Soldiers get food stamps….college kids get bailout

[TheGunner]

Let that sink in.🤔

Lawmakers blast proposal for army soldiers’ food stamps amid Biden’s student loan handout: ‘Outrageous’ – US Today News

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! FIRST ON FOX: Several lawmakers have blasted the army for suggesting that soldiers fighting inflation go o

ustoday.news

I assume several soldiers went in to serve their country and qualify for the GI bill.

 

[Crayfish57]

Let that sink in.🤔

Lawmakers blast proposal for army soldiers’ food stamps amid Biden’s student loan handout: ‘Outrageous’ – US Today News

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! FIRST ON FOX: Several lawmakers have blasted the army for suggesting that soldiers fighting inflation go o

ustoday.news

I assume several soldiers went in to serve their country and qualify for the GI bill.

Who voted for this POS? This board gives a direct over view of just how incredibly stupid Biden voters are.

Thank God he doesnt have an abrasive personality though!

 

[gr8indoorsman]

Do you know how few soldiers would qualify for SNAP based on monthly income? You’re talking low single digit % if not less than 1%. Those would all be first term soldiers in the first year of service for whom housing and meals are provided unless they are married AND CHOOSE to live off base AND have three total dependents. If they don’t meet all three of those things, they wouldn’t be eligible for SNAP anyway. And in almost every one of those cases, they would be receiving subsistence and housing allowances as well as their base pay.

This is like getting upset about transgendered anything, it affects such a small portion of the military.

Political grandstanding at its finest.

 

[Droid12345]

Let that sink in.🤔

Lawmakers blast proposal for army soldiers’ food stamps amid Biden’s student loan handout: ‘Outrageous’ – US Today News

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! FIRST ON FOX: Several lawmakers have blasted the army for suggesting that soldiers fighting inflation go o

ustoday.news

I assume several soldiers went in to serve their country and qualify for the GI bill.

Hey, maybe I've found a political issue we can all agree on: let's raise the salaries for military personnel. Yea or nay?

 

[BSIT]

Let that sink in.🤔

Lawmakers blast proposal for army soldiers’ food stamps amid Biden’s student loan handout: ‘Outrageous’ – US Today News

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! FIRST ON FOX: Several lawmakers have blasted the army for suggesting that soldiers fighting inflation go o

ustoday.news

I assume several soldiers went in to serve their country and qualify for the GI bill.

What disturbs me more is thousands of our military personnel are being forced out because they still aren't vaccinated for Covid. Some of these are elite special forces. No wonder there is a troop shortage.

 

[TheGunner]

Do you know how few soldiers would qualify for SNAP based on monthly income? You’re talking low single digit % if not less than 1%. Those would all be first term soldiers in the first year of service for whom housing and meals are provided unless they are married AND CHOOSE to live off base AND have three total dependents. If they don’t meet all three of those things, they wouldn’t be eligible for SNAP anyway. And in almost every one of those cases, they would be receiving subsistence and housing allowances as well as their base pay.

This is like getting upset about transgendered anything, it affects such a small portion of the military.

Political grandstanding at its finest.

Based on what I’ve read your estimate
Is low.

How many military families use SNAP benefits is notoriously difficult to track. The most recent data shows that about 22,000 active-duty troops used food stamps in 2019, the most recent year for which such data was available.

That’s roughly 5%

The number gets much bigger if you add reservists and veterans…but Biden must not care about them as much as college students.

In 2019, SNAP households included 22,000 active duty service members, 213,000 members of the National Guard or reservists, and 1.1 million veterans.

I’m guessing giving todays current economic conditions, the number and % is higher

Not much to see hear…move along…per your bleeding heart liberal.

 

[gr8indoorsman]

Based on what I’ve read your estimate
Is low.

How many military families use SNAP benefits is notoriously difficult to track. The most recent data shows that about 22,000 active-duty troops used food stamps in 2019, the most recent year for which such data was available.

That’s roughly 5%

The number gets much bigger if you add reservists and veterans…but Biden must not care about them as much as college students.

In 2019, SNAP households included 22,000 active duty service members, 213,000 members of the National Guard or reservists, and 1.1 million veterans.

Not much to see hear…move along…per your bleeding heart liberal.

22,000 active duty service members is not 5%.

There are more than 1.1 million active duty members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force alone. So that’s less than 2%, like I said it would be. I didn’t bother including the Coasties and Marines, which would put it at about 1%, like I said.

