When Barely Speaker Kevin McCarthy previewed the House Republicans’ debt ceiling and budget cuts proposal at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, he insisted that “we make sure that our veterans and our service members are taken care of.” The bill he introduced Wednesday that ties lifting the debt limit to draconian budget cuts absolutely, positively hurts veterans and service members and their families. This when both groups are already struggling to put food on the table and to get the health care and services they need.
There are many complex reasons why the military community is more vulnerable to food insecurity than the general population. The pay isn’t awful for a single person, but for many active duty families, the only paycheck is from the service member. The Department of Defense itself has set a floor for military pay at 130% of federal poverty guidelines, or about $29,940 a year for a three-person family, but that’s often all they have to live on. The frequent moves families have to make mean that military spouses have a hard time finding work, much less establishing careers.
Reentry into civilian life is hard for veterans, who are more likely than the general population to experience mental illness, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, or to have other disabilities as a result of their service. This all makes them likelier to be unhoused and have low-wage jobs, and less likely to receive regular, adequate health care than the civilian population.
