And They Wonder Why Troop Morale is So Low

...Hugh Hewitt details the lump of coal Congress is putting in the stockings of military members, just before the holidays:


Those commandos who went into Yemen to try and rescue Luke Somers on Saturday? Congress thinks they should have their scheduled pay raise cut; that they need to start paying a co-pay on their and their families' medications; that the annual adjustment in housing allowance their families receive should be reduced in 2015 so that it is 1 percent below inflation.

Just before Christmas, the Grinch that is the lame duck Congress is poised to pass a National Defense Authorization Act that cuts the pay and benefits of the entire uniformed active duty military, including the young men and women at sea and away from their families this Christmas, the kids in basic training and the soldiers at the DMZ in South Korea as well as across Afghanistan, Iraq and of course in Africa containing the Ebola plague.

Congress has decided that the $5 billion the president says is needed for expanded operations in Iraq and Syria is going to come out of the paychecks of the people fighting there and elsewhere. Stunning but true. Incredibly, terribly at odds with the values and feelings of civilian America — but when has that every stopped a Congress not facing imminent election?

It's all part of the National Defense Authorization Act, a parting shot from the retiring chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, Representative Buck McKeon of California and Senator Carl Levin of Michigan.  Both are leaving with generous Congressional pensions, healthcare for life and should they choose, a seven-figure annual income on K Street.  As for the troops, let them clip a few more coupons or forego next year's vacation.  

Did we mention that the same poll that reflects plummeting military morale also revealed another interesting trend: service members have virtually no confidence in senior leadership.  

Can you blame them?