Posted on 10/08/2013 11:06:28 PM PDT by Pride_of_the_Bluegrass
WASHINGTON — The families of four soldiers killed in Afghanistan last weekend will not receive death benefits or the money to pay for their funerals because of the government shutdown.
The bodies of Sgt. Patrick C. Hawkins, 25; Pfc. Cody J. Patterson, 24; Sgt. Joseph M. Peters, 24; and First Lt. Jennifer M. Moreno, 25, will arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday. The four soldiers were killed Sunday in the Zhari district of Kandahar Province when enemy forces attacked their unit with explosives.
But if their families want to meet the plane, they will have to pay their own way to Delaware.
Under the shutdown, Carl Woog, a Defense Department spokesman, said on Tuesday, “the Department of Defense does not currently have the authority to pay death gratuities and other key benefits for the survivors of service members killed in action.”
The benefits include $100,000 to each family; a 12-month basic allowance for housing, usually given in a lump sum to survivors commensurate with the rank of the service member; and burial benefits. The benefits are also being withheld from the family of Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Collins Jr., 19, of the Marines, whose death on Saturday in Helmand Province is being investigated by the Pentagon.
New hardships caused by the shutdown seem to emerge every day as the standoff between President Obama and Congressional Republicans entered its second week. But the denial of benefits to the families of fallen soldiers — however temporary — led to an unusual burst of outrage.
Senators took the floor to express their anger. In the House, members scrambled to write a bill to remedy the problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
>> Senators took the floor to express their anger.
Like Reid?
With all that’s going on, THIS....THIS right here is what should have been the ‘trigger’, the “GO code”.
Revolution.
Has ObamaPhone service been interrupted? Have the extra costs of closing parks and monuments been cut?
The Republicans need to blast Obama every time he pulls this crap. This is shameful but a man without shame wouldn’t know and needs to be shamed relentlessly.
I think this is a load of bull. I simply do not believe that the SecDef, or any number of high-ranking people in the Pentagon, lack the authority or ability to be able to make some arrangement that would see to it these men got a proper burial, regardless of the budget negotiations.
This is beyond shameless.
Each and every one of the four worth six times the *sshole in the White House.
Can Congress fix ‘shameful’ military death benefit lapse?
By Carrie Dann, Political Reporter, NBC News
That bill appropriated “such sums as are necessary to provide pay and allowances to members of the Armed Forces” as well as money for some civilian personnel and contractors considered essential to the support of soldiers. The bill’s drafters say it was intended to cover survivor benefits as well.
But after reviewing the law, the Defense Department concluded that it cannot send payments to affected families because the law did not specifically grant them the authority to pay anyone other than the service members themselves. That legal determination, one official said, was ultimately made by inter-agency legal counsel – meaning Department of Defense, Department of Justice and White House lawyers.
On Tuesday, Boehner argued that the “Pay Our Military Act” gave “broad authority to the Department of Defense to pay all kinds of bills, including” the death benefits issue.
The sentiment was echoed by Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “Judging by the Department of Defense’s own summary of those programs, we believed that ‘death gratuities’ would continue to go to the families of those heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice. Without question, that was our clear intent.”
http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/2013/10/08/ollie-north-raising-money-to-send-families-to-dover-to-receive-the-remains-of-the-killed-soldiers-tomorrow/
$5 - 10 - $20 = this is how we do this - we do not wait on the gov’t.
Waddaya' need a bill for ?
How about arresting chuck hagel ... THAT would be righteous.
Obama denied it. Reid denied it.
This is one hardship there is no excuse for.
It is inexcusable..
Impeach this ant-American SOB running this country.
You really know how to push my button with a picture like that!!!
This whole story is so untrue its not even funny...
I heard that the money is already budgeted, and available for these family members to take care of their fallen!!!
Its the mechanism to cut the check that has been curtailed...I bet I can find someone in a NY minute to perform that task...
If the National Gaurd can go out after the PARTIAL 17% government shutdown, and take delivery of a mechanical bull, for what purpose, is left to be determined...
then I think we can take care of our fallen heroes!!! AND THEIR FAMILIES!!!
Enough with this namby-pamby bullsh!t!!!
Fire them ALL!!!
Again, nice try NYTimes...
You’re BS is still showing...
I always wondered why Jews got on the cattle cars with their children, why they walked calmly into gas chambers. No fight, just calmly to their deaths. Now I get it.
I really hope our troops are paying attention to this.
Is this true? At some point, the DOD has discretion on certain spending choices, as in the declaration of "essential" vs. "non-essential" personnel, and in members of the military being what is termned a "captive audience" on military installations and therefore having an expectation of certain Morale, Welfare, and Recreation resources, and the like.
The big media articles on this payout to deceased issue have blamed Congress. I suspect however, that the President who grants executive exemptions (illegally?) under the ACA could, in a different arena, declare these payments to be the equivalent of "essential."
Yes? No?
And yet Obama’s laying his head to rest at the White House tonight, no?
We should all print that out and tape them to every “Closed” national park signs in our area.
