FIRST ON CNN: Panetta to recommend pay cut for military

By: CNN’s Barbara Starr

Just days before he leaves office, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is recommending military pay be limited, effectively decreasing troop salary next year.

Panetta will recommend to Congress that military salaries be limited to a one percent increase in 2014.  The Pentagon has calculated that the 2014 Employment Cost Index (ECI) from the Labor Department is expected to be above one percent, but wants to still cut back on pay due to “budget uncertainties,” one department official told CNN.  In 2013, a 1.7 percent increase was approved, based on the ECI, which has been the basis for military pay for the last several years.

Three Pentagon officials have confirmed details of the plan to CNN. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have also agreed to Panetta’s proposed pay plan. Final approval for the pay would come from Congress in the form of the 2014 budget.

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