“[U.S. Afghanistan Commander] Gen. Dunford has expressed
strong concern, but we have not yet identified a legal way to make these
payments during a lapse of appropriations,” Hale said. “We’re trying our best.”
{mosads}Hale said the Pentagon is not allowed to make the CERP
payments because they are cash and represent an outlay.
“We have no authority to do that under the law until we get
beyond this lapse,” he said. “This is a unique authority that expired after the
appropriation bill lapsed.”
At Thursday’s House Armed Services hearing, Hale laid out how
the Pentagon is still feeling the shutdown.
Much of the hearing focused on the
fight over the Pentagon’s death benefits, which were not paid out when the
shutdown began until Wednesday.
There was also a dispute over whether the Pentagon could
have allowed all of its civilian workers to return under the military pay law that
was passed in the hours before the shutdown began last week.
Hale said that all but 7,000 Pentagon civilians are back on
the job this week, as more than 95 percent of the 350,000 workers who were
furloughed were recalled due to the “Pay Our Military Act,” which allowed
civilians who support service members to avoid furloughs.
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) said that Congress intended to
allow all civilians to return to work, but Hale said Pentagon lawyers interpreted
the measure as requiring Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to determine which
civilians provided direct support to service members.
In addition to the furloughs, Hale said reserve training has
been disrupted due to the shutdown, as most weekend drills have been halted.
Training
events have also been canceled, and new contracts for supplies like fuel cannot
be purchased unless they are in direct support of an “excepted activity,” like a
military operation or protecting safety or property, Hale said.