Trump gave a speech to the troops in Iraq where he talked about the pay raises they just got from Congress.
Here’s what he had to say (it’s cued up to 18:47):
Here’s a transcript that I just put together:
You just got one of the biggest pay raises you’ve ever received… Nobody deserves it more. You haven’t gotten one in more than ten years. More than ten years. And we got you a big one. I got you a big one. We had plenty of people that came up – they said you know we can make it smaller. We can make it 3%. We can make it 2%. We can make it 4%. And I said no. Make it ten percent. Make it more than ten percent. Because it’s been a long time. It’s been more than 10 years – been more than 10 years. That’s a long time.
I’ve been looking into this for over an hour and I honestly can’t find anything that suggests that our troops received a 10% or more pay increase. Nothing even close.
What I did find was a bill that Trump signed into law a few months ago that gave troops a 2.6% pay raise.
And according to this same article at Military.com, it did proclaim that this is largest pay raise for troops in nearly 10 years. It doesn’t say it’s the only pay raise in 10 years, just the largest in nearly 10 years.
A more generous explanation is that maybe Trump really did want a 10% increase going to the troops that he couldn’t get Congress to agree to, and maybe that’s what he’s referring to in this clip. But that’s clearly not what he signed into law a few months ago.
As far as the 10 years…well Trump has been known to exaggerate when behind the mic. All the data I can find is that there were pay increases for the troops in the last 10 years. However, I’ve been told by a military veteran that there is an automatic pay raise every year and then there are congressionally appropriated pay raises. Has there been a congressionally appropriated pay raise in 10 years? I’m not sure, but based on this from the article linked above it doesn’t sound like it:
Trump’s approval Friday marks the first time in about 10 years that the Defense Department won’t operate under a temporary funding measure, otherwise known as a continuing resolution, for the start of its fiscal year.
The bottom line is this. Trump loves to speak in vague tones when at these rallies, making people think he’s referring to one thing when he’s referring to something else. What I can say with a solid level of certainty is that there were no 10% pay increases given to the troops this year and this isn’t the first pay increase they’ve gotten in 10 years.
Perhaps the White House will respond to all of the negative attention Trump is getting on this and clarify his remarks.