Hagel to take paycut for sequestraton
I don’t like the guy, but he stands in glaring contrast to his predecessor. Chuck Hagel, the Secretary of Defense has vowed to take a pay cut when other DoD employees are furloughed, according to Politico;
As a political appointee, Hagel isn’t subject to the furloughs, but Pentagon press secretary George Little said he would take a pay cut along with the workers who must begin staying home later this year.
“The secretary plans to subject his pay to furlough levels even though he is not required to because he is a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed official in this department,” Little said.
Since Hagel will continue to receive his normal payments, he would have to effectively write a check to the federal government for the amount of pay he would lose over 14 furlough days.
It could also signal that sequestration isn’t going to last very long, but compared to Leon Panetta who made weekly trips home to California to be with his family at a cost of $33,000 while the people he commanded were deployed away from their families for months and years at a time, at least Hagel is somewhat decent and a brief breath of fresh air.
Category: Military issues
It’s a nice gesture, I’ll give him that. I’m wondering whether the checks he’ll write will be regarded as tax payments and credited as such. After all, he was selected by the obamaman and he was in the Senate for 12 years. Thus, he has more than a little weasel in him.
Could just mean the furloughs aren’t going to happen and he knows it. Sucks that that’s the first thing I thought of, and I really hope he’s serious and will follow through wiht no strings if they do happen.
Hagel isn’t the only DoD political appointee who’s doing this. Ashton Carter, DUSD(AT&L), has also announced he’s doing the same. Haven’t heard of any others yet.
Good for him.
Props to him for that, now if he can just pull his head out of his ass regarding all his other wrong-headed stances.
@2 The furloughs are actually already happening, at least for DOE. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law, who are both contractors for DOE, are both home this week because of it.
Volunteering to take the same hit as the folks who work for you when you are not required to do so represents more than a little knowledge of what makes a good leader.
Perhaps Mr. Hagel will be someone that, while I don’t necessarily agree with most of his positions, I can at least respect as someone who genuinely believes he is on the right track and is working to benefit the nation.
I’m intrigued by this SEDEF. His recent announcement to give a hard look at force structure and personnel costs makes me wonder what will happen next. Between 11 and 19 percent of the different branches are officers. When’s the last time you had a LT as a squad leader? Okay, okay, that’s not fair. There are pilots, nurses and other concentrations of officers but I still don’t see why we need a flag officer for AAFES.
“Today the operational forces of the military — measured in battalions, ships, and aircraft wings — have shrunk dramatically since the Cold War era. Yet the three- and four-star command and support structures sitting atop these smaller fighting forces have stayed intact, with minor exceptions, and in some cases they are actually increasing in size and rank,” Hagel said.
His announcement is a scary proposition if you’re an officer, though.