Democrats block Sen. Sullivan’s bill to pay military during spending freeze

By
Suzanne Downing
-
34

Sen. Dan Sullivan, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz attempted to pass the Pay Our Military Act of 2023 on the Senate floor Wednesday, but the legislation was blocked by Senate Democrats.

Authored by Sullivan, the legislation would ensure America’s military service members — Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard and Space Force — are paid in the event of a government spending freeze, which is characterized as a government shutdown on Sunday. The military will continue to serve but pay will be delayed until the dispute over spending is resolved.

Prior to requesting the legislation be passed by unanimous consent, Sullivan delivered remarks on the Senate floor, saying that before the last full government shutdown in 2013, Democrats and Republicans had come together to unanimously pass similar legislation. 

“There is precedent–very strong precedent–on this very bill, this commonsense bill that has historically received the strong support from both sides of the aisle and in both Houses,” Sullivan said. “Facing an imminent government shutdown in 2013, which ended up lasting 16 days, this bill, the Pay Our Military Act, was passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and unanimously by the U.S. House and signed by the President. Congress recognized then the importance of uninterrupted military pay for our military members and their families.”   

“The political makeup, actually, was the same. You had a Democrat in the White House. You had a Democrat-controlled Senate, and a Republican-controlled House. So it is simple.  While I urge my colleagues to put aside their differences and come together in a spirit of unity to support this bill, I am a little concerned. . .  

“I sure hope that we can do that again, and I sure hope people who want to try to use the military as political pawns leading up to a shutdown are not going to be tempted to object to this bipartisan, much-needed bill that 10 years ago had the support of everyone.” 

Senator Sullivan also vowed to try and pass the Pay Our Military Act again in the near future.

34 COMMENTS

  2. Typical. They despise (and some could argue hate) us, the little people, the ones who work in the factories, and mines, and oil fields. You know, the ones who actually produce the things which allow civilization to exist and function. Without the plumber, the electrician, the maintenance worker, it all falls apart. But the elites of both parties (most republicans and every democrat) don’t care. We are merely dirt beneath their feet, pawns in their games, little disposable toys to be played with and discarded for newer, prettier ones. No incumbent should ever be reelected. Corrupt politicians (but I repeat myself) should be contract outsourced to the North Korea prison system, where at least they have honest politicians who do not pretend to be decent compassionate human beings, like ours do every election season while they sneer at us the rest of their terms.

  3. The fact that a bill has to be voted on to pay the US Military really shows you how disgusting these politicians are. The Military is the one thing that should never have to worry about getting paid.

  4. There is no better time to withhold soldiers pay than when Joe and his Democrats are fighting a war with Russia by proxy.
    All of those bonus incentives to get recruitment numbers up are just confetti now.
    Russia’s agreement they just made with North Korea to tap into their endless stockpile of weapons and munitions(of mass destruction:) makes the timing of a Taiwan invasion seem imminent.
    We have a weak and feckless old fool ducking and dodging his grifting past with an open southern border with a steady flow of illegals delivering the drug supply the Democrats need to control the herd and the voting.
    Absolutely no better time than now for a Chinese/Russian assault on American soil.
    The Democrat progressives have installed enough Allies through our open border policy to make an easy assault from within.

    I am just not quite sure about which language we will be needing to learn??? Russian or Mandarin.
    Also just need to make a small ajustment to the last phrase in the national anthem…Land of the confused queer and the home of the weak.

  5. Spare me the crocodile tears! Maybe if members of Congress had to worry about getting their own paychecks they might actually pass a budget on time. Furthermore, why does the military get singled out for special treatment? Why shouldn’t border patrol agents, air traffic controllers and other “essential” employees who will still be forced to work get paid on time as well?

    • Or the government leaders can just quit playing manipulative games and not have a spending freeze, and then everyone can get paid money we don’t have. Then they can be happy for the short run. Hopefully the affected government employees are wisely spending. Cause these days I am grateful to have my job in the private sector cause I don’t know when that dreadful day may come and I am told I have no job that provides a wage because of a national collapse if it happens in my lifetime which appears likely. So everyday I say thank you and cheerfully clean every room as best as I been trained enjoying my work, not to miss this moment my employer is blessed to afford me the opportunity to work for his company.

