Military pay
 

We get our LES's (Leave and Earnings Statement) twice a month, about a week before the 1st and again before the 15th (our two pay days.) Just checked mine for the 15th of this month and due to the wonderful folks we elected to Washington, I(as well as every other service member) will only be receiving pay for the first 8 days of this month. The government is "not required" to back pay "non-essential" personnel (which somehow even though I'm in Afghanistan I still fall under) for the first 30 days of a shutdown, however Obama and all of Congress will still be receiving their pay as usual..


...discuss.

Nice way to take care of the people who defend our country. This is inexcusable.
Thanks for your service!

A) This belongs in the "Politics" section.

B) You should get payed, you've earned it.

C) Everyone in Congress is responsible for passing the budget. It's as much one sides "fault" for the budget not being passed as the other. 'Ya cant put it on President Obama too much. I didn't like Pres. Bush but I recognize the man had a lot on his plate. :2cents:

I'll blame last year's congress for not getting this budget out in October when it was supposed to be done.

And yeah, wrong section. Moved.

I'm a gov't contractor and my wife is a federal employee.

I also blame the 2010 Congress. But now GOP is being dumb with the Planned Parenthood rider.

Daddy needs a paycheck.

So... they're not expecting you to work after today are they? That's ridiculous.

On another note, leave it to the government to have employees that they themselves deem to be "non-essential". I'd love to see that in private industry, "Yeah, we've got our regular employees, then we've got some other guys that we don't really need but we just like to keep them on the payroll anyway..."

Oh yes, we are definitely expected to go about business as usual.

I have absolutely no problem with it. If this is what it takes to get the country to WAKE THE FUCK UP, then I'll come to work with no pay for awhile.

I can't wait for Trump to announce he's running for President.

I'm military as well. I'd rather see a government shutdown than a government bankruptcy.

The difference between the two sides:

The Democrats' proposal will bankrupt us.

The Republicans' proposal will bankrupt us slower.

I'm down for Trump to run this country. He is a brilliant economist, and has fantastic ideas for getting us back on track. The best part, in my opinion, is the fact that Trump claims he doesn't *want* to be president. I want ALL of my future presidents to not *want* to be president.

Anyone care to take a gander at which elected president was the first to be reluctant to take a presidency?

I'm ready to see a law that requires the government to run at a surplus or break-even whenever there's a federal debt. Whatever happened to Kasich's balanced budget?

A couple of guys noticed that same thing today at the office. However, I think you're a little off base with your presumption that you (we) won't get back pay. Everything I've heard thus far indicates that military members will all recieve their due back pay when the new budget is passed. I also believe that enlistment contracts state that the government only HAS to pay once a month, paying twice a month is just for convenience.

Yes, the military will get back pay. It is not in the government's best interest to let you walk away from the military by breaking your enlistment contract.

Washington?

They told us that anybody who is still required to work will receive back-pay, they just don't know if they will be paying those of us who are not "essential".

And about the not-essential thing, it's not that they have a bunch of people around that they don't need, (that's another story completely) it's that some people are essential to the safety and security of the country while others are not. FBI, Border patrol, and Military are "essential" while the people who run the gift shop at Yellowstone aren't needed quite as urgently, though they are still federal employees.

Maybe not, but it can be put on the Democrats as a whole. Don't forget the Democrats controlled the House , Senate and Executive branch when this budget was supposed to be passed. They could have pushed through any budget they wanted but they didn't.

A guy sitting on deployment is non-essential? There is no logic in that at all. I think should now be obligated to pay you interest on wages not paid.

The AF decided my contract didn't mean anything either. I was supposed to enter active duty within 6 months and start getting paid, however due to 'the needs of the Air Force' I get to sit on my thumbs for another year. Woo-hoo U.S. gov't, way to have it together.

Where are you getting your information on "esssential"?

And the military isn't going to pay interest on back pay. Military already pays 2 weeks sooner than just about any other large employer - every single paycheck.

That's a good idea. It's about time we treat people who serve better. They give so much and yet get very little in return. They also sometimes come back worse off than when they left and have to deal with issues the rest of their lives.

And for what? Some politician's agenda or misguided ideals.

The idea of a solid quality businessman running this country continues to intrigue me more and more.



As to what is happening to the Gentlemen and Ladies in uniform...I'm sorry guys, that shit is wrong.

I think the whole situation is ridiculous. They're fighting over pennies in the grand scheme of things. Just pass the budget and figure out a long term solution to reduce the deficit.

Agreed.

They should be paid out of the politician's pockets if necessary. Why do the politicians who got us in this mess get to keep getting paid anyway? If I don't do my job, I would get fired. What makes them special?

