President Obama on Wednesday confirmed plans to cap the military pay raise at 1.6 percent next year, a move which lawmakers and military advocates have already warned will hurt military families’ personal finances. In a letter to Congress, Obama invoked his executive powers to set the pay level at 0.5 percent below the expected increase in private sector wages, which would mark the fourth year in a row troops’ pay hikes failed to keep pace with their civilian peers. The president called the move unfortunate but necessary.
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/obama-military-pay-16-percent-raise
