GOP claims that Pay Our Military Act of 2013 pays death benefit
The Washington Times reports that members of Congress claim that their Pay Our Military Act of 2013 that they passed earlier this week does indeed cover payment of the death benefit for the military and that the Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel is the fellow withholding funds from bereaved families;
Congressional Republicans say the Pay Our Military Act, passed by Congress and signed by Mr. Obama on Sept. 30, authorizes such payments. The act states that it is authorizing “such sums as are necessary to provide pay and allowances to members of the armed forces.”
And the death gratuity is listed on the Pentagon’s official list — “Pays and Allowances Summary.”
Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican, has sent a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. The letter contains the Pentagon’s official lists of pays and allowances, and asks the secretary what other benefits he plans to deny service members in addition to the death gratuity.
Here’s the bill as it was signed if you’re interested. It does say that;
There are hereby appropriated for fiscal year 2014, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for any period during which interim or full-year appropriations for fiscal year 2014 are not in effect–
(1) such sums as are necessary to provide pay and allowances to members of the Armed Forces (as defined in section 101(a)(4) of title 10, United States Code), including reserve components thereof, who perform active service during such period;
So if the death benefit appears on the DoD’s Pays and Allowances Summary (I can’t find it so I’m not sure), it appears that it’s one of those things that Hagel decided would bring pain to a small number of people and they thought they could get away with it.
This from Fox News;
The House voted Wednesday afternoon to restore the $100,000 payments. But in a rapid turn of events, the Pentagon announced minutes later that it had entered into an agreement with the non-profit Fisher House Foundation to keep the payments flowing to families — without the need for congressional action.
So, the administration appears to have fixed a problem that they themselves created, and they hoodwinked Fisher House into funding it for them.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Military issues
Considering the Dems and the Press (but I repeat myself) are trumpeting that all pain is solely the responsibility of the GOP, then yes, an Obama loyalist would ensure the death money and SGLI doesn’t get paid in order to increase the shock and pain to the deceaseds’ families.
Here is the PDF of what Rep. Joe Wilson sent to SecDef.
http://www.blackfive.net/files/serve.pdf
I thought the Fisher House volunteered to do this yesterday which would mean that the DOD did not “arrange” anything. They may have agreed to repay the Fisher House after the slimdown, but to say that the DOD had any positive impact on the situation is wrong.
Gentlemen, this is all well and good, but it’s academic. THIS SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN AN ISSUE IN THE FIRST GODAMN PLACE. If I ever caught one of my LT’s or NCO’s treating their troops this way, or worse, their surviving families this way, I’d have their ass. And after I had their ass, I’d resign my commission in disgrace because I would have clearly failed as a leader.
I wonder, at what point do we who are so faithful to a Union that is not faithful to us start to become a threat to those in power?
Nobody answers to nobody?
Probably sooner than you think, CPT. Man, what a cluster fuck this country now is…and people bitched about Boooosh? Heh.
Dear ANCCPT,
While we understand the sentiment, this blog does not imply or condone the notion that members of the armed forces, or the veterans thereof, would ever engage in insurrection or a coup d’etat. Many here have sworn an oath to the Constitution and pledged to defend it from all enemies foreign and domestic.
That said, we become a threat by going to the ballot box and by running as candidates. If this is what you meant, then pardon the interruption. Else, we would like the FBI, the NSA and other acronymble agencies to leave us in peace, so no such threats or suggestions should be made here.
The TAH Legal Team
Since when has something like the law interfered with B. Hussein 0bama & Co. carrying out their agenda? They’ve made it clear that laws are for us taxpaying peasants to follow, they don’t apply to them.
I assume that with the government utterly failing to perform its duties that it will be returning all of the money it has taken from its citizens in taxes on the understanding that it would perform those duties.
It’s abundantly clear that the scum that infests the White House and his supporters have went out of their way to shut down agencies that they think are are beneficial to the base of the Republican Party, namely Veterans and the Military. Its like Barry and his minions are saying “Ok, we’ll teach you to vote for those bastards”.
2014 and 2016 can’t get here fast enough.
I’m pretty sure the contract with Fisher House (fine, fine folks that they are) is illegal. The DoD can’t promise to pay monies to someone when no monies have been appropriated for that purpose. That’s the whole cause of the shutdown.
I think I can answer ANCCPT’s question, thus.
It is not so much that the military is, or ever will become, a threat. It is more a failure of understanding the purpose the US military, on the part of the individual who should be referred to as the Commander in Chief but has no leadership skills.
This individual to whom have referred spent 11 years in the Illinois State Legislature getting paid by taxpayers’ taxes, and voted ‘Present’ 3% of the votes he cast. “Present” means he couldn’t make up his mind. Perhaps there was no one to tell him what to do or how to do it. This person has no leadership skills because he has never, ever been expected to BE a leader of anything, nor has he ever faced the discipline, hardships and real-time threats of possible annihiliation that are faced by US military forces in combat zones or on the sea. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that he’s never had anything expected or demanded of him, nor has he ever been told ‘NO’ by anyone. He is a dilettante, a dabbler, and a slacker with no real work ethic or sense of responsibility to anyone but himself.
