Pentagon: Most Furloughed Civilians Ordered Back

[Bosonic]

Source: AP

The Pentagon is ordering most of its approximately 400,000 furloughed civilian employees back to work.

The decision by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is based on a Pentagon legal interpretation of a law called the Pay Our Military Act.

That measure was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama shortly before the partial government shutdown began Tuesday.

The Pentagon did not immediately say on Saturday exactly how many workers will return to work. The Defense Department said "most" were being brought back.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/pentagon-furloughed-civilians-ordered-back-20482298

[sulphurdunn]

1. So, the Pentagon decides

the shutdown doesn't apply to it, and the President says "fine" while 400,000 other public servants swing in the wind.

[pasto76]

5. you'd rather have ALL of them losing their paychecks?

if the house hadnt passed the 'pay our military act', this wouldnt be possible.

note that 'DOD personnel' are not generally recognized as 'military'. I think most would agree that military means in uniform. So this is a stretch at the least.

how about trying to thank the obama adminstration, for whom Sec Hagel works, for ending this for 400K people. or you can try and blame 'the pentagon'.

the people going back to work on monday dont care. maybe you shouldnt

[sulphurdunn]

11. What the hell are you talking about?

No uniformed military personnel have been furloughed. These are civilians, just like the others who are out of work. This is a classic divide and conquer tactic. They dangle the bait, and people like you rise to it every time.

As for who cares and who shouldn't, why not ask the 400K who won't be returning to work how they feel. Thank the Obama administration my ass. As for Hagel, I've got as much shrapnel in my ass from serving this country as he has, but he won't be out of work with a mortgage to pay and a family to look after on Monday.

If Obama had a pair he'd have shut down everything in the government but the nuclear deterrent, and the curtain would have fallen on this little Kabuki theater the moment it opened, the Republican Party would be on life support and we could begin to rebuild a representative government. None of that is about to happen. Rather, the Republican agenda will have taken another hill in its assault on representative government. For Christ sake Wake up.

[PatrynXX]

38. speaking of Ritalin

I don't much appreciate being bullied on other posts with a jury response about not taking my meds. sounded like a republican response. sorry for the OT. I just found one single jury response to be extremely offensive and it's hard to offend me. please take the bigotry of people on meds out of the Jury pool.

as such I'm removing this post because I can't talk out both sides of my backside

[Voice for Peace]

14. it sounds like the president decided in advance that the military would need to be funded.

am I misreading?

[seabeckind]

19. Yes, you're misreading

Paying the civilian workforce in the DoD is a very small part of "funding the military".

Much of the logistical support is already in the pipeline and has been obligated. This argument is for next year...not this past year. IOW, replacement stuff has already been bought.

Of course, bought on credit. The bill is coming due and we'll get to argue whether it gets paid in a little bit.

This whole business is a scam. This funding is for ongoing support. The contractors are upset that some contracts that are in the pipeline might be killed. They are also upset that there won't be a gov't lacky around to open the doors and turn on the lights for them.

The big problem I have with this whole business is that pentagon spending is a big factor in our budget. A BIG factor. We have how many foreign bases that are direct welfare support to defense contractors? And to do some argument that they are needed ... WW2 ended long ago. The cold war ended after that. The dominos fell a while back.

But heaven forbid we should really address that problem.

Better to cut Meals on Wheels. That's the big chunk of our budget.

[sulphurdunn]

23. That depends

on who's the dog and who's the tail, and which is wagging which.

[TomClash]

2. In other words

Go fuck yourselves, TeaParty assholes.

[leveymg]

3. In other words, the TP assholes got EXACTLY what they wanted.

They have absolutely zero reason to make any deals until 10/17, and then Obama will give them at least 50% of what they want in the way cuts to Social Security because its what they want, too.

[pasto76]

6. bet you a dollar you are wrong

we'll revisit this on 18OCT

[TomClash]

7. Nope

Not even close. If he doesn't blink, they will cave. They have to.

