Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld alleged the Obama administration is "clearly picking and choosing" what to fund during the government shutdown Tuesday on Fox News.
Rumsfeld slammed the administration for delaying death benefits the families of fallen soldiers, telling Greta Van Susteren he could not "imagine a decision making process that would produce those outcomes."
The former defense secretary suggested federal bureaucrats are cutting certain expenditures that "fit their political philosophy" to use as a wedge against the GOP in Congress:
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: And right now, there is new information tonight about those families who are not receiving death benefits from the government. A private organization now stepping in offering to pay for them to get to Dover Air Force base to meet their loved ones' remains. But what a slap in the face to our troops and their families that it has had to come to this. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld joins us. Isn't that ugly?
DONALD RUMSFELD: It is. It's inexcusable. I just can't imagine a decision making process that would produce those outcomes. It's so unfair to the families, to the veterans, to the soldiers.
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VAN SUSTEREN: Yeah, an outpouring of money because people do give a damn about this. But the other thing, too, is that the $100,000 death gratuity, I hate that word, that they pay the families that's being delayed, too.
RUMSFELD: I'm not surprised. They're clearly picking and choosing what they want to do. And making decisions that are I suppose fit their political philosophy.