Troops promised educational benefits still left in the lurch…
Barack Obama “quietly” has released a half a billion taxpayer dollars to the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) during his recent visit to the P.A. controlled West Bank, as reported by the Al-Arabiya news network.
Giving the new Secretary of State John Kerry the credit for being the motivating factor, Al-Arabiya published that due to his insistence, “frozen funds have been quietly unblocked.”
According to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, t
he Obama Administration notified Congress late February that it was seeking a further $200 million to fund U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) programs for the Palestinians.
Nuland also stated, ”
To date, we have moved $295.7 million in fiscal year 2012 money… and $200 million in fiscal year 2013 assistance.”
Israel To Blame…
The Dubai-based news service reports that the Palestinian Authority has been asking that the world community “step up financial aid” and to place pressure on Israel, warning of a “political collapse” and the Palestinians face “its worst economic crisis in years” due to the Jewish State cutting of Israeli tax money to the P.A.
The Palestinian Authority was recently upgraded to observer status by the United Nations, which prompted Israel to “suspending monthly transfers of the tax and tariff revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in the wake of the decision.”
Sequestration, Give-Aways, Our Troops…
In the meantime, those who keep us free have found that the promised funds in the form of annual tuition assistance money has been cut and will not be re-instated anytime in the foreseeable future. According to Fox News, the amount of money spent by the Marine Corps last year for tuition assistance for the troops was $47 million, whereas the Army dropped $373 million.
The Military Times cites the Navy spent $85 million to educate sailors off-duty.
Military.com reports that the Air Force has also suspended the $128 million for tuition assistance for their troops.
The Coast Guard Mutual Assistance website cites that the Coasties had $10 million slated for tuition assistance.
The total to enlistment promise to assist in educating our troops off duty is $643 million.
That would be $57,000 cheaper than the $500 million promised to the P.A. coupled with the $200 million also granted to the Kingdom of Jordan.
