Military Pay Hangs

As Congress continues to wrangle over its budget bill and attempts to avert a government shutdown, full and timely military pay hangs in the balance and Republicans are faulting Democrats for allowing that risk.

Much like the debate over Planned Parenthood funding, military pay has given Washington politicians a simple issue that resonates with voters that they can use to cast their opponents as irresponsible and unwilling to negotiate. While it has mostly been Republicans who have seized the issue of military pay in the budget debate, some Democrats have in turn accused the GOP of turning their backs on the troops.

If Congress today fails to pass a budget for the next six months, the federal government will in part shut down at midnight tonight.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told troops in Iraq this week that their paychecks would be delayed if the government shuts down.

"First of all, let me say you will be paid," he said. "As a historian it always occurred to me the smart thing for government was always to pay the guys with guns first. But in all seriousness, based on some stuff I read this morning, if the government shuts down starts on the 8th and goes for a week, you'd get a half a check. If it goes from the 15th to the 30th, you wouldn't get a pay check on the 30th but you would be back paid for all of it."

He added, "Frankly, I remember when I was your age, I did a lot of living from pay check to pay check, and so I hope this thing doesn't happen because I know it will be an inconvenience for a lot of troops."

With negotiations apparently stalemated, the GOP-led House on Thursday passed a third short-term spending measure to keep the government operating for another week -- while cutting an additional $12 billion from this fiscal year's budget. Along with a controversial measure regarding abortion funding in the District of Columbia, the measure included funding for the Pentagon for the rest of the fiscal year thus giving Republicans the opportunity to dub the bill a "troop funding bill."

"I think the Senate should follow the House lead and pass the troop funding bill and do it today," House Speaker John Boehner said to reporters late Friday morning. "I also believe the president should sign the troop funding bill into law. This is the responsible thing to do support our troops and to keep our federal government open."

President Obama has threatened to veto the bill, if it ever made it past the Senate, because of the abortion provision. The administration said Mr. Obama would be willing to sign a "clean" short-term budget extension bill "if negotiations are making significant progress."

The veto threat has prompted Republican politicians to criticize Democrats for threatening the troops. Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin wrote in a Facebook note today, "Why would [Mr. Obama] play politics at the expense of our troops who are putting everything on the line to protect us? Memo to the President: I doubt the insurgents will stop and wait for a government shutdown to end before resuming actions. You need to fund our troops, sir."

Democrats have decried the GOP criticisms as a cynical ploy, saying that the Democratic party has shown more actual support for the troops.

"For them to hide behind our troops while they build a future unworthy of the sacrifice of our troops... is a contradiction in terms," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday. She said Democrats opposed the short-term spending bill "because it's not the right path to do for our economy and for our troops and for the strength of our country... both militarily and economically."

"We are the ones who have supported our troops all along," Pelosi continued. "We've done more for our men and women in uniform and when they come home as veterans than has been done in the history of our country. All of that with a great deal of Republican opposition."

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pursued standalone measures to protect troop pay -- legislation not tied to the controversial budget debate.

Democratic Rep. Bill Owens of New York contends that while the one-week spending measure the House passed Thursday funds the Pentagon, it does not ensure timely pay for soldiers or their on-base families. He put forward a measure yesterday that would have ensured soldiers were paid, but it failed along party lines, with just one Republican joining Democrats to support the measure.

In the Senate, Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas says she has gathered at least 60 members in support of her bill, the Ensuring Pay for Our Military Act. That same legislation was introduced in the House by Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, but Republican leadership has not put it up for a vote.

As Tea Party freshman Rep. Allen West pointed out yesterday, if Republicans are so concerned about funding the troops, they should support a standalone measure to ensure they're paid. West said he was "disgusted at the perception that Leaders in my own Party, are now using the men and women in uniform" to pass a short-term budget bill.

Planned Parenthood

The riddance of more than $300 million in federal funding for women's health care centers, including Planned Parenthood, may well force a government shutdown at midnight tonight.

Republicans want to zero out Title X, a program enforced under Republican President Richard Nixon in 1970 to provide contraceptives, cancer screenings, and pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease testing at community health centers across the country.

Conservative lawmakers say the money indirectly subsidizes abortions, despite the fact that the federal Hyde Amendment expressly prohibits such use of taxpayer funds.

Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz, repeated a Republican argument today that abortions are "well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does."

Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider, but it issued a fact sheet today stating that more than 90 percent of its health care services are preventive, not abortions. It receives about $70 million of Title X funding, and the company says none of the funds are used to fund abortions.

"It's an outrage to shut down the government over an extreme proposal that would deny millions of women Pap tests, breast cancer screenings and birth control," said Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards.

Richards said the company's 4,500 clinics serve an estimated 5 million low income women every year.

Democrats say Republicans are on an extremist crusade to put a "bulls eye on women in America" and undermine essential preventive health care services for millions of low-income women that rely on Planned Parenthood and other non-related centers every day.

"We are not – we are not – we are not! Bending on women's health," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today.

"This has no impact on the budget. It has no impact on the deficit or the debt," said Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski. "Where we will not go is eliminating the health care for women. Make no mistake, this entire debate has involved throwing women and children under the bus."

Mikulski and 40 fellow Senate Democrats have vowed to filibuster any budget deal that includes elilmination of Title X.

While much of the rhetoric has centered on abortion and Planned Parenthood, many smaller, religiously-affiliated health centers will also be impacted by the cuts.

OPM: Government Shutdown Threat

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a statement addressing what a government shutdown would mean for federal employees should lawmakers fail to reach a budget agreement ahead of a Friday deadline.

"The President has made it clear that he does not want a government shutdown, and the Administration is willing and ready to work day and night to find a solution that all sides can agree with," the statement said. "That said, given the realities of the calendar, prudent management requires we plan for an orderly shutdown should the negotiations not be completed by the end of the current continuing resolution."

OPM explains that if a shutdown does occur, departments and agencies on the federal level would be required to comply with contingency plans distinguishing operations that must be stopped from those which would be allowed to continue.

A government shutdown occurs when a government discontinues providing services that are not considered "essential." Typically, essential services include police, fire fighting, armed forces, utilities and corrections. Interestingly, Congress and the President are exempt from the furlough and continue to receive compensation despite the fact that other services are suspended.

In the last shutdown, when the government closed down some functions for 21 days at the end of 1995, workers were paid retroactively for the period. The Office of Personnel Management wrote in a Tuesday guidance that federal employees asked to work will receive pay when Congress passes a new continuing resolution and the government reopens.

Government Shutdown is the Wrong Move

Tea Party Express chairman Amy Kremer argued against a government shutdown as members of Congress try to reach agreement on a federal budget for the final six months of the fiscal year.

The 87 new members of the House Republican caucus are split on whether to accept a budget measure that cuts government spending by less than the $61 billion that the Republicans approved in February. Some who are aligned with the tea party movement are calling for a partial government shutdown rather than agree to something closer to the $33 billion in budget cuts being offered by Democrats.

At a Monitor sponsored breakfast for reporters on Tuesday, Ms. Kremer said a shutdown is not the right path. “I don’t think it is a good thing to shut down our government. But I do think they need to do what they said they were going to do. They [Republican members of Congress] said they were going to cut $100 billion” in federal spending, she said. The $100 billion reduction target was for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

Later in her comments, Kremer added another cautionary note about a shutdown saying, “But shutting down our government, defaulting on our debt interest rates will go up, that sort of thing. I don’t think that is the right thing to do.”