The Defense Finance and Accounting Service is mum about what will happen to military and civilian pay if the government shuts down at midnight on April 8 — but they are not promising people will be paid on time.
“We do not have a position at this point,” said Steven Burghardt, a DFAS spokesman. “We will wait for guidance before telling anyone anything.”
Service members were paid on time during past government shutdowns, but Burghardt said no promises are being made about what might happen this year if funding runs out.
“Everything is undetermined,” he said Monday.
But Pentagon draft guidance prepared in the event that government funding lapses says service members will be expected to report to work but will not be paid until funding is restored. The memo, which defense officials said was prepared as a contingency plan so that the Pentagon would be ready if funding dried up, has not been signed and will not be distributed unless a shutdown occurs.
Congress has passed six temporary funding bills since the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1 to keep the government running. The most recent stopgap bill is due to expire at midnight on Friday, April 8. The short-term spending bills have become necessary because lawmakers are still arguing about details of a plan that is expected to include a combination of new limits on federal spending and cuts in some programs.
House and Senate leaders acknowledge they are facing increasing resistance to approving temporary funding, making a shutdown more likely in April if an agreement cannot be reached.
Since the guidance memo was first reported March 11, several Military Times readers have claimed they contacted DFAS and were told military pay would not be affected by a government shutdown. But Burghardt said DFAS representatives are not in a position to make such a promise because policy has not been set.
“I would like to know who is telling them that,” he said.
A pint of Tetley's Bitter to my niece, who is a Navy wife. Her reaction to this story:
Congress needs to be fired! This is crazy. Cant Obama step in an do something? I really feel for the guys at WAR are getting shot at who face their families not having money.
Damn the politicians. It's unconscionable to burden military families with this threat. I'm very, very angry. VERY. Now I will contact my congressman and the clown occupying the White House and do some yelling.
Dear President Obama,
ReplyDeleteThe Marine Times is reporting that if the government shuts down, out troops may not be paid. My husband and I have two nephews and a niece serving in the Navy. Our military should not be pawns in the budget debate. Could you please, if you are able, guarantee that our troops will be paid even if the government shuts down? The rest of us can bear the burdens of a shutdown, but our troops have sacrificed ENOUGH. Thank you sir.
I sent a similar message to my Congressman. Grrr.
Aren't you guys amazed that I was so polite? ;))
ReplyDeleteAdmirable self-restraint, Lady Red. An example to us all. :)
ReplyDeleteIf the idjits don't do something to keep the military paid they should just all go home. Or something. It would be obscene to allow that to happen.
Standard procedure in a "government shutdown" is for military to ordered to report for duty, but there is no guarantee of timely pay. Period.
ReplyDeleteIn the last one I was directed to report for duty, along with FBI, Secret Service, and BATF, and a couple others, while everyone else was sent home. There was NO guarantee that we'd be paid for our time, or if we were, that it would be timely.
As it turned out, we were paid and paid timely ... only "problem" was the c**ksuckers who got to sit at home for three weeks without pay, were paid upon resumption of government activity in general. I'm still waiting for my 3 weeks "leave pay" I am owed by my calculations.
Since there was no accural for this unanticipated 3 weeks Paid leave for most government emplolyees, there was NO funding committed or obligated for it ... e.g., they got paid in defience of the Anti-Deficiency Act or illegally, take your pick. Those who DID work, were told to f**k off.
You may compare this manipulation, in contravention of fiscal law, with that being used for the Libyan fandango. There is NO money for this ill advised Libyan adventure, however, other defense appropriations are being diverted to it.
ReplyDeleteAyers and Dohrns' latest brain fkatulence is the idea that any country where US troops are on the ground should have one man one vote by population in American elections. Now that's some decomocracy for yo' arse!
BTW...that would include Libya today, no mater what lies the Jug Eared Messiah spewed last Monday evening. And don't give me the phoney "distinction" between the CIA "shoes" and the Special Forces, Seals, Force Recon, et al "boots" ... I remember MAC-V SOG and the Phoenix Program, et al.
Welcome to democracy ... the one where you get sh*t to say and your betters spend the money as however they wish. I expect Bill Ayers to be promoted to State and Dohrn to Defense sooner than later. And all' y'all can just STFU, got it?
Kind of off topic, but kind of not: In the last two months, Bill O'Reilly has raised a MILLION dollars for Fisher House.
ReplyDeleteI mean, damn. Hard to dislike a guy who does something that awesome, you know?
There are a couple of things Obama COULD do.
ReplyDeleteSince the executive branch decides the 'essential employees', he could sign an order to pay the military first.
But he won't.
What he will do is to continue to fund things important to him, like green energy and the lawsuit against Arizona.
After all, he knows the military overwhelmingly votes Republican, and he has no reason to support them. And he hopes that, with the help of his propaganda arm in the media blaming it all on the extreme GOP, he might be able to pry some of those votes away.
THAT is what he will do.
Update: I read in Stars and Stripes last night that Congress is about to pass a bill exempting military pay from a government shutdown. GOOD.
ReplyDelete