Reservists have other jobs, as do veterans. Why on earth would we worry about them in terms of their relationship to the military as pertains to SNAP? They made their choices to be reserve or get out. The government has no obligation to make sure they are successful in life beyond their transition, and the government has generous resources to assist them there.

You’re way out of your league in this discussion, slugger. Tap out.

 

[TheGunner]

22,000 active duty service members is not 5%.

There are more than 1.1 million active duty members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force alone. I didn’t bother including the Coasties and Marines, which would put it at about 1%, like I said.

Reservists have other jobs, as do veterans. Why on earth would we worry about them in terms of their relationship to the military as pertains to SNAP?

You’re way out of your league in this discussion, slugger.

Ok slugger, I typed in army…oops. Looks like your LESS THAN 1% was bullshit …SLUGGER

what’s 22k of 1.1MM…2%…add in active reservists SLUGGER…what’s that percentage?

 

[gr8indoorsman]

Ok slugger, I typed in army…oops. Looks like your LESS THAN 1% was bullshit …SLUGGER

Here is what I actually wrote:

You’re talking low single digit % if not less than 1%.

I accept your apology, in advance, kiddo.

 

[TheGunner]

Ok slugger, I typed in army…oops. Looks like your LESS THAN 1% was bullshit …SLUGGER

Here is what I actually wrote:

You’re talking low single digit % if not less than 1%.

I accept your apology, in advance, kiddo.

FIFY. Political grandstanding.

Do reservists not count GR8? Nah, there not soldiers (🤦‍♂️)

 

[gr8indoorsman]

FIFY

Do you know what “if not” means? 😆 I was taking a stab off the top of my head and I was pretty GD close, certainly closer than 5% and certainly close enough to not change the argument in any meaningful way. Can’t believe I even have to write that. Sober up.

 

[TheGunner]

Do you know what “if not” means? 😆 I was taking a stab off the top of my head and I was pretty GD close, certainly closer than 5% and certainly close enough to not change the argument in any meaningful way. Can’t believe I even have to write that. Sober up.

As I said, reservists don’t count? college students >>>>>> reservists😉

 

[gr8indoorsman]

The internet: where idiots try to invalidate your argument by saying 1.X% is not “low single digit % if not less than 1%”.

 

[gr8indoorsman]

As I said, reservists don’t count?

Go back and read my response. TL;DR - no, they do not.

 

[TheGunner]

Go back and read my response. TL;DR - no, they do not.

College students who didn’t graduate and college students who have never tried to work>>>>>>>military and reservists…..got it.

we will leave the veterans out of the discussion because they are “too well off” (1.1MM qualify for SNAP) and would tend to tilt the scale in favor of their camp.

BTW, how many college students with debt qualify for SNAP? I know it’s not the ones who graduated and have professional jobs.

 

[gr8indoorsman]

How many times are you going to go back and edit your posts?

Do you know what an “active reservist” is? Do you know what “Full Time Support” means? Do you know what goes into a call up? Do you know how long those call are for? Do you know the financial considerations that go into a call up? Do you know how that process works?

Do you know the employment regulations that apply to reservists? Do you know what kind of educational benefits reservists and Veterans are eligible for? Health care? Disability compensation? Do you know the requirements for a reservist to maintain good standing and receive their compensation? Do you know how many hours of work a reservist has to do each month for the military to receive those benefits?

Do you know what GTAP is? Do you know what tuition assistance is? Do you know how the post-9/11 GI bill works? Do you know all the states that offer reduced tuition to veterans and active duty service members? Do you know what STA-21 is? Do you know what a SPU is? ……..

Come at me on this topic. Seriously. 🤣

Political grandstanding.

 

[Crayfish57]

How many times are you going to go back and edit your posts?

Do you know what an “active reservist” is? Do you know what “Full Time Support” means? Do you know what goes into a call up? Do you know how long those call are for? Do you know the financial considerations that go into a call up? Do you know how that process works?

Do you know the employment regulations that apply to reservists? Do you know what kind of educational benefits reservists and Veterans are eligible for? Health care? Disability compensation? Do you know the requirements for a reservist to maintain good standing and receive their compensation? Do you know how many hours of work a reservist has to do each month for the military to receive those benefits?

Do you know what GTAP is? Do you know what tuition assistance is? Do you know how the post-9/11 GI bill works? Do you know all the states that offer reduced tuition to veterans and active duty service members? Do you know what STA-21 is? Do you know what a SPU is?

