DoD says: Army Running Out of Payroll Cash
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 01:08PM In an announcement that puts troops and their families in the middle of a political dispute, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday that the Army will not be able to pay soldiers after June 15 unless Congress approves an emergency war funding bill.
The claim drew a quick rebuke from Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, who is working on such a bill.
Murtha said there is no threat to military paychecks and that it is inappropriate for the Pentagon to try to involve soldiers and their families in a political dispute over how much money is needed to pay for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and exactly when the money is needed.
However, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell was very clear in a meeting with reporters.
“June 15th is the last payroll the Army at this point can make without congressional action,” he said.
Morrell said the Pentagon has “for months” been funding the wars by borrowing from personnel budget accounts. But those accounts “are about to run dry,” he said.
Morrell also said Army payroll accounts “are just running dry faster” and that if Congress does not act by May 26, “we will have to come back to them and ask them for permission to reprogram money so that we can take money from some of the other services — the Navy, the Air Force — and use those payroll dollars to pay the Army.”
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