New Dem. Whip Hoyer Says Pay Freeze Should Include Military

Former House Majority Leader, and newly-elected minority whip, Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said today that President Obama's just-announced pay freeze for 2 million civilian government employees should also be extended to military personnel.

“While I appreciate that the president reduced the length of his proposed pay freeze from three to two years,” Hoyer said in a statement according to The Hill, “it would have produced significantly more savings had that sacrifice been shared between federal civilian and military personnel -- with a strong exception for the members of our military and civilian employees risking their lives on our behalf in Afghanistan, Iraq, and anywhere else they are serving in harm's way.”

According to Hoyer in the statement, including the military would have increased savings and added “an element of fairness."