Come at me on this topic. Seriously. 🤣

Political grandstanding.

JFC have a beer and chill out ????????????????????

 

[TheGunner]

How many times are you going to go back and edit your posts?

Do you know what an “active reservist” is? Do you know what “Full Time Support” means? Do you know what goes into a call up? Do you know how long those call are for? Do you know the financial considerations that go into a call up? Do you know how that process works?

Do you know the employment regulations that apply to reservists? Do you know what kind of educational benefits reservists and Veterans are eligible for? Health care? Disability compensation? Do you know the requirements for a reservist to maintain good standing and receive their compensation? Do you know how many hours of work a reservist has to do each month for the military to receive those benefits?

Do you know what GTAP is? Do you know what tuition assistance is? Do you know how the post-9/11 GI bill works? Do you know all the states that offer reduced tuition to veterans and active duty service members? Do you know what STA-21 is? Do you know what a SPU is? ……..

Come at me on this topic. Seriously. 🤣

Political grandstanding.

How many times are you going to go back and edit your posts?

Do you know what an “active reservist” is? Do you know what “Full Time Support” means? Do you know what goes into a call up? Do you know how long those call are for? Do you know the financial considerations that go into a call up? Do you know how that process works?

Do you know the employment regulations that apply to reservists? Do you know what kind of educational benefits reservists and Veterans are eligible for? Health care? Disability compensation? Do you know the requirements for a reservist to maintain good standing and receive their compensation? Do you know how many hours of work a reservist has to do each month for the military to receive those benefits?

Do you know what GTAP is? Do you know what tuition assistance is? Do you know how the post-9/11 GI bill works? Do you know all the states that offer reduced tuition to veterans and active duty service members? Do you know what STA-21 is? Do you know what a SPU is? ……..

Come at me on this topic. Seriously. 🤣

Political grandstanding.

Simple question, how many college student debt holders qualify for SNAP? Biden bailed out people making up to $125,000/yr…correct?

Those people aren’t qualifying for SNAP.


Income and Debt by Degree Status

	Income	debt
Some College, No Degree	$46,748	$15,236
Associate’s Degree	$50,076	$21,123
Bachelor’s Degree	$69,368	$28,708
Master’s Degree	$81,848	$75,333
Research Doctorate	$99,268	$123,695
Professional Doctorate	$100,048	$211,817

Pretty much the only college student debt holders that would qualify for SNAP are current students who aren’t a dependent (no income) or low income parents and students that are out of college and not working.

So does the military have a greater % qualifying for SNAP…well, yes if they are out of college and actively working. But, still, students need bailed out.

 

[gr8indoorsman]

This will be my last post in this topic, so I'm going to make two things perfectly clear here:

1) I do not support student loan forgiveness. It was a 100% mistake, and I am glad Biden at least fended off the progressive wing in expanding it beyond what he did in the first place. People take out their loans; pay your ****ing loan back. Simple as that.

2) As a veteran of 20 years, I don't appreciate when politicians bandy about, "What about the poor servicemen!!!???" to score political points.

This is nothing but political grandstanding. Plain and simple. And that's all I said in my first post before dragging you through that embarrassing exchange where you showed your ass repeatedly. I'm letting you off the hook now. Recognize that and move on.

 

[TheGunner]

Thanks for letting me off the hook.

The political grandstanding is what the Democrats have done for the past six years to make Americans believe college kids need debt relief.

what is happening today is minuscule compared to what Sanders, Warren, Schumer, AOC, etc have been doing. Let me know when a Presidential candidate runs on that platform

there, I’ll let you off hook with your definition of “grandstanding” related soldiers qualifying for SNAP.

 

[Crayfish57]

Thanks for letting me off the hook.

The political grandstanding is what the Democrats have done for the past six years to make Americans believe college kids need debt relief.

what is happening today is minuscule compared to what Sanders, Warren, Schumer, AOC, etc have been doing. Let me know when a Presidential candidate runs on that platform

there, I’ll let you off hook with your definition of “grandstanding” related soldiers qualifying for SNAP.

Just when you didn't think anyone could top Builderbob we have this fool.

 

[BoilerJS]

How many times are you going to go back and edit your posts?

Do you know what an “active reservist” is? Do you know what “Full Time Support” means? Do you know what goes into a call up? Do you know how long those call are for? Do you know the financial considerations that go into a call up? Do you know how that process works?

