Stars&Stripes: Bush fought pay restoration for Troops

[Iceburg]

Bush fought pay restoration

Letter to the editor
By Gus Subotky
Vine Grove, Ky.

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The Bush administration vehemently fought restoration of pay. Despite overwhelming support and more than 300 co-sponsors, HR 303, which would have authorized restoration for all disabled military retirees, was bottled up in committee, and the Republican leadership refused to let it out. Only three Republican congressmen were willing to sign a resolution that would have brought the bill to the floor for a vote.

The president claimed it was a budget buster, then welcomed an omnibus appropriations bill that contained $27 billion in pork projects. This included $50 million for a tropical rain forest in Iowa and $225,000 to repair a swimming pool in Las Vegas.

While the president was concerned about busting the budget, his high-ranking appointees in the Department of Defense were running up millions of dollars in extra costs by flying first class instead of the required coach class. And all the while, DOD officials were calling disabled military retirees “greedy” and “double dippers” for wanting the retirement pay they had earned.

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