Bush Seeks $1.4 Billion for Military Pay

Moving to fulfill a campaign promise, President Bush will tell the armed forces this week that he will seek $1.4 billion to improve pay and living standards--and an additional $1 billion as an incentive to retain highly skilled service members.

Bush, who plans three one-day trips to military installations this week, said in his weekly radio address Saturday that the visits “signal the priority that I place on our military.”

His emphasis clearly is on the troops.

“They deserve the best training, the latest and best equipment, and long-overdue improvements in their pay, housing and standard of living,” Bush said.

He plans to see active-duty soldiers at Ft. Stewart in Georgia on Monday and reservists at an Air National Guard base in West Virginia on Wednesday. The president also will take a look Tuesday at the next generation of weapon technology during a tour of the Joint Forces Command headquarters in Norfolk, Va.

Bush said in the address that he will offer “meaningful increases in funding to improve the lives of our men and women in uniform.”

His spokesman, Ari Fleischer, put the requested pay raise at $1.4 billion and said Bush also will propose $1 billion in incentives aimed at keeping highly skilled people in their military jobs. The requests are for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.

“There’s an old military saying: Soldiers enlist, but families reenlist. We need to treat families well and encourage military careers,” Bush said. “We must make sure our military is a place where Americans are proud to serve and proud to stay.”

During his campaign last year, Bush accused President Clinton of shortchanging the military and said he would make significant improvements.

As a candidate, Bush said he would raise military pay by $1 billion a year for five years and said the typical soldier would earn about $750 more in the first year from his plan.

Getting military pay raises and improving health and other benefits has been the focuses of recent budgets as the military seeks to stem the tide of service members who have been leaving for civilian jobs.

The Pentagon said in September that 5,100 troops, or 0.4% of the nation’s military, were receiving food stamps. That’s an improvement from 1991, when about 19,400 troops were reported to be receiving food stamps.

At Ft. Stewart, the president said he will thank the soldiers for their service and “give my full support in return.” Visiting Norfolk, he intends to get “a glimpse” of the new weapons. “America has some big choices to make as we prepare for the challenges and dangers of modern warfare,” Bush said.

In Charleston, W.Va., he will meet with members of reserve and National Guard units and observe a disaster-relief exercise.

The week will end with his first foreign trip, flying south for talks Friday with Mexico’s new president, Vicente Fox.