[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 22, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H5539]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SUPPORTING THE TROOPS WITH A FAIR PAY RAISE

  (Ms. SHEA-PORTER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I was a military spouse and I lived on 
military pay. It is very difficult to do that. But we do that with 
honor and with gratitude for the chance to serve this country.
  The House of Representatives recognizes that service and called for a 
3.5 percent increase in pay for the military. The President, who talks 
about supporting the troops, does not want that. He is strongly opposed 
to raising the pay of military families.
  How much does that really mean? For an E-4, it means $200 a year. 
$200 a year. The President provides $536 billion of tax breaks for the 
top 1 percent, and is unwilling to give $200 a year to an E-4. Seventy 
times what we are asking, seventy times, goes to the rich.
  It is time for the President to start supporting the troops instead 
of supporting the rich. I hope before Veterans' Day, the President 
changes his mind and agrees with the House of Representatives that our 
men and women in uniform deserve this pay.

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