[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H10892-H10894]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          ARMY RESERVE-NATIONAL GUARD EQUITY REIMBURSEMENT ACT

  Mr. BATEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2796) to authorize the reimbursement of members of the Army 
deployed to Europe in support of operations in Bosnia for certain out-
of-pocket expenses incurred by the members during the period beginning 
October 1, 1996, and ending on May 31, 1997, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 2796

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Army Reserve-National Guard 
     Equity Reimbursement Act''.

     SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMY DEPLOYED IN 
                   EUROPE IN SUPPORT OF BOSNIA OPERATIONS FOR OUT-
                   OF-POCKET EXPENSES INCURRED TO TRANSPORT 
                   PERSONAL PROPERTY.

       (a) Reimbursement Authorized.--The Secretary of the Army 
     may reimburse an individual described in subsection (b) for 
     expenses incurred by that individual while a member of the 
     Army for shipment of personal property of the individual to 
     or from Europe during the period beginning on October 1, 
     1996, and ending on May 31, 1997, if the shipment of the 
     personal property, if made on June 1, 1997, would have been 
     covered by a temporary change of station weight allowance for 
     shipment of personal property authorized by the Department of 
     the Army. Such reimbursement shall be made from amounts 
     available as of the date of the enactment of this section for 
     the payment of the temporary change of station weight 
     allowance.
       (b) Covered Individuals.--An individual referred to in 
     subsection (a) is an individual who, as a member of the Army 
     during the period beginning on October 1, 1996, and ending on 
     May 31, 1997, was deployed from the United States to Europe 
     in support of operations in Bosnia or reassigned from Europe 
     to United States upon the completion of such deployment, or 
     both, under travel orders that did not authorize a temporary 
     change of station weight allowance for shipment of personal 
     property of the member.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore [Mr. Snowbarger]. Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Bateman] and the gentleman from California 
[Mr. Dellums] each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Bateman].

[[Page H10893]]

  Mr. BATEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2796 would not direct, but would indeed authorize 
reimbursement for certain out-of-pocket expenses incurred by certain 
members of the United States Army who were deployed to Europe in 
support of the Bosnian operations in late 1996.
  The bill has been amended from the introduced version to more clearly 
specify who in the Army is eligible for such reimbursement if the 
Secretary of the Army elects to exercise its authority.
  The Army supports this initiative, and I am not aware of any 
controversy at this time associated with the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today, H.R. 2796, is an example of 
what I and more than 50 of our colleagues consider good governmental 
legislation. This bill will correct a gross inequity that impacts upon 
approximately 4,200 of our Army Reserve and National Guard personnel 
who are deployed in Europe in support of our operations in Bosnia.
  It will provide the necessary statutory authority for the Army to 
reimburse those soldiers, who had to take money out of their pockets to 
pay for shipment of personnel items, which the Army has paid for in the 
past and has started to pay for again.
  I am especially pleased that this legislation has been developed at 
the request of the Department, in that it demonstrates their sincere 
concern for the welfare of the junior grade enlisted personnel who are 
the intended beneficiaries of this legislation.
  Further, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be the cosponsor of this bill, 
and I would like at this time to extend my congratulations to my 
distinguished colleague, the gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. 
Clayton], for persisting in this effort. I underscore for emphasis 
``persisting in this effort.''
  Mr. Speaker, the distinguished gentlewoman brought this matter to my 
attention several weeks ago. We were not able to address this matter in 
the normal course of events in the context of the conference report 
that was the vehicle for our fiscal year 1998 defense authorization 
bill, but were able to do it in this context.
  Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman, as I said, brought this matter to my 
attention and worked with great diligence to bring us to this moment. I 
again congratulate the gentlewoman and loudly applaud her for her 
efforts on behalf of the 4,200 men and women of our Army Reserves and 
National Guard.
  Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the 
distinguished gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton]
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I also want to commend both sides of the 
House, both the majority and the minority on this issue, for allowing 
this to come up. I want to pay particular attention to the care and 
attention and the direction that the gentleman from California [Mr. 
Dellums] gave to this issue, and thank the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. 
Bateman] for leading this effort on his side. We would not be here 
unless there was cooperation on both sides. I want to acknowledge that.
  This issue came to me because 125 National Guardsmen in eastern North 
Carolina had experience going at the direction of their country, 
serving their country they thought well, but also having to pay for 
that engagement. What it meant was they had to pay for the shipment of 
their personal goods back to the United States.
  Here before, military personnel would be reimbursed for the shipment 
of their personal goods. Why? Because there had been an administrative 
change or policy change within the administration of the Pentagon.
  When we brought that to them, they said unless we actually sought 
legislative remedy, they could not make this correction, which we 
thought was an issue of fairness for the 125 military personnel in 
eastern North Carolina. We did it for the whole. So this particular 
legislation now is going to enable more than 4,200 individuals to be 
reimbursed, as they should be, for the transfer of their personal goods 
back home.
  I think it is an issue of fairness; I think it is an issue of 
respect, the respect we have traditionally given our military, that if 
they incur expenses, certainly we ought to reimburse them.
  Also I think it is an issue of respect for our junior personnel, 
because oftentimes we forget they, too, have expenses that they seem to 
think are big. $400 or $500 may not be big to us, but for junior 
personnel it is indeed an expense item that they would like to have 
reimbursed.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank everyone involved in this, all of 
the members of this committee, because 125 people in eastern North 
Carolina will be delighted to know now they can be reimbursed. I 
suspect the 4,200 personnel across the country are appreciative for 
this Congress correcting what was an injustice to them.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time, and thank 
the gentleman from California [Mr. Dellums] for his leadership.
  Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
distinguished gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Skelton].
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for 
yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, let me take this opportunity to congratulate the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina for a matter of paying attention to 
people she represents and trying to heal their financial reverses as a 
result of serving our Nation as Members of the National Guard. She not 
only helps them, but helps National Guardsmen all over the country. We 
thank the gentlewoman, from Missouri National Guardsmen, and, I know as 
well, from other Members across our country.
  I have had, Mr. Speaker, the opportunity to visit with American 
National Guardsmen in Europe, in Germany, in Bosnia and in Hungary. 
They serve well, and they serve ably. In the process they are giving up 
a great deal. They are away from their homes, they are away from their 
work, they are away from their family, and they are serving as 
honorably as anyone in uniform.
  For us not to pass this piece of legislation that makes them whole 
financially and on reimbursement for items they necessarily had to 
purchase in Europe would be a mistake. So I wholeheartedly support the 
effort of the gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton], and the 
gentleman from California, as well as the gentleman from Virginia.
  Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. McHale].
  Mr. McHALE. Mr. Speaker, I, too, thank the gentleman from California 
for yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to point out this is really an extremely 
important effort on behalf of our Army and National Guard participating 
soldiers. The gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] has 
stepped forward today with a piece of legislation that will be very 
important to 4,206 Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers who, 
unfortunately, because of an administrative error, were not given the 
proper reimbursement on the shipment of personal goods.
  This really goes beyond the shipment of personal items. The 
Representative from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] recognizes when these 
troops deploy to and from an overseas mission, they deserve to get a 
level of equity which, unfortunately, was not provided in this case.
  There are no second-class soldiers in the United States Army. This 
corrects that inequity. It is, in fact, the Army Reserve-National Guard 
Equity Reimbursement Act, and I strongly urge my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle to support the legislation.
  Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
distinguished gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Taylor].
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I would like to join the long 
list of people commending the gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. 
Clayton] for bringing this to our attention.
  Over 4,200 reservists will be affected in their pocketbooks by this. 
They do not make much money. Most of them volunteered to go to Bosnia. 
Some of them were involuntarily called up. All of them took a pay cut, 
in all probability, to serve their country. So it is very important 
that, where we can and