FYI, Senate unanimously voted earlier this week to suspend their pay during a shutdown.

The HoR wouldn't pass a similar vote because "they need their paychecks because they have families" or some equally idiotic bullshit.

I'll believe it when I see it. I have yet to find an honest politician. They'll come up with some bs about the HoR not doing it and since there's no consensus, the motion is shelved until we can reach some common ground.

I will gladly eat my words if they prove me wrong. It's a price I'm willing to pay.

It's not even really about the money (sure that is still important), it's the fact that they let it get this far. Honestly in the eyes of a lot of soldiers this is a big "Fuck You". Yes we swore to protect the Constitution and the people. But we also have an obligation to our dependents.

What makes me even more mad is the fact that we are for the most part, disciplined, they know they can do this and get away with it. We are not just going to not come to work.

I know they aren't going to pay interest on anything. They collect interest on our taxes every single day and then pay us what they owe us from when we over payed to begin with. Do we ever see that interest they collected on our money, nope not a chance.

As for essential... if you are ordered to be in a hostile country away from your home and family, you are essential IMO. Non-essential people can stay home from the office and effectively be laid off. Not so easy with a 35 hour flight in between work and home.

I'm fairly certain they consider the deployed soldiers essential. Which is why they will still be working, and get back paid what they are owed.

I highly doubt this will last longer than a month.

Deployed military ARE considered essential, silly.

As far as the *interest* that the govt collects on your paid taxes, consider this: It's not as if they collect all of your tax money in a bank account over the year and get interest on it. You have the right to pay all of your taxes in one lump sum on April 15th of the year after you earn your income...experience says that you, as an average citizen, are not well disciplined enough to do that; so as a service to you, the government has offered to collect approximately the correct amount of pay from your taxes at each paycheck to aid you in your budgeting.

Also consider that by collecting your taxes when you actually earn the money, the government is not paying interest on another $3.6 trillion in loans/year. This effectively reduces government expenditures....or did you want to help unbalance the budget?

Who are you and why do you speak with reason and logic about such things?

George Washington was reluctant to become President.

Trump's casinos went bankrupt 3 times.

Remember, we owe most of our debt to each other. Not saying the gov doesn't need to balance the budget, just that we don't owe all our debt to different countries.

Either side could give a little (I think there both doin' that now) to get the budget passed. Finger pointing doesn't get anyone anywhere, it just waists time.

Washington.

And in fact, he was reluctant to be more than just president. In May of 1782, near the end of the Revolutionary War, Colonel Lewis Nicola wrote a letter in which he lamented what he perceived as the rather lackluster performance of the Congress, and floated the idea that a King of America be named, suggesting that the crown might be apportioned to then-General Washington.

(This idea is not as absurd as it seems to us today. Back then, monarchies were still a very common form of government.)

According to most accounts, Washington was reviled by the prospect.

Washington is correct. The great minds which built this country voted unanimously that a man whom didn't want anything to do with leading this new nation would be best suited for the job.

I guess they forgot to pass the budget while they were so busy trying to enact Obamacare. (which we all so desperately wanted, right?)

Personally, I'm with Sam. I can afford a shutdown for a few months IOT draw attention to the problems in the legislature. Yeah, I'm deployed, I work a 16-hour shift right now since I'm the only Soldier on base doing my particular job. I'm going to consider myself lucky to have a job, at this point.

Boehner just said they've reached an agreement, there will be no shutdown, a short term CR will be voted on tonight to keep the gov't working while the actual agreed upon bill is written and voted. Obama won't veto the short CR.

For what it's worth, at the same time that Nicola was suggesting that we crown a king, the military hadn't been paid in about a year.

Direct quote from Obama: "...beginning to live within our means..."

There might be a sliver of intelligence in this man after all...

Yes, It appears as cooler, more reasonable heads have prevailed. We still have a fully functioning Government. Compromising and budget cutting at the same time. This could be a nice trend.

Actually, you don't. If you try to do that you will have to pay penalties. You have to at least make quarterly payments of what you estimate 25% of your annual income WILL be.

If you don't file quarterlies, you will be penalized. Heck, even if you have a regular job, get a W2 and have regular withholding, but decide to claim 15 dependents to get virtually all of your money in your check, if you owe the government too much, you can be penalized. On the other side of the coin, pay way too much and get a huge refund? No interest for you.

I do have to agree with you there. If we could all find some common ground the world would run a lot smoother. Then I could spend the rest of my days drinking exotic liquors and watching midget porn.

Hard to find common ground with people when you're taking their entitlements away.