Basically, he’s a nice-looking shlub in an expensive suit who has the ability to make great speeches if they’re written for him, but cannot make, and never has made, a quick extemporaneous or spontaneous response to anything without fumbling through it. He does not know the first, most minimal thing about leadership or gaining respect.
He has no respect for the military and is completely misguided in his approach to dealing with it. He’s an embarrassment to this country, yes, but whatever glamor he had in the beginning of his first term has been eroding for some time and is now rapidly evaporating as this nonsense continues.
Threat? No, I don’t think so. Just no clue on his part.
I love how Stars and Stripes is reporting Fisher House helping. The headline is the “DOD to use private firm to pay military death benefits” like it was the DOD’s decision to commission Fisher House to pay out the benefits.
It was the flippin DOD’s decision to not give the benefits to begin with. Best hashtag in twitter history is spitehouse…
@#12. But, the “nice-looking schlub’ does think that “hey, you guys make a pretty good photo-op”, when speaking of the military.
I volunteer to tie the knots when these crooks are hanged.
Quick question. How are retiree’s affected? Thanks.
@14 – UpNorth, that is EXACTLY what I’m talking about.
There’s something else that the lefties should learn: Gorbachev declared the USSR bankrupt, closed the Politburo and sent everyone home, and released Stalin’s acquired states in eastern Europe from the USSR. He knew instinctively that Communism does NOT make for a thriving, stable economy.
The present government of China, which is also Communist, recognized that simple fact in 1989, 10 years ahead of the UK returning HongKong to Chinese sovereignty, and began the process of turning the economy over to venture capitalists. The result was, and still is, a booming Chinese economy, one of the largest in the world. This is also true in Vietnam, which has a Communist government and a thriving capitalist economy.
It is THAT simple. I knew when I was in high school that communism was an unsupportable way to run a country. That was 50++ years ago, before that jackass in the White House and his cronies were even born.
If two different, leading Communist governments can recognize this and have enough freaking sense to turn their people loose on the financial world, then why the hell don’t these moronic leftists GET that?
If anyone has an answer to that question, please let me know.
I’ll be over in the corner, making up short jokes.
Oh, Roger in Republic – you don’t want to hang them. The smell would never go away.
No – you want to keep them around so that you can make really nasty jokes about them and point at them in public and laugh as loud as you can, while they slink away out of sight.
“(C)ommunism was an unsupportable way to run a country”. One only had to see the Inner German Border and the Berlin Wall to know that.
This is a travesty, in spite of the fact the WH has said it has looked into it and will get it taken care of. To imagine that this countrys leadership would operate in such a manner against those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the very country they defended into a political issue escapes any words I could ever articulate or write.
I weep for the Republic.
As one of the last to have gone through Checkpoints Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie, the difference between East and West, between Capitalism/Freedom and Communism/Oppression still hit me when I look at the pics of that trip.
East Berlin, East Germany was dull, impoverished, and the people were sullen, with no sign of real life.
West Berlin was a city that never slept. It was vibrant. Bars would close for an hour a day, only to clean up for the next round of merriment.
And there was the detail I only noticed when looking at the pics later. All my pics of West Berlin had sunny skies, while all the pics of the East were overcast. A permanent reminder of the contrast.
#7 and #4,
Besides going to the ballot box and running as a candidate, may I suggest getting involved locally in your city / county or town government.
Tip O’Neil once said that “all politics is local,” meaning that people vote for local interests but there is something else that I have discovered.
People that go to Washington and treat the citizens of the country badly learn their “craft” at the local level. They watch or participate in a local government where they discover what they can pass, what freedoms they can abridge and what things they can do away from the public eye with impunity. They then take that experience with them to the state level and or Washington.
We can complain about the Feds ad try to make our voices heard but we also have to work at the local level to insure our liberties.
It doesn’t matter whether you want to get involved with a City Council, a School Board, a Planning Board or whatever. The key is to get involved and get organized.
That’s my experience anyway.
My comment was not intended to imply the concept of ANY sort of military action against the government; God knows that’s happened in our country past and the results were horrible. We all too the same oath here, and would die before violating it.
No, I speak of a far worse implications for our national security, when the faithful, patriotic people who have put their faith in the government of the country they care about so much become so disillusioned that they stop volunteering.
Then who do we have defending us? The same types that run the place. Selfish, small minded petty people who are only thinking of themselves. How long will a country defended by such people last?
And we are *clearly* viewed as threat, either for our views or what we represent as a culture. I remember a certain lieutenant on his first day on his first mobilization watching the news with a specialist, waiting for their first patients of the day seeing how the new director of homeland security had put out a memo warning law enforcement of ‘domestic extremists’ and veterans topped the list. It kind of sticks in the memory, you know?
I’m disgusted with our government, but we all took an oath. They may not honor their commitments, but WE will, unto death if need be, and it’s that dedication and sense of honor that makes us a threat to some people.
@ 12 Ex-PH2
Lawyers don’t think too highly of him, either. He doesn’t understand the basics of the Constitution or our legal system, much less the fundamental concepts of our law, such as precedent, due process, and equal protection under the laws.