  7. Sullivan forgot the parable of the snake that Trump recites at rallies. Will he get Princess a condolence card for the passing of her hallway buddy feinstein?

  8. > Democrats block Sen. Sullivan’s bill to pay military during spending freeze

    Good. Shut it all down. When you repeatedly act in a destructive manner (looking at you last 22+ years) maybe stop what you are doing?

    We all are Wile. E. Coyote that has run off the cliff. There is nothing but air below us. Only our momentum carries us forward, but we are out of momentum. As we finally look around at our circumstances the fall is about to commence. Maybe we will see were we really are. (And its not great).

    One can try and escape reality, but one can not escape the consequences of reality. We are a heavily indebted nation who lives way beyond our means and does not produce much of anything anymore. Interest payments alone are now equal to the entire expenditure on war. That is the existential crisis- not paying this or that as the ship goes down.

  9. Donald Trump said dying for your country, or getting captured doing military service is for losers and suckers, so why pay them after Trump publicized that he supports a shutdown?

    • The first to make this statement was Gen. George Patton, “Don’t die for your country, let the other poor basta__d die for his country.” Getting captured is not a good idea as very few of our foes abide by the Geneva Convention, Black Hawk Down comes to mind. Pay our military and have a shut down, we can start by defunding Ukraine.

      • While there is lots to object to our fighting or contributing to any war offshore, the proxy war in Ukraine is worth keeping Putin’s adventurousness occupied close to his own land. The only chance Ukraine has of surviving this is our support and Russia wearing out and retreating. We aren’t the only ones helping them. The description from my Ukrainian friends describing the brutality of Russian action – war crimes – of itself demands the world step up to help. Failing to fight will hasten the takeover of the world by communism – we will all become their slaves. We lost Vietnam because of political horse hockey in D.C., let’s not repeat that mistake.

        • Respectfully disagree. Risking WWIII with Russia while not being allowed to win a war since 1945, could be problematic.
          .
          Seems like this is just what Mr. Biden’s Chinese partners want Americans to do, saddle themselves with another Viet Nam or Afghanistan… more blood, treasure down the toilet for what, to betray more allies, betray more American servicemen, to pull out, leave behind another $100B worth of goodies, this time for the Russians
          .
          …while the same Chinese partners and their North Korean brethren invade Taiwan and buy South America.
          .
          Not sure what prevents “step up to help” from morphing into another Forever War. Say you’re Chief of Staff, Commander in Chief, what’s the plan when Vlad says butt out or anti-war riots in American streets’ll be the least of your problems?
          .
          Sure and every other NATO country’s helping. They can help because American taxpayers prop up the helpers while the helpers play war games with the Russians… the same Russians who sell the helpers natural gas to heat their homes.
          .
          Americans should ask why no American hawk uses the word “win” when talking about killing people, breaking things, American kids dying in Ukraine’s war.
          .
          It’s as if someday Vlad’ll be like, “oh heck, we give up, you win, sorry about that” because misbehaving American GI’s who can’t even get their pronouns right, who can’t even appreciate transvestites, who apparently don’t have enough bombs and bullets, who were deserted by their higher leadership from Korea to Afghanistan suddenly got really good at killing Russians, breaking things, and happily dying so Ukrainians didn’t have to?
          .
          American GI’s will have been re-educated, vaccinated, and woke enough to force the Russian bear to its knees in a veritable blitzkrieg redux, no?
          .
          American government’s nearing shut down because it’s $31T in the hole. Looks like $75B wasn’t enough to win Ukraine’s war after all. What could possibly go wrong when Americans find out Ukraine’s war is about to cost a whole hell of a lot more… while Bidenomics aggressively crushes America’s economy at home?
          .
          Imagine what happens if America’s government shuts down, goes broke in the middle of the twenty-first century Ukrainian Crusade.
          .
          American GI’s ordered into harm’s way to preserve and protect one of the planet’s most corrupt dictatorships, now that’s stepping up to help, no?

