Army Chief Seeks Pay Hike For Military

San Jose Mercury -- Breaking News

KEY ARTICLE SUMMARY

The Pentagon is proposing a pay increases throughout the military of 3.6 percent for fiscal 2000 ... met with Clinton at the White House earlier this week ... White House is working on its budget for fiscal 2000, which begins next Oct. 1 ... Republican lawmakers have put pressure on the White House for a sizable increase in defense spending to improve the military's readiness.

FULL-TEXT ARTICLE

http://www8.mercurycenter.com/breaking/docs/012034.htm

Posted at 9:36 a.m. PST Thursday, December 10, 1998

Army chief seeks pay hike for military

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon is proposing a pay increases throughout the military of 3.6 percent for fiscal 2000 and 4.4 percent the following year as part of an overall increase in defense spending, Army chief of staff Gen. Dennis Reimer said today.

He said he didn't know whether President Clinton would go along with the request.

Reimer and other senior military chiefs met with Clinton at the White House earlier this week to make a pitch for $112 billion in increased military spending over the next six years.

``It was a very good discussion from our standpoint. But there were no numbers that were given out,'' Reimer told a group of reporters. The White House is working on its budget for fiscal 2000, which begins next Oct. 1.

In his last budget, Clinton asked Congress for a military pay raise of 3.1 percent. But Congress raised that to 3.6 percent for the current fiscal year.

Republican lawmakers have put pressure on the White House for a sizable increase in defense spending to improve the military's readiness.

Reimer said his top priority is for a pay increase and to overhaul the military retirement system.

``Send a signal out there to those soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines that we really understand the sacrifice in their service, and we appreciate that,'' he said.

Reimer said the Pentagon proposal calls for annual pay increases of 3.9 percent after the 4.4 percent level sought for fiscal year 2001.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 10, 1998

Answers

Diane,

Why did you post this? Not everything that mentions the year 2000 is related to the Y2K computer problem. I respect your postings, but I think this one is off-topic for this forum.

-- No Spam Please (anon@ymous.com), December 10, 1998.

Let me add, for the sake of those who postulate more extreme scenarios than I do, that just because one can draw a connection between military pay, defense spending, and potential martial law doesn't mean this is Y2K-related enough for a thread in this forum. The requests are for only 3.6-4.4%, for gosh sakes.

-- No Spam Please (anon@ymous.com), December 10, 1998.