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Statement of Representative Helen Chenoweth May 20, 1999—Regarding a Better Quality of Life for America's Defenders
Mr. Speaker, in today's military a young enlisted person serving out his or her first contract can expect to make one thousand, seventy-five dollars and eighty cents a month. Over a forty-hour work-week, this averages to six dollars and seventy cents an hour. But most of our military personnel don't work forty-hour weeks. We all remember the famous Army slogan-"We do more before 9:00 a.m. than most people do all day." Mr. Speaker, it's true. These young enlisted personnel can expect to be at work before first light and not home again until long after dark. And, Mr. Speaker, we don't pay them overtime.
These young people train for weeks at a time away from home. They keep themselves in a state of top physical readiness.
They live their personal lives according to the high standards of integrity and honor we mandate for them. These young servicemen must uproot their families on a moment's notice, moving to a new duty station across the country, or across the globe. They do it all on six dollars and seventy cents an hour.
For members of the military with families, the situation is worse. Despite a modest living allowance, 12,000 families currently serving our Armed Services are dependent on food stamps. Food stamps. We have government employees living off of government subsidies. Mr. Speaker, why don't we skip the intermediary step and just pay them properly the first time?
During the holidays at the Mountain Home Air Force base in Idaho, a network of military spouses work together to collect donations of money and toys for the enlisted families who cannot afford to give their young ones Christmas or Thanksgiving. Last November and December, the Mountain Home Warm Heart organization, run by the spouses of servicemen, distributed over eighteen thousand dollars worth of food, toys and cash to needy military families. Where did this money come from, Mr. Speaker?
From the pockets of servicemen who already had very little to give. If this were not bad enough, many military families have more serious concerns than just Christmas and Thanksgiving. At the Mountain Home Air Force Base, 459 women and children are receiving regular food assistance. 107 of those are infants. The Mountain Home Air Force Aid Society made $131,000 in emergency assistance loans to Military families.
I am very concerned about what will happen to these families when the money runs out and they still have to make monthly payments on the loans.
In the 18th Century, citizen soldiers won our independence and secured our liberties. We hailed them as heroes and revered the courage and commitment they demonstrated in defense of our nation. Today that nation is protected by citizen soldiers with the same integrity and sense of duty.
Only in 20th Century America, we don't even pay them a living wage. We should be ashamed of ourselves. From 1988 to today there have been thirty-two deployments of our military. In the previous sixty years there were only ten deployments. Put another way, Mr. Speaker, prior to this Administration, the military was deployed an average of once every six years. During the Clinton Administration the military has been deployed an average of four times every year. Furthermore, since 1987, we have depleted our ranks by eight hundred thousand servicemen. In practical terms, that translates into more frequent deployments and dangerously long hours. It is illegal in this country for truck drivers to be on the road longer than eight consecutive hours without rest. yet we have pilots patrolling the Mediterranean in fourteen hour shifts. In short, this Administration is expecting our servicemen to do one hundred times as much and place their lives at risk one hundred times as often with eight hundred thousand fewer people. For as little as six dollars and seventy cents per hour.
Mr. Speaker. I recently paid a plumber $90 an hour to unstop my garbage disposal. An auto mechanic can expect $50 an hour. A teenager working as a bagger in a grocery store can earn up to $12 dollars an hour. None of these jobs require 24-hour dedication to duty and a constant threat to life.
Mr. Speaker, one young Marine I know of has taken a second job to supplement his income. Every night, this Lance Corporal goes home and trades his Marine uniform for a blue and red t-shirt and matching hat from Dominoes. This young Marine, this hardworking father of two, delivers pizza because he is too proud to accept welfare. He is not alone in this endeavor. But it is nearly impossible to know how many young servicemen are in this position because most of them hide it from their commanders.
A young Lance Corporal serving in the Marine Corps today can anticipate being combat-deployed at least once in a four-year enlistment. I wonder what this Lance Corporal's family will do when he is away and they have to make do without the supplemental income from Dominoes.
I am humbled by this young Marine, and the many others like him who work so hard to protect us. I am ashamed that we don't do right by them. I urge this body to seriously consider the ethics of our government's continued over-extension of our military in light of our complete lack of gratitude for their service.
Mr. Speaker, I have a request to make of the members of this body. Tonight when you go home to your families, to the security and comfort of your homes; when you tuck your children in to bed; say a prayer for the men and women of our armed forces. As you sleep, approximately one-hundred thousand of them stand watch, away from their own loved ones, ready to give their very lives to protect you. For as little as six dollars and seventy cents an hour.