Of course, the only group I am sure will win here are traders. This is like manna from heaven for them.

[leveymg]

10. How does the GOP have to cave? All they have to do is vote on a CR

to avoid federal default, something the financial sector and most corporations would not permit.

So, what are the Republicans really giving up? Most of the GOP is not opposed to a personal mandate (which is Romneycare, after all) - they're just making noise about Obamacare to keep their base happy. Obama has already indicated he's happy to give them cuts to Social Security and Medicare and some other (unstated) social programs as part of a Grand Bargain.

How are the Republicans going to cave if they sign a CR? You tell me - what are they really going to give up?

[TomClash]

36. They are not giving up anything

And I never said they were. But if they actually shut the government down for nothing, then they lose.

If they don't raise the debt ceiling, we are "printing money."

[Rebellious Republican]

9. Bookmarked, so I can say you are wrong!

Here is my thoughts on POTUS and our Dem Reps.

They will not back down....

If this video starts half way through, just back it up to the beginning....

[seabeckind]

16. Yep...they'll be telling us they're standing strong

while they quietly hand over the keys in the back room.

[Rebellious Republican]

29. You and sulphurdunn should PM each other and have a love fest, and pray that Obama fails.

After all thats what this is all about isn't it.

[seabeckind]

32. Pray?

Haven't prayed in a long time. I found it never seemed to do much good.

Perhaps if Obama fails it'll be because he didn't pay attention to the people who pointed out when he was heading in the wrong direction. In these trying times I think he should take counsel from whichever source he can and then act accordingly. Especially if that source is a friend who is telling him he's going wrong.

Someone who blindly follows behind him will never see the danger that might be in front of him.

And never be a help.

[Rebellious Republican]

33. I will look forward to your future posts, very informative.

[sulphurdunn]

26. What message was I supposed

to get from the video?

[Rebellious Republican]

28. Its all out war, fuck the tea party, by the way there is no such thing, check your ballot next time.

Fuck them, stand tall Dems, do not back down. Lets see how I can make this any clearer. Fuck them. Got the message now?

[sulphurdunn]

30. They already have backed down.

They backed down before the fight even began. This isn't all out war. This is political theater, and there has been plenty of rehearsal. It's little more than a goddamn recruiting video, not unlike the one you posted. Got the message now?

[Rebellious Republican]

31. Damn good theater, however it pales in comparison to 21 hours of Cruz on the floor.

Talk about a recruiting video, for teahadists.

[sulphurdunn]

34. Yea, When it comes to sheer

demagoguery, snake oil peddling, carnival barking, Jesus loves money televangelism and flag pin patriotism, Cruse is right up there with the best con artists to ever sucker a rube.

[Rebellious Republican]

35. Agreed!

Glad we could find middle ground.

[PatrynXX]

17. well the TP assholes got what they wanted

a longer shutdown. problem now is Obama now gets some of that blame from me.

Think I'd suggest certain people here to watch Going Postal (terry Pratchett) False hope. Obama is supposed to be about Real hope not False Hope and putting 1/2 the 400,000 is false hope. Meanwhile the parks stay closed Either way. go state parks!! except some are funded with national funds so just because it says it's a state park some of the land is on federal land. and the family is split right down the middle fighting over who's at fault for the Park closures

[stuffmatters]

8. More likely it's what the Tea Party wants

They're pretty insanely pro defense funding, it's number one on their cherry picking list.

As far as defense contractors etc, these are major campaign contributors to TP and other Repubs.. Even Cantors tight, rich Va district was getting squirrely,and it's full of these defense welfare millionaires.

There are no longer earmarks for the President to dangle in front of uncooperative Reps. He could step it up and use the power of withdrawing military bases and paying military contractors last in these gerrymandering, safely defiant districts. There's a funny story I remember about LBJ threatening to take away a Legislator's military base to get the civil rights bill passed.

Instead Obama immediately passes a bill on the shutdown relinquishing one of his few powers to resolve it.