Do you know the employment regulations that apply to reservists? Do you know what kind of educational benefits reservists and Veterans are eligible for? Health care? Disability compensation? Do you know the requirements for a reservist to maintain good standing and receive their compensation? Do you know how many hours of work a reservist has to do each month for the military to receive those benefits?

Do you know what GTAP is? Do you know what tuition assistance is? Do you know how the post-9/11 GI bill works? Do you know all the states that offer reduced tuition to veterans and active duty service members? Do you know what STA-21 is? Do you know what a SPU is? ……..

Come at me on this topic. Seriously. 🤣

Political grandstanding.

You bring up a good point. The Military will pay for your education, after you have served or while in Reserves, so why not bend the rules a little and let the indebted students join the military as Reservists. They can serve to pay off their debt. I think the current contract is 6 years. So you have your basic training, your AIT training for your selected MOS and than one weekend a month for 6 years. Sounds like a pretty good idea GR.

 

[gr8indoorsman]

You bring up a good point. The Military will pay for your education, after you have served or while in Reserves, so why not bend the rules a little and let the indebted students join the military as Reservists. They can serve to pay off their debt. I think the current contract is 6 years. So you have your basic training, your AIT training for your selected MOS and than one weekend a month for 6 years. Sounds like a pretty good idea GR.

I would be 100% in favor.

 

[TheGunner]

I like the solution of asking college debt holders to join the reserves for 3-6 yrs (some time period even lower than current) and get $10,000 bailout money. And current military/reservists get the same benefits (or more for active military).

Thats something I would be more in favor of versus the free money handout the Democrats/ Biden approved.

My guess is 30-50% of the college debt holders would balk at such a commitment and thus, the price tag would go from $300-500B to $100-300B or even lower…and it would end the conversation of bailing out students, at least for free.

It would also set the expectation for people who fail to pay off their debt and go into retirement forcing the Fed government to pay their debt off. If a student doesn’t pay off their debt, there are options to work off their debt.

All would be a “fairer” approach for the military personnel that signed up for duty due to lack of financial resources

 

[SIBoiler2]

22,000 active duty service members is not 5%.

There are more than 1.1 million active duty members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force alone. So that’s less than 2%, like I said it would be. I didn’t bother including the Coasties and Marines, which would put it at about 1%, like I said.

Reservists have other jobs, as do veterans. Why on earth would we worry about them in terms of their relationship to the military as pertains to SNAP? They made their choices to be reserve or get out. The government has no obligation to make sure they are successful in life beyond their transition, and the government has generous resources to assist them there.

You’re way out of your league in this discussion, slugger. Tap out.

It doesn't matter how right your stats are, slugger. It only matters that those who risk the most to keep us safe should not have ANY members being so poorly paid that they would need assistance to be able to feed their families.

 

[gr8indoorsman]

It doesn't matter how right your stats are, slugger. It only matters that those who risk the most to keep us safe should not have ANY members being so poorly paid that they would need assistance to be able to feed their families.

Sure, I agree with that. I did so for 20 years. How about you?

As I said above, I don’t appreciate using “the troops” for political grandstanding, and that’s all this is. The Republicans aren’t going to change the economic status of those 22,000 soldiers and sailors; they’re just trying to “own the libs” with respect to loan forgiveness. That’s what “grandstanding” is.

 

[Droid12345]

Sure, I agree with that. I did so for 20 years. How about you?

As I said above, I don’t appreciate using “the troops” for political grandstanding, and that’s all this is. The Republicans aren’t going to change the economic status of those 22,000 soldiers and sailors; they’re just trying to “own the libs” with respect to loan forgiveness. That’s what “grandstanding” is.

Definitely grandstanding. I especially enjoyed Gunner's use of statistics from 2019 regarding the number of military personnel receiving SNAP benefits. Why didn't Trump fix this? Why was he giving tax cuts to corporations? I guess, to Trump, corporations >>>>>>>> military and reservists. Got it.

See how easy that was?

Now, let me be clear, I'm not actually making the argument I stated above. I'm simply agreeing with Gr8 that this issue coming up now is just political theater.

And, for the record, in their latest budget proposal, the Biden administration has proposed the largest increase in military pay since 2007 (and before that, you have to go back to 1982 to find a larger raise). A separate argument could be had about whether it's enough, but blaming this administration for a problem that existed prior to this administration makes no sense at all, especially when they're, apparently, trying to address it.

