The One Percenters

The Pentagon will ask Congress for a one percent pay raise in Fiscal 2014 for uniformed members of the US military, said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday. “No one is getting a pay cut, but we will provide a pay raise that’s smaller than we’ve seen in past years,” Panetta told reporters during a roundtable discussion. He and Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Martin Dempsey discussed the Defense Department’s forthcoming Fiscal 2014 budget proposal, which is not expected to go to Congress until late March, according to a Feb. 6 Pentagon release. Normally budget proposals go to Congress in early February. Uniformed service members received a 1.7 percent pay increase in Fiscal 2013. “Given the current budget environment, this pay raise is less than previously projected, but allows the department to maintain critical investments in readiness and modernization going forward,” said Pentagon Press Secretary George Little in a statement released following the roundtable. DOD will also “maintain important benefits for Active Duty service members and families, including housing and subsistence allowances, special pay, tuition assistance, health care, commissaries, child care and youth development programs, and military retirement benefits,” he noted. (AFPS report by Jim Garamone)