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Services seek personnel money in war bill

The services are hoping for about $1.5 billion in the 2009 wartime supplemental funding bill to cover unbudgeted benefits increases and the costs of having more military personnel on the active-duty rolls.

The amount of extra money would be even higher if not for the fact that the services are having an easier time meeting recruiting and retention goals, allowing them to reduce the money needed to pay bonuses.

Congress appears willing to help, with the Army slated to get $1.2 billion in extra money, the Navy $210 million, the Air Force about $79 million and the Marine Corps about $44 million on top of the Obama administration request.

A Senate Appropriations Committee report on the pending war funding bill says increases in basic pay, retired pay, housing and subsistence allowances that were not fully funded by the 2009 Defense Appropriations Act, along with unexpected adjustments in clothing allowances and education benefits, are the main reasons the services find themselves short of personnel money.

The Army’s personnel chief, Lt. Gen. Michael Rochelle, called the Army’s shortages “pretty significant for us” when he discussed them May 21 before a House subcommittee.

But Rochelle and the other service chiefs said they believed the Obama administration’s 2010 defense budget plan will fully cover personnel costs.

Congress is working to finish the war supplemental bill, which includes about $85 billion in emergency funding, by early July.