My daughter called almost in tears Friday morning as the budget fight was still in limbo. My son-in-law, an army Captain and veteran of Afghanistan, is preparing for deployment to Iraq – his second deployment in two years. Deployment is always rough – eight or more months of no husband, children and dogs to care for, lonely nights and days, children’s nightmares, bills to pay, cars that break down, house repairs.
Only those who go through it know the true toll.
But she manages it. She’s mature, game, knows what’s important and what isn’t. But my son-in-law had just called with news that they weren’t going to get a full paycheck. He had access to what was being prepared at the base and it was right there on the check-issue page. Not politically involved, especially with the deployment near and the personal things that meant for them, they’d not been paying attention.
Now she was.
What was going on, she asked? Was it true that the government would be shut down and soldiers – her husband about to leave and risk his life and family – wouldn’t be paid? How could that be?
What about the others she knew? They’d lost friends and soldiers who’d served under him in Afghanistan. This is horrible, she said, almost breaking down again. The reason I called, she said, is I thought you might know what’s happening?
Here’s what I told her: We’re on the road to oblivion by spending too much. The Republicans, spurred by the Tea Party, had taken a stand against the spending. They were threatening to shut the government down if it doesn’t stop. The Democrats, seeing cash and power-base programs exiting, threatened the same if the Republicans don’t cave – and the last time it happened, in 1994, the Republicans got blamed. They were worried the same thing could happen.
The fight centered on a budget. The Democrats, who didn’t want voters to see their excessive spending before the November 2010 elections, deferred passing a budget. So last year’s budget was still being debated. The amounts are paltry – in the billions – when we’re spending yearly in the trillions. The big fight comes for the 2011 budget – and that’s going to be fierce. But the Democrats, as a prelude, want to win now. If they can do that, they’ll have less trouble fighting over the much bigger 2011 budget.
And guess what? President Obama, the Democrat, is with them. He’s vowing that unless the Republicans cave, he will veto pay to the military – the soldiers he’s currently got in the field fighting three wars.
In order that such a thing would not happen, the Republicans passed a bill that even if the government is shut down, the troops would be paid. That’s what the president is saying he will veto – and apparently the military pay masters have already gotten the word.
That’s why the captain saw what he saw.
But don’t worry, I told her. It’s not going to happen. He wouldn’t dare. If he did, even the clueless would see his true feeling about the military – he doesn’t like them or care about them, except to put them in harm’s way. The American people would be furious. I’d be furious. You don’t cut off the life line to the troops who are fighting for us overseas. It’s un-American, disloyal, treasonous to many of us, and so stupid that it would assure his defeat in the next election.
It won’t happen, I reiterated, hoping I was right.
I was. The Republicans caved and settled for roughly half of what they demanded. The troops will be paid – this time. But what about the next fight?
He could do the same again.