1. United States
2. Okla.
3. Letter

Today the White House issued a memo stating they will not guarantee furloughed federal employees back pay. With military veterans and reservists/guardsmen constituting over 30% of the federal workforce, I want to ask why the Republican Party’s actions continue to reflect a distain for those of us who have bravely served this country in our armed forces? It’s wonderful that your party says nice things about veterans. That’s beautiful. But continuing to stake out odd and clearly illegal positions against the welfare of our military veterans is disgusting and you need to answer to these continued positions. OPM even issued an FAQ 2 weeks ago guaranteeing back pay to our great national workforce, but yet leadership within the Republican Party continues to go out of its way to contort reality to stake out positions which are harmful to veteran households. You need to extend healthcare subsidies, and reopen the government. In the future if your party doesn’t want to work with the Democratic Party, you need to win a supermajority at the ballot box. Do the right things immediately and issue a statement enumerating your position on harming veteran households by withholding backpay from furloughed workers.