“Thousands of our men and women in uniform earn so little that they must rely on food stamps and hand-outs to survive,” Jones said. “A reduction in housing allowances would serve another devastating blow to many of our underpaid service personnel and their families. While I am pleased the Pentagon reversed its decision, I hope that in the future it will be more careful about examining the impact of its proposals.  Our men and women in uniform makes sacrifices every day for our nation and we must ensure that even well-intended policies do not inadvertently create additional burdens.”

 In a letter dated February 18, Congressman Jones and Senator Jesse Helms urged Secretary Cohen to reverse a Pentagon proposal that could have reduced military housing allowances by as much as 20 percent, impacting area installations.  Despite recent increases in basic pay, many service members and their dependents assigned to Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune would have faced a decrease in total pay under the policy.
 
“This sends the wrong message to those considering a career in our armed forces, particularly at a time when all but one of the services has reported a failure to recruit and retrain enough qualified individuals to meet its authorized strength,” Congressman Jones and Senator Helms wrote.

“We applaud your statement that you intend to provide enough money by 2005 to pay all the housing costs of service members.  Unfortunately, the affected soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, face immediate hardship.  A good first step towards your announced goal would be to correct this flawed policy and to ensure that no military family will receive a lower housing allowance this year than they were paid in 1999,” they wrote. 

Congressman Jones represents North Carolina’s Third Congressional District – which includes Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and the Elizabeth City Coast Guard Station – in the U.S. House of Representatives.