Yesterday Hot Air posted an article explaining why the military is not being paid if the government shuts down--they were paid in 1995.
The article reports:
"During the 1995 shutdown, the Clinton Administration followed the OMB guidance issued during the Reagan Administration. The Obama Administration, it seems, is tacking a different direction.
"Let me be clear, the guidelines proposing to hold military paychecks are, according to the news reports, draft guidelines. It is possible the Obama Administration has abandoned these punitive guidelines. And, even if they implemented these guidelines, military personnel would most likely eventually receive their pay, once a budget agreement is reached. But, why even change the policy and subject our military to partisan political battles. The policy is certainly a change, but it doesn't provide much hope.
"Hopefully, they will clear this up quickly."
Think about this for a minute. The Obama Administration is not using the OMB guidance and has made the decision not to pay the military during the shutdown. I hope this changes--if it doesn't, I hope everyone who is part of a military family will vote all Democrats out of office in 2012. We can't have leaders who play games with the military.
The article includes an update:
"Update: Aha, there is indeed an explanation for this. Military pay in 1995 wasn't as simple as Clinton releasing the funds. There was a defense appropriations bill in effect during that shutdown. Via Gabe Malor, a report from the Congressional Research Service:
"A frequent question is how this compares to the last government shutdown in 1995-1996. There were two shutdowns at that time, one of five days, from November 13 through November 19, 1995, and one of 21 days, from December 15, 1995 through January 5, 1996. The first shutdown was not long enough to affect pay checks, and DOD was not affected by the second because defense appropriations were enacted on December 1, so funding was available.
"So it's not The One's fault that the military isn't getting paid. (Well, it is insofar as he and Reid refuse to agree to Boehner's new resolution, but it's not solely his fault.) It's actually ... Reid's and Pelosi's fault for not passing a 2011 budget last year when they had a chance. The record stands corrected!"
Meanwhile, we haven't even started the real debate on the 2012 budget!
Leave a comment