Gates concedes fight against 1.9% pay raise for the troops

Gates concedes fight against 1.9% pay raise

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday May 20, 2010 16:16:56 EDT

Defense Secretary Robert Gates waved the white flag Thursday over the House Armed Services Committee’s decision to boost the Pentagon’s basic pay raise request for fiscal 2011 by half a percentage point, saying he would not recommend a presidential veto if the proposal is included in the final defense spending bill.

“I want change,” Gates told reporters at the Pentagon. “But I’m not crazy.”

The bill that came out of committee this week included a 1.9 percent raise in base pay effective Jan. 1. Congress has added one-half point to every Pentagon basic pay raise request since 2000 in an effort to narrow a perceived pay gap between average military and civilian wages.

If the Pentagon’s 1.4 percent proposal somehow survived, it would be the lowest raise in the history of the all-volunteer era that began in 1973.
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