 

[TheGunner]

Definitely grandstanding. I especially enjoyed Gunner's use of statistics from 2019 regarding the number of military personnel receiving SNAP benefits. Why didn't Trump fix this? Why was he giving tax cuts to corporations? I guess, to Trump, corporations >>>>>>>> military and reservists. Got it.

See how easy that was?

Now, let me be clear, I'm not actually making the argument I stated above. I'm simply agreeing with Gr8 that this issue coming up now is just political theater.

And, for the record, in their latest budget proposal, the Biden administration has proposed the largest increase in military pay since 2007 (and before that, you have to go back to 1982 to find a larger raise). A separate argument could be had about whether it's enough, but blaming this administration for a problem that existed prior to this administration makes no sense at all, especially when they're, apparently, trying to address it.

No $hit? That’s what happens when inflation is at historic highs. You have to give everyone more money.

Golly gee, thanks Joe 🤡

 

[gr8indoorsman]

And, for the record, in their latest budget proposal, the Biden administration has proposed the largest increase in military pay since 2007

That’s due to inflation. Military pay is guaranteed by law to go up annually to at least match CPI (even my “retired pay” will get a big jump this year due to CPI). So if Biden, et. al. claim that as a victory, it is also grandstanding in the same way.

Bottom line: politicians need to keep their mouths shut when it comes to military pay and benefits unless they are making substantive changes to improve quality of life and not just doing what is legally required of them.

 

[Droid12345]

That’s due to inflation. Military pay is guaranteed by law to go up annually to at least match CPI (even my “retired pay” will get a big jump this year due to CPI). So if Biden, et. al. claim that as a victory, it is also grandstanding in the same way.

Yeah, I saw that when I looked into it, though it also appears that presidents can propose, and congress can approve, even higher raises, if they wish. I don't know if that's the case here, or not. I don't think Biden has claimed it as a victory or anything, it's just what's in the budget proposal, but I would agree with you that unless they went above and beyond the legal requirement, there'd be nothing to crow about.

Bottom line: politicians need to keep their mouths shut when it comes to military pay and benefits unless they are making substantive changes to improve quality of life and not just doing what is legally required of them.

Agreed.

 

[gr8indoorsman]

For the record, the last time a congress proposed to change military benefits in a substantive way, it was a massive reduction to retiree pay and veteran benefits and it was proposed and approved by a Republican controlled House budget in 2014. It was only fixed when military advocacy groups called them on it for shoehorning it into the overall budget instead of appropriately debating the relatively minor (from a government perspective) cut that would’ve reduced promised benefits to people like me by more than $5,000 per year for 20 years.

Republicans did that in the name of fiscal conservatism… to save the government $630 million in that 20 year period. Meanwhile, DOD wastes way more than that every year paying government contractors for systems that never work. Google RAMICS mine hunting.

Yeah, Republicans did that. So frankly all of you just need to STFU when it comes to military pay and benefits because neither side is without sin here.

 

[Droid12345]

No $hit? That’s what happens when inflation is at historic highs. You have to give everyone more money.

Golly gee, thanks Joe 🤡

Great, so you were already aware the military was getting a substantial raise? Cool, then there's absolutely no reason to bitch and moan that the Biden administration is forcing soldiers on to SNAP, or whatever.

 

[TheGunner]

Great, so you were already aware the military was getting a substantial raise? Cool, then there's absolutely no reason to bitch and moan that the Biden administration is forcing soldiers on to SNAP, or whatever.

Unless of course the soldiers still qualify for SNAP after the raise..🤪. How about the military veterans? Reservists?

Free candy for college students, why not others, especially those who serve their country?

BTW, I have no doubt that Biden is willing to hand out free candy, just trying to make sure it goes to people who deserve it versus college students who aren’t paying down their debt and are making ($80-125k/yr).

 

[Droid12345]

Unless of course the soldiers still qualify for SNAP after the raise..🤪. How about the military veterans? Reservists?

I can agree with you that this is something we should solve while not agreeing that Biden gets the blame. YOU were the one that showed that soldiers were already on SNAP previous to this admin, remember? To our point of agreement, I'm with, military personnel, at least those on the low end of the pay scale, don't get paid enough and should never have to receive additional government assistance. Biden hasn't fixed it, but he also didn't cause it.

Free candy for college students, why not others, especially those who serve their country?

I disagree with the characterization as "free candy," but that's neither here nor there. I agree with you, pay these folks more.