“Generally, dereliction of duty refers to failure through negligence or obstinacy to perform one’s legal or moral duty to a reasonable expectation. In other words, it means willful or negligent failure to perform assigned duties or performing them in a culpably inefficient manner. Dereliction of duty is a specific offense in military law. “ (Quote from USLegal.com).
Dereliction of duty is an Impeachable Offense, as stipulated in the US Constitution. Dereliction of duty is also a US Military offense subject to a Courts Martial.
Will our sorry Congressional RINOs do their usual kid gloves, “boys will be boys” approach to Obama’s numerous violations of the US Constitution, or will they FINALLY draw up The Articles of Impeachment for B. Hussein Obama?
PING!
I'll bet there were also a few Nazi guards who said "this is disgusting" but still carried out their orders.
This is a blog and only one report – but I was wondering if you had heard anything else along these lines?
Obama Is Not Paying The U.S. Navy Stationed In Japan?
http://grumpyelder.com/2013/10/im-in-a-bad-moo-d/
And
In review of the video below Harry Reid says there have been 17 fallen soldiers.
16:10 Minutes
Video begins with Ted Cruz and then Harry Reid, then Ted Cruz again….
Families were notified via twitter that they would not receive benefits for loved ones lost. (this was at the beginning mentioned by Ted Cruz)
Around 10:40 Harry Reid says there have been 17 service members who have been affected by the shut down re: families who might be entitled to receive benefits.
Majority Leader Harry Reid Objects to Funding the VA. Again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jCETPWASUs
FREEPERS: Post all of your hotlinks to funeral news of our Fallen Warriors here !
“In the House, members scrambled to write a bill to remedy the problem.”
Any bill they send will be blocked by Harry Reid unless Republican senators agree to “special” rules for debating it.
Rules that don’t let anyone offer any amendments.
And the media will blame Republicans if they don’t fold.
The media have to help Harry hold his barricade of the House minibills at all costs. Senate dems cannot be subject to a recorded vote on those bills. They must be protected.
TWITTER ?
DOD notified the families at the last moment of this witholding VIA Twitter!
The regime keeps piling insult upon insult to the families of those warriors who sacrificed all, leaving their children fatherless or motherless. Damn their souls to the darkest depths of hell eternally.
Posting via phone, so youtube unvailable just now. What was Cruz's reaction to the twitter business?
Ted Cruz said this in a matter of fact way at the beginning of the video. But keep in mind Cruz is a man of great debate skill and would never let emotion slip unless it was intentional.
So no reaction on the floor of the senate - he just said it.
Understood - thanks for the reply. Still trying to get my BP down.
This is the NYT...they’ll never lay the blame at Obastard’s feet.
Just found out another little tidbit of info on the death benefits issue for our fallen servicemembers...
Our Secretary of Defense (Hagel) after the “partial” shutdown has occurred, has had his personal meeting and dining facilities (entertainment) upgraded since last week...
And yet, at the orders of Obama has instructed the DoD lawyers to shutdown the disbursement mechanisms that give families of fallen soldiers the $100K that is supposed to be given to them within 72 hours of the notification of next of kin...
Needless to say this is yet another monkey in the wrench that Obama is party to,that deserves impeachment at the very least...Hagel needs to be forced out of that position yesterday because of this...
I’m really getting tired of seeing so much crap being dealt out by this government and administration against our armed forces and Veterans in this country...
Some of these pimples need to be popped...
My rage is only quelled by logistical infeasibility at this particular junction...
Getting tired of hitting on my congressman’s office about these things and not seeing much in the way of action by these power hungry sluts that occupy D.C. at the moment...
I’m sure I have to be on some watch list by now...Even though I have kept it as civil as possible when Ido talk to them...It is getting harder and harder to maintain that civility given the environment now...
Not sure what it is we can do...Calls and emails are just plain lame, they do not have the impact a physical meeting would if I had the chance to get up there...
I gotta go cool off...
Just ask anyone here who cares, to just allow me some room to vent...
Later...
I thought we had already bugged out of Afghanistan after what twelve years now. Bring the troops home.
Do people in NE still have faith in Hagel? If so, I guess we can call them Hagelians.
People in AZ don’t impress me any more as each day passes with their silly senators.
The Pay Our Military Act was signed into Federal Law by Obama on 9-30-2013.
Obama KNEW that death benefits were covered when he signed the bill into Law on 9-30-2013 !
This documents that Commander in Chief Obama CHOSE to punish, after death,” those who had given their last full measure of devotion” by dictating that Funeral Expenses be denied to HIS dead Warriors.
Obama has thus shown himself to be a ghoulish tyrant who is more than willing to inflict maximum pain “on his own people,” to borrow an expression that Obama used recently against his fellow tyrant in Syria.
Please post on this thread the hotlinks to any news articles on the 26 slain Warriors that Obama has refused to pay funeral expenses for, prior to Obama’s yesterday’s CYA “legal” action.
Obama must be held accountable for this ghoulish Dereliction of Duty as the Commander in Chief.
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