It's that time again...

*sigh*

I almost don't have the energy to type this blog post. This fiscal nightmare has been going on for so long, that it is more the norm, rather than the exception. Every year since 2009, Congress has been unwilling to pass a balanced budget on time. Every.Single.Year. Congress is responsible for many things, but it's number one priority, constitutionally speaking, is to pass a yearly budget. Since Obama has taken office, that has never happened on time. Not once!! I've already posted about this mess back in 2011 HERE. If you want to know what living overseas during a shut down looks like for military members, it's worth the read.

When the Congress left Washington on summer recess, they were not even remotely close to a budget agreement. And yet they still took 3 months off, with full pay!, for a summer vacation. How is it that they can get paid for not doing their job? While the military must "adapt", "make do", and "carry on" with benefit after benefit being reduced or abolished entirely, and now have the honor of working without pay as well??? How is this fair or just??

If Congress' pay is constitutionally protected, why can't ours be as well?? OR why can't their pay be hinged on the completion of a yearly budget? No budget, no pay! No budget passed by May, no paid vacation! Let them all be locked up on Capital Hill, fed MREs and bottled water, sleep on Army cots, and STAY THERE until a budget is passed and signed by the President. If it's good enough for our troops putting their lives on the line in the middle east and around the world, surely it's good enough for them too, right??? Instead of making self-righteous sound bites for the media, get your butt on the floor and talk with your fellow members to get it done!! This isn't "us against them", it isn't Democrat vs. Republican.....this is for the American people!!!!! And we deserve much more from our elected officials!

We are told to pay our taxes. We are told to pay our bills. We are told to live in a fiscally responsible manner. But the government? It's become a free-for-all, where only the lobbyists and special interest groups are winners. The little guy? (You know, 99.9% of us!) Yeah, we're just screwed!

If you think this shut down doesn't affect you, you're sadly mistaken. You might not be a military service member, or a federal employee, but this affects every single citizen of our country. This is YOUR government too, and this is only going to negatively impact our fragile economy.

For me? This really bites hard. We are still living overseas, and as such, our options are always limited. We have one place to buy groceries (the commissary), and one place to buy everything else (the PX - post exchange). If the government shuts down, our commissaries close. Think about that. What if you had no way to buy any groceries? The PX will most likely cut hours, but not close completely. Services not already cut by sequestration (and there are already more than I can even begin to list here!), will be suspended. With the government's sloppy handling of...well, just about everything!...but especially international affairs, our already weak dollar is taking a beating on international money markets. So getting euro to shop on the economy is a truly expensive alternative.

We will get paid on October 1st. Getting paid on October 15th is looking grim....or anytime after that until a budget is passed. We will literally be stranded in a foreign country, without money. And still required to work. Because you know, they'll get that money to us eventually.....

Congress has until close of business on Monday, September 30th to pass a budget, or at the very least a "floating budget" to prevent yet another government shut down. If you care at all about your country, your military, your Federal employees....CALL YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVES!!! Call your House Representatives and your Congressman!!! Tell them it's just not acceptable to leave our military service members holding the bag for their incompetence!!!!! Our military put their lives on the line every day, for you! Don't they at least deserve the pay and benefits they've been promised??? Is your freedom and safety worth a few moments to make a phone call or email on their behalf?? I'm desperately hoping it is! Please, I'm begging you, make the time to call and/or write them!

Link for contacting the President: HERE

Link for contacting your Congressional Rep: HERE

Link for contacting your House Rep: HERE

 

President Obama & Congress Salute the Troops!

** NOTE: This post was started before we got word that the budget was going to be passed and that our pay was going to be fixed. I think it still warrants being published though. It's high time that the military stops being used and abused by the whims of politicians promoting their own agendas!

As usual!

I'm not watching the news. I simply cannot watch the news. I cannot bear to see these asshats shake each other's hands and slap each other on the back for a job "well done". I simply cannot hear about how they "fought the good fight" and "completed their mission". You know who fights the good fight and completes missions? OUR MILITARY!! You know, the people you have fucked over yet again??? Yeah, us.

Defense Finance & Accounting Services (DFAS) was left with no other option but to put forward our pay freeze at the end of their business day yesterday. HOURS before the "deadline" of midnight. And thank God they did too or we would have had no pay check at all. So while most of the country is thinking that this crisis has been averted, our military will not be paid on time. If anyone wants to call this merely an "inconvenience", I suggest they come on over here and say it to my face, if you dare. And as you are regaining consciousness, you can then explain to my six year old daughter why we aren't going to Venice today and taking a gondola ride.

To Congress:

Really??? You knew you were going to have to pass this budget. By law it should have been done before the start of the fiscal year. You know, before October 1, 2010. At that time you had a Democratic controlled House AND Senate AND President. But you couldn't be bothered with such frivolous things as doing the job you were elected, and sworn, to do. No. Instead you wasted all your time jamming down our collective throats the President's health care plan, which doesn't work and we can't afford. I actually heard a Democratic Representative say during an interview yesterday, that they just didn't "get to it". Didn't.Get.To.It.

Well, great. Now you finally "got to it". But guess what? The next budget is due in five short months. Do you think you can GET TO IT before October 1st this time??? And don't get too comfy in those seats, because you hopefully won't be sitting in them for too much longer.

To the President:

If there is anyone left who can actually explain WHY you still deserve to be our Commander-in-Chief, I'd really like to hear their explanation. Do you even have anyone left who proudly displays that stupid bumper sticker? Or is still chanting, "Yes we can!" Hope and change? I think not. You aren't qualified or equipped to lead a Daisy Scout troop, much less the finest military the world has ever known!!

