Fact check: Trump brags to troops about 10 percent pay raise he didn't actually give them
President Donald Trump told American troops in Iraq that he had given them a 10 percent raise, and that it was their first pay hike in a decade — but he didn't, and it wasn't.
"You just got one of the biggest pay raises you've ever received," Trump said in remarks at al-Asad Airbase during his surprise trip to Iraq on Wednesday, drawing cheers from the troops. "You haven’t gotten one in more than 10 years — more than 10 years. And we got you a big one. I got you a big one."
Troops will receive a 2.6 percent — not 10 percent — pay hike for 2019; they got a 2.4 percent pay hike in 2018.
What's more, American troops have received a pay hike every year for decades. 2019's raise is the largest in nine years.
Military pay raises are tied to increases in private-sector wages, as calculated by the Department of Labor. Congress can also enact raises that exceed that rate, as well.
Trump insisted that he personally had fought for this raise, because the troops put their lives on the line.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/fact-check-trump-brags-troops-about-10-percent-pay-raise-n952336?fbclid=IwAR2_L49hvq2sIPzc5kQwtIytiWX3euxlY3CFGH3OmtlCbrofU3rTJiMiALA
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