AP FACT CHECK: Trump's false statement on military pay

SGT Joseph Cabra - i dont know what you mean. When the previous pay raises came out under Obama, they were simply announced. He didnt make up some complete BS story about the pay raise being the first in 10 years whenin fact there was a raise every year. Even when the pay raises were much larger than the ones under Trump.

The issue isnt the size of the raise. As I said in other posts both under Obama and Trump the matched the automatic raise dictated by law except when the sequestration law mandated across the board cuts. Its that the president ofthe United States gets up in front of soldiers and deliberatelylies to them to make it seem like he did something he didnt do. And this isnt some simple misunderstanding. This line about first raise in 10 years has been a staple of his at his rallys for overa year. Its a big applause line, because the civilians he says it to have no clue he is lying.

SGT Joseph Cabra - I dont recall any "gleaming reports" about the lower pay raises in the media. I remember the size of the raises was a point of contention during the budget process. The issue was that the sequestration law require an equal amount of cuts from the DOD and non DOD budgets. The republicans made a big show about wanting to give the troops a bigger raise, and wanted to exclude the DOD budget from the sequestration limits. But when the dems said OK, but we also get to exempt social proframs from the limits as well, the republicams screamed no, that would increase the deficit!. (Back when they cared about deficits). So the repubs basically were trying to go around the limits for what they wanted while making the other side keep meeting the limits.

But as I stated in a different post, my issue isnt about the size of the raise at all. The president is flat out lying to the troops and the public about the raises, and that is exactly the type of oversight of government the constitution enshrines with the freedom if the press. When the president lies to the public it is the responsibility of the press to report it. And when they do, that isnt nitpicking or harrassing the president. It is holding him accountable. It's the way our system is designed to work.

SGT Joseph Cabra - actually, presidents only submit budget requests and thehouse and senate produce and vote on the spending bills. If congress had wanted to approve a largerpay raise theycould have.

SGT Joseph Cabra - from the DFAS fact sheet I posted earlier:

"However, under subsection (e) of this statute, the President can specify an alternative pay adjustment that supersedes the automatic adjustment. Additionally, Congress may pass a law to specify the annual pay raise, superseding the automatic adjustment and/or any presidential adjustment."

Congress could have passed a higher pay raise overriding the presidential adjustment amount if they wanted to. The presidential adjustment amount is put into the administrations budget request that goes to congress, but congress has the final say by passing thespending bills. The president doesnt apply any type of executive privilege to reduce the pay amount aftercongress has passed a higheramount. Once the spending bill is passed the pres can veto it, but cantlower or raise the payamount prior to signing it.

Look at the chart for 2014,2015,2016... we were given less than the national average. LTC (Join to see)

CSM Michael Chavaree - yes, thanks to a thing called the sequestration law, which the republicans forced because they said that running a deficit would destroy our childrens future. The sequestration law mandated equal cuts to both defense and nondefense spending. (funny how once Trump got in office the republicans don't give a F about deficits anymore.) And if you look at the chart before those years, you will see that in fact, contrary to your claim that it was "decades" since the military got a raise appropriate to the wages of civilians, that isn't true at all.

The main point is that Trump did absolutely nothing to create any type of pay raise for the military. In fact, in 2018 his budget requested less than the law dictates. The raises received under trump were no different than under Obama and Bush, with the exception of the sequestration years.

Great dialogue and share of info. I have learned a lot! I still support Trump and think a lot of folks are just looking to bring him down over petty stuff. Yeah, he may have misspoken a bit as he probably didnt understand how the pay raise law works, as most people dont. But I think for the most part he means well and engages with the Military appropriately. I am excited to see what he brings to the table soon. LTC (Join to see)

CSM Michael Chavaree - my issue with Trump has nothing to do with mostof his policies. Over my time there have been repub and demo presidents thatI agreed with on some things and disagreed on others. It is total and blatant disregard forthe facts and his willingness to lie about everything to make himself look good. It is far beyond the usual political exaggerations of polucy efrects.

He states to the American people that his electoral college win was the biggest margin ever. Yet both Obamaand Bush had elections with a greater electoral margin of victory than his. He gets up at a rally in Wisconsin and states that he was thefirst republucan to win the state since Eisenhower. Yet Nixon, Reaganand Bush won WI before Trump. He states that he is the firstpresident to give the military a psyraise in 10 years, when they gotraises every year. And even though thatfact has been highlighted in the press for a year, he continues to use that lie bevauseit gets his base fired up.

And his supporters refuse to even admit that he is deluberately lying. They sayhe misspoke or didnt understand. Suddenly havingapresident who lies every day is acceptable. Facts no longer matter.he isnt getting fed bad info. Think about it. He has the SecDef and jount chiefs at his beck and call. Do you really think he asked them when was thelasttime the troops got a payraise and they said 10 years ago, Mr President. Of course not. He makes up the lies and continues to use them to blur the lines between fact and fiction. He deliberately attempts to undermind the credibility of the press so that when they report on things he does, the people wont believe it. He is undermining a check on government the founding fathers considered so important they putit in the constitution. That should concern every American.