Mideast Briefs: Revised Defense bill reinstates pay raise

Mideast Briefs: Revised Defense bill reinstates pay raise
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 24, 2008

WASHINGTON — Troops could see another pay raise and reactivation of a host of bonuses within days after lawmakers gave their final approval to the revised 2008 Defense Authorization Act on Tuesday.

The $696 billion measure, which sets Defense spending priorities, was originally passed by Congress last month but vetoed by President Bush after concerns over legal language that could have frozen Iraqi government funds in U.S. banks.

But the veto also delayed a promised 3.5 percent pay raise for all servicemembers, and 26 specialty pays for recruits and re-enlisting troops. Instead, troops saw only a 3.0 percent pay increase in their first 2008 paycheck, and bonuses were canceled for the programs that weren’t reauthorized.

Both Bush and Congress promised to make those funds retroactive to Jan. 1 once the problematic language was fixed. The House passed an amended version of the bill last week, which includes that retroactive provision, and the Senate gave its final approval on Tuesday.

White House officials have said Bush is expected to sign the new bill, but no timeline has been set.


Article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51871



uhc comment: By my calculations, there are 1,440 minutes in one day, 525,600 minutes in 365 days. $696,000,000,000 / 526,000 = $1,324,200.91 per minute.