[[Page H10894]]

when we can, we see to it that they incur no unnecessary expense in 
doing so.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the gentlewoman from North Carolina 
[Mrs. Clayton] for bringing this to our attention. I want to commend 
the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Buyer] and the gentleman from Virginia 
[Mr. Bateman] for allowing this to come to the floor today. We are 
definitely doing the best thing for those people in uniform.
  Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I would simply like to conclude by indicating that I 
would have liked very much for this matter to have been dealt with in 
the context of the conference report that accompanied the defense 
authorization for fiscal year 1998. In that regard, this would, in a 
few short days perhaps, have been signed into law. But I am pleased we 
are at least taking this step.
  My hope is by the House of Representatives taking this step, we will 
have sent the appropriate signal to the other body to act with dispatch 
on this matter that cries out for equity and cries out for action.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BATEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Buyer].
  Mr. BUYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Subcommittee on 
Military Readiness for yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the legislation to correct 
these errors with regard to our troops. This is really basically, my 
colleagues, support-the-troops legislation.
  This legislation corrects a problem created earlier this year when, 
due to an administrative change in Army policy, reservists deployed to 
Bosnia were forced to pay out of their own pocket to ship their 
personal goods home at the completion of their tour. Most of the 
reservists called for the second rotation to Bosnia were affected by 
this change.
  This matter came to the attention of the authorizing Committee on 
National Security really too late to deal with this issue effectively 
in the defense bill this year.
  I compliment the gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] for 
bringing this to everyone's attention. I am disappointed that the 
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve affairs, Ms. 
Sara Lister, would not have brought this immediately to the Committee 
on National Security's attention. I know she brought this in response 
to your inquiry, but I wish she had brought it right to the authorizing 
committee. Perhaps, if she is listening, she is going to get that 
warning order.
  I urge my colleagues to support the legislation. The troops can be 
reimbursed in a timely fashion for their selfless service to their 
country. I agree with the ranking member that hopefully the Senate will 
take this up immediately.
  Mr. BATEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let me add in conclusion my thanks and compliments to 
the gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] for having 
determined that there was this problem and having brought it to our 
attention in order that we could address the problem, one which 
definitely needed to be addressed and which I am happy to have 
cooperated in having the House hopefully pass in the next minute.
  I hope also the Senate will take action on this and the President 
will sign it in order that we can have the authority for these troops 
to be paid that which they deserve.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Bateman] that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 2796, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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