ANCCPT @ 23
Hang in there. What’s happening now is an excercise of the power of the purse. It is not unprecedented. The exercise of the power of the purse by the House of Representatives is a feature of our system, and these events were foreseen by the people who wrote the Constitution.
http://history.house.gov/Insti…
“Debate at the Constitutional Convention centered on two issues. The first was to ensure that the executive would not spend money without congressional authorization. The second concerned the roles the House and Senate would play in setting fiscal policy.”
http://usgovinfo.about.com/lib…
“The House of Representatives cannot only refuse, but they alone can propose, the supplies requisite for the support of government. They, in a word, hold the purse that powerful instrument by which we behold, in the history of the British Constitution, an infant and humble representation of the people gradually enlarging the sphere of its activity and importance, and finally reducing, as far as it seems to have wished, all the overgrown prerogatives of the other branches of the government. This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.”
People are going nuts over partial shutdown, but it is really a means of redress for grievances.
Umm sorry about those links. Here they are:
http://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Power-of-the-Purse/
http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/fed/blfed58.htm
@24, This is true, Valerie, but it does not make him (or his cronies) above the law, although he may think it does.
It’s the reason we have checks and balances.
The worm turns, however slowly.
@18 No Ex Ph-2 I intend to hang them in DC. The prevailing winds will carry their stench to the east and the people down wind deserve the smell. I would make the political appointees remove the rotting bodies to the mall for burning. Let them smell that as well, as a warning.
@Roger in Republic: Sir, you would have been right at home in the 12th century. When you serve justice, you serve JUSTICE. You appear to be a mix of the justice of Charlemange and the punishments of Vlad the Impaler. Good for you!
@Valerie –Thanks. I’m in school now, and in the IRR. But in my heart, and my mind, I’m still an Army officer, and what affects my guys (past, present, or future) concerns me greatly. I want them to believe in what they signed up for: Being cynical is for leadership positions. And believe me, I’m not too worried about the shutdown; It’s pretty much academic for me as I’m mostly just intrigued as to how long they can hold out.
Quite frankly, I could give a rats ass about the shutdown, but we have a member of my corps that fell in battle who’s family is being denied benefits for political reasons and that burns my ass in a BIG way. I’ll hang in there; If nothing else it’ll be good stories when I’m a cranky old LTC telling stories about the ‘bad old 2010s’ to the fresh faced LT’s someday. The Republic will endure. The Army will endure. The Officers and NCO’s will endure, as we all always have and always will. The Marines (boneheads that they are) hit it on the head with their motto: Semper Fidelis. Combine that with ‘This We’ll defend” and you sum up our collective mindsets and attitudes. We don’t have to like what’s going on, but unless we are ALL dead, our homeland will not go undefended.
@16 Streetsweeper: I received an email from DFAS stating that “You will continue to receive your pay on time during this government shutdown.
Military retirees and annuitants are not paid from Continuing Resolution Act (CRA) appropriations. Therefore, your payments are not affected by this shutdown.”
Here is the link I was given for more info:
http://www.dfas.mil/pressroom/govtshutdown.html
The more I see this administration in action the more I remember that famous pain the 4ss Thomas Paine :
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
And that, VOV, is precisely why our founders built so many protections for us into the US Constitution. Bingo!
But TPTB either ignore them, or we just don’t give a damn enough to hold those powers to the restrictions which were supposedly placed upon them.
http://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/payentitlements/specialpay.html
vs
“such sums as are necessary to provide pay and allowances to members of the Armed Forces (as defined in section”
According to the DFAS website, “special pays and incentive pays are a subset of “pay and allowances”, yet IDP and HDP were also “furloughed”.
I grew up working in my dad’s pharmacy and I always wondered why he was so adamant about being self-employed. He was a proud member of the 82nd Airborne back in the early 1960s, but was a fanatic when it came to supporting his family through his own hard work. He even refused to work for chain drugstores and insisted on being an independent family-owned pharmacy.
But these days, I finally understand why he was so fiercely independent. The government that gives you everything also has the power to take it all away whenever it wants. My dad understood that danger in a way that escapes the vast majority of Americans. If he was still alive, I think he would be having a bitter laugh at the confusion and chaos that our nation is sinking into.
Now that I’m retired and working on my masters, I am more determined than ever to start my own business in a business-friendly state. That way, when they cut off my pension and Social Security goes bust (which it will, just wait), I still have some way of surviving that doesn’t rest on the whims of those assclowns in D.C.
It will probably get worse before it gets better, so get ready for some really rough times in the next few years.
@35 “It will probably get worse before it gets better…”
It has to. Our economic state is a rotting house of cards. It’s built on debt, and how long can that last? It might be better to crash the train now, and pick up the pieces; the longer the train, the heavier the load, the worse the mess. No matter when it happens, it’s going to be a disaster.
@ ANCCPT: I don’t share the utter disdain most here have for the President (nor the Democrats in general) but on this issue, I stand in complete solidarity that this NEVER should have happened in the first place.