2010 Military Pay Increase
In February, President Obama released his budget that included a 2.9 percent military pay raise for 2010. At the end of March, congress one-upped the president by introducing a 3.4 percent pay increase. Under current laws, the 2.9 percent proposed by the president was the minimum amount that could have been requested. As seen recent years, Congress came back with a pay raise slightly higher than that of the president’s. The 3.4 percent military base pay raise will be on the 2010 Defense Authorization Act and predicted to be easily passed.
President Obama’s proposal of 2.9 percent is a considerable decrease from 2009’s 3.9 percent pay increase. Obama reasoned that the federal employees would be tightening their belt in the same way families are during the economic hard time. The controversy over this issue lies with pay parity. The long-standing American ideal that military pay should be equal to the Employment Cost Index provided by the Labor Department.
The details of the 2010 military pay increase will be discussed and are likely to be decided on October 1, 2009. The results will go into affect on January 1, 2010.
