Photo – Home of Heroes web site.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee issued a press release on May 14 complaining That Zeldin will not answer questions over how he would vote on the Paul Ryan budget or the extension of unemployment benefits.

Over a month after his House Republicans passed Paul Ryan’s reckless budget, Congressional Candidate Lee Zeldin is still too scared to admit how he would vote for the plan, even though he wants Long Islanders to send him to Congress. Even though every member of Congress had no choice but to vote yes or no weeks ago, what’s taking him so long to decide? There’s only one answer: Zeldin is either woefully uninformed, willfully ignorant or a coward.

The press release went on to state:

To help Zeldin find the courage to take a position on the Ryan Budget and other critical issues impacting Long Island, the DCCC is sending him the same Badge of Courage the Wizard of Oz gave to the Cowardly Lion.

Zeldin responded to the attack on FOX News stating, “You have some liberal Democrat hack who’s hiding behind his Twitter account, stuffing his face with Cheez Doodles, sending out press releases on D triple-C letterhead—shameful attacks—and the fact is Nancy Pelosi, Steve Israel, Tim Bishop, they’ve never served a day.

“And I think when I was sitting at the door on that Blackhawk and the Jump Master hits the back of your head and you do what’s so unnatural, jumping out with your parachute; here you are fast-forward to today, and you have, you know, these Democratic hacks out of Washington who want to change the subject and fling insults saying I’m a coward. It just doesn’t fit.”

According to a New York Times opinion by retired Lieutenant General Karl W. Eikenberry, since obligatory service has not been used since Vietnam, the percentage of the American population serving in the military has dropped to less than 0.5% since WWII.

Less than 0.5 percent of the population serves in the armed forces, compared with more than 12 percent during World War II. Even fewer of the privileged and powerful shoulder arms. In 1975, 70 percent of members of Congress had some military service; today, just 20 percent do, and only a handful of their children are in uniform.

Democrats have, in the past, complained that the military is the only job opportunity for the poor segment of society putting the burden of protecting the country on them. Their main focus to change that is to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

In testimony before the Senate, Congressional Budget Officer Douglas W. Elmendorf stated:

Increasing the minimum wage would have two principal effects on low-wage workers. Most of them would receive higher pay that would increase their family’s income, and some of those families would see their income rise above the federal poverty threshold. But some jobs for low-wage workers would probably be eliminated, the income of most workers who became jobless would fall substantially, and the share of low-wage workers who were employed would probably fall slightly.

It is unclear how many workers would be raised into a higher tax-bracket eliminating any benefit from an increase in the minimum wage.

Lee Zeldin is a New York State Senator who was a member of the 82nd Airborne paratroopers. He also served for a time with the Military Intelligence Corps at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Zeldin seeks the Congressional seat for the district in New York covering Long Island which could unseat six-term Congressman Tim Bishop.