[sulphurdunn]

27. Only Obama could

be dealt a royal flush on the deal and discard his ace on the draw.

[go west young man]

37. Nailed it.

[Pterodactyl]

4. Good! Excellent move by SecDef Hagel.

[leveymg]

12. Recced for visibility and to kick this

Important this gets out and the significance is understood. The light just got turned on the Kibuki Theater screen.

[seabeckind]

15. This is a crock

What happened to the piecemeal promise?

Went the same way as the give on the budget at Ryan's numbers, I suppose.

I notice this happened right after the defense contractors started whining.

Now where did I leave my pompom? Never mind...there'll be a whole bunch popping up as soon as the chess game gets further along.

[n2doc]

18. Maybe they can all celebrate by buying some uninspected seafood

http://qz.com/132033/almost-all-of-the-shrimp-americans-eat-is-now-going-uninspected/

Yea guns! We should put all agencies under the Pentagon. Then at least we would have a working EPA, NOAA, FDA, etc.

[KewlKat]

20. This has to do with the bill that was passed just hours before the shutdown.

At the time I read it, I felt that many would be able to continue to work as it said –

THE ARMED FORCES.
5 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are hereby appropriated for
6 fiscal year 2014, out of any money in the Treasury not
7 otherwise appropriated, for any period during which
interim or full-year appropriations for fiscal year 2014 are
9 not in effect—

10 (1) such sums as are necessary to provide pay
11 and allowances to members of the Armed Forces (as
12 defined in section 101(a)(4) of title 10, United
13 States Code), including reserve components thereof,
14 who perform active service during such period;

15 (2) such sums as are necessary to provide pay
16 and allowances to the civilian personnel of the
Department of Defense (and the Department of
Homeland Security in the case of the Coast Guard) whom
19 the Secretary concerned determines are providing
20 support to members of the Armed Forces described
21 in paragraph (1); and

22 (3) such sums as are necessary to provide pay
23 and allowances to contractors of the Department of
24 Defense (and the Department of Homeland Security
25 in the case of the Coast Guard) whom the Secretary
26 concerned determines are providing support to members
1 of the Armed Forces described in paragraph (1)

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113hr3210eh/pdf/BILLS-113hr3210eh.pdf

This should also apply to the contractors. After the shutdown occurred I didnt hear anyone implementing this bill here locally, so I thought maybe I misinterpreted the bill. Evidently Hagel’s legal council has determined that he can recall most of his DoD civilians. This “bill”was meant to keep our active duty soldiers in a pay status and if those that drafted and voted on the bill didn’t understand what they were signing then too bad!!! I’m one waiting to return to work so I’m happy some will be getting paid very soon.

[bahrbearian]

21. "All's I want is my military , my war memorials, and my paycheck, Thats all I want"

[Ash_F]

22. Yep, seems like there is money for everything Republicans want.

Even in a shutdown.

Not enough for food for the elderly and kids though.

[seabeckind]

24. As I thought about this move by Obama

I have come to realize that if we are to have true change, we cannot rely upon him. He will not do it. He has avoided confrontations from his very first appointment to the cabinets and continued thru all of these crises. We still have the stagnant economy...that big sucking sound is still going strong and due to get stronger.

Long ago during the labor movement in this country we had solidarity. We stood together. If the deal wasn't good enough for all the workers, it wasn't good enough for any. Scabs weren't tolerated.

I believe it is time we, the people, insisted on the change. The ones we were promised long ago will never happen unless we make them happen.

It is time for solidarity. Gov't civilians can do nothing about the corrupt payments to the MIC but they can refuse to accept a piecemeal approach to this constitutional crisis. They can refuse to passively accept it and watch even more benefits disappear. And yes, having security is definitely a benefit.

Seems to me a sickin might be in order.

Not enough money to pay both my brother and me? Then not enough for either.

[seabeckind]

25. Addendum...

"Ordered Back"?

F' you.