Effort begins to guard pay before debt deadline - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Effort begins to guard pay before debt deadline

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., is among the lawmakers seeking to reassure service members and their families that they won’t miss out on a paycheck, even if the government faces a financial crisis this summer.

In the wake of Monday’s announcement that the U.S. has reached its $14.3 trillion debt limit — and is now using extraordinary means to keep paying bills — Hunter is urging quick passage of HR 1551, a bipartisan measure to guarantee military pay. He is the chief sponsor.

House leaders have made no promises to pass Hunter’s bill, nor any of the several similar bills that also would protect military pay in case the government runs out of money. If pay protection is granted, it is likely to be done at the last second, because the threat of not paying troops is a powerful motivation to get a debt ceiling agreement.

Hunter’s Guarantee Paychecks for America’s Military Families Act would guarantee that military members, and federal civilians working in combat zones, would continue to be paid even if the government runs out of money or there is a lapse in federal funding.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress on Monday the government is borrowing money from government trust funds and delaying some payments to keep spending through Aug. 2. At that point, the government would go into default. One of the things that might not be covered is military salaries, Treasury officials have warned.

Service members and their families already suffered through a threat to their pay in April, when a government shutdown was avoided at literally the last hour. After that, Hunter — a Marine veteran — said he doesn’t want military families to worry again while Congress and the White House try to negotiate an increase in the debt ceiling.

“Each one of our military families deserves to know that paychecks won’t be withheld,” Hunter said in a statement. “My bill provides that certainty, so that service members won’t have to worry about whether their families at home have money to pay bills, put gas in the car or go to the grocery store. These men and women have enough to worry about already — and paychecks should not be on the list. It’s time to put this nonsense behind us.”