  10. While I support Sullivan and this proposed bill, this is a poorly written article if it is supposed to be considered hard news. The article contains absolutely nothing about his bill being blocked by democrats or anyone else for that matter. It is, however a stump speech piece supporting the bill.

    This is the sort of reporting that needlessly allows liberals to point at conservatives and say “Propaganda” or “Fake News”.

    • So you’re okay with sending more money to corrupt D.C.? Whether you like Zelenskyy or not, their leadership is irrelevant – Russia is invading Ukraine. Carpet bombing by missile – they have ‘smart” weapons… – hospitals, schools, shopping centers, apartment buildings – leveled. The current campaign is to take out the entire electric distribution system so that Ukraine will have a cold winter and perhaps surrender. Ukrainians are strong people with a strong culture… According to my Ukrainian immigrant friend who recently returned from a visit to his relatives, 100,000 Ukrainians have died – and 300,000 Russians. Putin does not give up easily. My friend is very angry. He says, “Rich, no one likes Russians any more.”
      If we fail to contain ambitious imperialist communists, that will be what the U.S. will look like.

      • I am sure you have concern for your friends well being but the specifics of the information they are giving you is completely opposite of the various sources of info I have read heard and researched to verify.
        Colonel Douglas Abbott Macgregor has the death toll at 450,000 total deaths.
        50,000 of them are mostly Russian soldiers and 400,000 Ukranian soldiers/civilians.
        Millions of Ukranians have fled to other countries and vowed to never return due to the ongoing corruption and turmoil that has been common for many years even under Zelinskys reign. The political and physical persecution of the various religious groups that are iving in the different regions of Ukraine have endured worse treatment than the Russian soldiers had for their ukranian comrades. Ukranians are a very diverse group with many different cultures and beliefs.
        The circumstances that led up to the current invasion could have been totally avoided without US and other countries interference in the situation and without Ukraine “poking the bear”
        Many peoples response was Zelenskys group can only poke the bear for so long before the bear bites them.
        Colonel Macgregors outlook for the current situation is Ukraine will run out of soldiers due to the heavy losses and at some point the US troops and others will have to step in to continue the fighting unless an agreement is reached before it comes to that.
        Your friends comment “Rich, no one likes Russians anymore” is not the narrative I have heard because the ones fighting each other are ALL Russians. They just happen to live in a different part of Russia.
        My Russian friends have relatives that live in both countries and Ukrainians I have spoken to have relatives in Russia as well. It is not a peoples war. It is all about the corrupt leaders of both countries based on all the info I have gathered.

      • Rich – you gotta layoff the CNN. The Ukrainian army has been decimated. Many credible military analysts have been saying this for months now. Estimates are that 500,000 Ukrainian troops have been slaughtered, with perhaps 50,000 to 75,000 Russians. Your kill ratio is exactly backwards. If all you are listening to is mainstream legacy media than you are not being informed, you are being propagandized!

  14. Why is it the Military is the only one that get’s their throat cut EVERYTIME!! I remember years ago, when Carter’s congress did the same thing..Living(mil) in Germany, the same thing happened.. AND we lived according to the GM/$$. Carter couldn’t keep his mouth shut…

  15. Let’s tell the truth Dan Sullivan. The whole reason the military is having problems with dollars is because you are collaborating with the Industrial War Machine to launder our tax money through Ukraine. Why are you paying Nazi’s in the Azov Battalion instead of our troops? Why are you milking away our munitions and weapons to a Deep State proxy war instead of stopping the unnecessary carnage that has killed close to 400,000 Ukrainians? Why is your proxy war more important than our southern border? You are a liar and a thief along with your criminal friends like McConnell. You should be ashamed of yourself and do not deserve to hold your Senate seat anymore then Murkowski. Alaska needs patriots representing this state, not career criminals.

Comments are closed.