 

[TheGunner]

I can agree with you that this is something we should solve while not agreeing that Biden gets the blame. YOU were the one that showed that soldiers were already on SNAP previous to this admin, remember? To our point of agreement, I'm with, military personnel, at least those on the low end of the pay scale, don't get paid enough and should never have to receive additional government assistance. Biden hasn't fixed it, but he also didn't cause it.

I disagree with the characterization as "free candy," but that's neither here nor there. I agree with you, pay these folks more.

And I’m not looking for you to completely agree with my stance (nor have I said the Biden created this) my point of contention is that these folks have needs and that they should have been helped sooner than the college bailout kids who get paid a decent salary (>$80k). And I’m not looking for you to agree even with that salary number.

My key point was that lower paid military servicemen need help if we are helping those who haven’t served our country. My contention is they deserve it because many saw the military as a way of paying for college and the college bailout bypassed them.

So there still can be compromise in America

 

[TheGunner]

2) As a veteran of 20 years, I don't appreciate when politicians bandy about, "What about the poor servicemen!!!???" to score political points.

BTW gr8…we have had several good debates

Thank you for your service!

 

[SIBoiler2]

Sure, I agree with that. I did so for 20 years. How about you?

As I said above, I don’t appreciate using “the troops” for political grandstanding, and that’s all this is. The Republicans aren’t going to change the economic status of those 22,000 soldiers and sailors; they’re just trying to “own the libs” with respect to loan forgiveness. That’s what “grandstanding” is.

Well they'd have less of a base for "grandstanding" if Joe hadn't tried to buy several million votes with student loan cancelation. Grandstanding is not the sole property of only one party.

 

[gr8indoorsman]

Well they'd have less of a base for "grandstanding" if Joe hadn't tried to buy several million votes with student loan cancelation. Grandstanding is not the sole property of only one party.

1) I don't approve of loan forgiveness.

2) I never said grandstanding was solely a Republican thing, in fact I pointed out an instance where the Democrats would be grandstanding if they tried to take credit for something they are legally required to do.

I simply identified this as exactly what it is. If you guys want to get all up in arms about it, well, you're just being purely puppets to your preferred political party (which is awesome alliteration). At least be smart enough to determine when you're being manipulated (yes, both parties do that as well because they think we are too dumb to know it when it happens... I am not. Are you?).

 

[AgainstDaWind]

For the record, the last time a congress proposed to change military benefits in a substantive way, it was a massive reduction to retiree pay and veteran benefits and it was proposed and approved by a Republican controlled House budget in 2014. It was only fixed when military advocacy groups called them on it for shoehorning it into the overall budget instead of appropriately debating the relatively minor (from a government perspective) cut that would’ve reduced promised benefits to people like me by more than $5,000 per year for 20 years.

Republicans did that in the name of fiscal conservatism… to save the government $630 million in that 20 year period. Meanwhile, DOD wastes way more than that every year paying government contractors for systems that never work. Google RAMICS mine hunting.

Yeah, Republicans did that. So frankly all of you just need to STFU when it comes to military pay and benefits because neither side is without sin here.

I dont agree with you on most things...but here I agree 100%.

I approve this post.

 

[TheGunner]

For the record, the last time a congress proposed to change military benefits in a substantive way, it was a massive reduction to retiree pay and veteran benefits and it was proposed and approved by a Republican controlled House budget in 2014. It was only fixed when military advocacy groups called them on it for shoehorning it into the overall budget instead of appropriately debating the relatively minor (from a government perspective) cut that would’ve reduced promised benefits to people like me by more than $5,000 per year for 20 years.

Republicans did that in the name of fiscal conservatism… to save the government $630 million in that 20 year period. Meanwhile, DOD wastes way more than that every year paying government contractors for systems that never work. Google RAMICS mine hunting.

Yeah, Republicans did that. So frankly all of you just need to STFU when it comes to military pay and benefits because neither side is without sin here.

I have never said republicans have never made a mistake, the only thing I have stated is the military personnel were deserving of a bail out long before a portion of the college students who got bailed out out. I was fine with a portion of the bailout, but going up to $125k and allowing students who hadn’t tried to get a job to qualify for the bailout, I thought was wrong. And I stated at the time there were more deserving people than the white elite.

i do have problem with “free candy” ….free being something for nothing in return. Have kids work off their debt. Ask them to preform public service for a period of time. Something besides “free”.