn't get resolved it time I know the Military soldiers are so proud of the job their doing that they would work without pay. That is our job, integrity first, SERVICE BEFORE SELF, and excellence in all we do. And if times get tough, we take care of our own and never leave a fallen soldeir behind. We're at war and serious problems are coming to a head, and these next few years are going to be trying times.
War, Oil shortages, food shortages, and climatic changes. We'll only get through all this together as a team.

As much as I know it's just congressional squabbling over a very real problem, If I don't get paid, I don't work. I love my country and all don't get me wrong, but I have a family to support as well and my family's well being comes before everything else.