http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,157593,00.html?ESRC=eb.nl [rquoter]A Pink Christmas for Army Employees? United Press International | December 05, 2007 WASHINGTON -- Some U.S. Army civilian employees may get pink slips before Christmas because Defense Department funding hasn't been approved, a defense spokesman said. President George Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have asked Congress to pass a $178 billion defense funding bill without including a timetable for troop withdrawals from Iraq. The House passed a $50 billion measure that including a time line for redeployment of troops, but the measure stalled in the Senate. The employees would not be laid off until after Christmas, but some contracts require 60-day notification if the layoffs will be longer than 60 days, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said in a news release. The department is using fiscal 2008 funds, not part of the supplemental funding needed, to keep operations going, he said. Gates has requested to shift $3.7 billion from U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force payrolls and an $800 million excess in the working capital fund to Army and Marine Corps operations.[/rquoter]
You are right. Bush and the Republicans are shameful in their two-faced response, and don't really support the troops. All they have to do is approve the spending bill that they have been given, but they are more interested in playing games.
I find it curious that the Pentagon had no problems secretly reprogramming monies appropriated for Afghanistan and using that to secretly fund the pre-invasion of Iraq, but their hands are just tied over the rather pedestrian accounting procedures needed to pay civilian and contract employees.
It seems if the Bush administration really supported the troops and was concerned about these people being fired, they would track down some of the billions of dollars that is missing, lost, stolen, or wasted, which has been documented. They would agree to have the timetables and benchmarks so the budget could get the money requested. There is any number of things that they could do if they truly cared about supporting the troops and not having these people fired.
