Carter Calls for Floor Vote on Troops Pay Bill
Republican Secretary Urges GOP Leadership to take soldiers’ pay off the table in ongoing budget battle

House Republican Conference Secretary John Carter today urged all other members of the House Republican leadership team to schedule a floor vote early next week on a bill to continue pay for all military service members in the event of a government shutdown over the budget-cutting impasse.

The Ensuring Pay for our Military Act of 2011 by Congressmen Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Jack Kingston (R-GA) would continue pay for members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard in the event the rest of the federal government is forced to shutdown next Friday, April 8 if a deficit-cutting agreement has not been reached with Senate Democrats.

“Our soldiers’ pay should not be held hostage any longer by Senator Reid and President Obama, and the vote of House Members for a bad budget should no longer be extorted by them under this threat,” says Carter, who is Co-Chairman of the bipartisan House Army Caucus, and represents Fort Hood, the world’s largest military base.

Carter says the new Congress was elected with a mandate for decisive action to restore the nation’s solvency, and Members will be steeled in their resolve to combat deficit spending if they know their stand will not leave America’s military families without pay in a time of war.