Playing Politics With War Budget – Hurting Troops

November 21, 2007 By CJ
Posted in Top Posts, Top Posts - My Post

Congress is screwing with our military budget which is going to greatly affect how we can supply, man, and equip personnel on the front lines. More affected will be those of us back home as funds are diverted from installations and Soldier programs here. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is threatening to send pre-Christmas furlough notices to thousands of base employees and close child-care and family-counseling programs early next year. What this means is that these employees will be sent home unpaid for a determined (or undetermined) amount of time. These are employees that ensure Soldiers and spouses are taken care of as well as providing much needed services to assist with military operations. I blame the Democratic Congress – just as much as I blamed the Republican Congress back in 1995.

I remember being in language school in November 1995 undergoing the arduous task of becoming the best darn Army linguist known to man!! It was about one month after the OJ Simpson trial had mesmerized the entire US population as the murderer was declared innocent. Much like the Democrats today, the Republicans were including unrelated spending items in an unrelated government budget. Democrats wanted to raise the legal debt ceiling of the federal government and Republicans wanted to abolish government agencies that were redundant. Also included in the spending bill at the time were Medicare issues. Many of the teachers were sent home and we Privates went about the business of painting rocks, mowing grass, and plucking weeds on Fort Ord.

So, here we are again, but this time under different circumstances: a Republican is President and Democrats control both houses of Congress. Hopefully this time the Democrats won’t allow the government to shut down like the Republicans did almost a decade ago. Only this time, the lives of military Soldiers hang in the balance and both sides want to play politics instead of doing the damn job this country hired them for. Suddenly, even John Murtha is concerned about the troops again. Democrats want to broadcast American timelines to withdrawal to give the insurgency and terrorists a target date for victory (cementing their goal of making Iraq as much like Vietnam as possible and putting troops at risk) and attach it to any spending bill sent to the President. The House Democrats keep insisting that Bush embraces the goal of ending combat operations in Iraq by the end of next year. The measure passed the House but failed in the Senate.

This is insane and our troops shouldn’t have to be left in the cold wondering whether their families are being taken care of back home. At least the issue has forced Murtha, the mother of all pessimists, to admit that there is “no question” that violence has dropped in Iraq thanks to American troops and the so-called “surge”. Both sides need to get busy taking care of the business of the people.

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