You told the Congress you would not sign and would in fact veto any bill that was short of a full budget, including any measure to continue paying the military. You didn't want any measure that was just "kicking the can down the road". Thanks. For nothing. You suck and I will shout it til I'm blue in the face to see to it you don't get another four years to sell out our country and our military!!

To the US Government:
We love our country. We serve our country. We defend our country, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. At least we now know who our domestic enemies are! And we are "locked and loaded"...with our VOTE!

Held Hostage by the US Government!

It can't have escaped your notice that the US government is finding it difficult to do it's job again. It seems to be a chronic illness that gets worse, rather than better, over time. Democrats blame Republicans. Republicans blame Democrats. Everyone looks to the President to be a leader. Well....with this particular congress and this particular President, we all might just be out of luck.

The possible government shutdown:
This is bad, folks. Really, really, no-kidding-around BAD! Our country's tenuous hold on economic stability literally hangs in the balance at this point in time. And all we're getting for our tax dollars is rhetoric! So much for talk being cheap!! We could talk and talk and talk about this all day long (like they do!), but I'm going to show you what this means to me and my family. Just to bring a bit of reality and clarity home to you.

IF the government doesn't pass a budget by midnight tonight (EST), OR passes a temporary bill to "float" the government, then it will be shut down. This will have immediate and dire direct consequences for us. It will mean:

* Our April 15th paycheck will only be HALF of what it normally is, and only HALF of what we've earned.
* Our Commissary (the only store we have to buy groceries) will immediately shut down.
* Our Post Exchange (the only store we have to buy everything else) will immediately shut down.
* All of our Shoppettes (mini PX's) will immediately shut down.
* All "non-essential" services will immediately close: Health Clinic, Child Development Centers, JAG, Education Center, Gyms, Chow Halls, shuttle buses, Youth Services, EVERYTHING short of police and fire departments!

IF the government does shut down, and then doesn't pass a budget by April 15th, we will not get paid on May 1st. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. So that half paycheck on the 15th, is now supposed to stretch for four weeks. This is a very real, very scary possibility for every single military family in our country!!!

Now if you're a military family in the states, you have a few options. You don't have to only use the Commissary or PX to shop - you have all kinds of discount stores available to you, as well as a myriad of local/state/federal social services for emergencies. Being overseas, we don't. You can't use your credit or debit cards on the economy here, so you will have to use cash. And when your cash is gone, it's gone. Families that rely on WIC coupons to make ends meet, will be unable to redeem them. So we will have very limited resources, with very limited opportunities to use them, and we have no idea how long this situation will last.

Official word came down the chain of command yesterday, advising all families to curb all unnecessary spending because the shut down was looking more and more as a likelihood, rather than a possibility. Want to know what panic looks like?? It looks like a young mother, with a deployed husband, trying to corral two shopping carts and three small children while vainly trying to find the appropriate sized juice bottles in order to redeem as many WIC coupons as possible as the Commissary might be closed the next day! It looks like a longgggg line in the PX to buy fuel coupons (we buy 100 liter booklets of fuel coupons - currently priced at $114.00 - to buy gas at $4.32/gal rather than on the economy at $8.78/gal), because we have to drive now, as the shuttle buses will no longer be running and no one can afford gas on the economy. It's frantic and it's sad.........and it's so freaking, completely avoidable!!!! This is a MAN MADE disaster!!!!

So that's the dilemma. You have whatever monies you have available now, and a half paycheck coming in a week. And that might be it. And everything is going to close. Don't spend anything? Or stock up on what you can? How much do you spend? What do you get? We did decide to go out last night after Thomas got home from work. It was chaos. There was next to no fresh meat or dairy, and the frozen aisles were hit hard too. Everyone was stressed, all the kids were crying, and the cashiers were harried. Rumors were swirling like a snow storm. There was serious talk about the PX running out of printed gas coupons. It was a nightmare.

Luckily for us, we are a bit better off than many military families. We don't live paycheck to paycheck, and have a more comfortable standard of living than many. But we sure aren't rich, and we sure haven't "budgeted" for not getting paid! We will be OK until the 1st. If this mess isn't resolved by then, we are going to be seriously in the shit. SERIOUSLY, SERIOUSLY IN THE SHIT! I'm really trying hard to keep calm, keep it together, not worry in advance, etc, etc, etc. Mostly it's not working. We had planned to visit Venice this weekend, and the Bavarian region of Germany next weekend. Because we had PLANNED for it. Because we had BUDGETED for it. Because we're mature adults who take care of business! All travel has now been postponed - again! Instead we have a very full chest freezer, overflowing cupboards and a month's worth of fuel coupons - purchases made a month in advance.

But those young families? The ones that don't have any credit, or savings, or much left over from last paycheck? They're just going to be out of luck. The government doesn't care. There's nothing here for them to turn to for help. It's up to the soldiers and company leaders to make sure everyone is staying afloat. We have to take care of ourselves, because as usual, our government can't be bothered with taking care of us. We're just here to fight their wars. Still.

We don't ask for much, and we rarely complain. We do, however, expect to get paid!

To the President & Congress:

GET TO WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the budget for Fiscal Year 2011 which started on October 1, 2010!!! This was supposed to have been completed six months ago! So we're talking about coming up with a budget for six months. This isn't rocket science, people! I don't want to hear your crap....just get it done and get it done on time. Period. Shut up and get to work!! If I were in charge, I would literally lock you all up in the capital building, away from all your family and friends, make you sleep on Army cots, feed you nothing but MREs and bottled water and keep you there until you finished this. You know, like our military does day in and day out, for 12 months at a time!

Your pay may be constitutionally guaranteed, but ours isn't.

Signed,
One pissed off, stressed-out, no longer going to Venice this weekend thanks to you, Army Wife

Yeah...right

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