[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 30, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H1688-H1690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REIMBURSING MEMBERS OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FOR CERTAIN
TRANSPORTATION EXPENSES
Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the
rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 2057) to require the Secretary of
Defense to reimburse members of the United States Armed Forces for
certain transportation expenses incurred by the members in connection
with leave under the Central Command Rest and Recuperation Leave
Program before the program was expanded to include domestic travel.
[[Page H1689]]
The Clerk read as follows:
S. 2057
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REIMBURSEMENT OF CERTAIN TRANSPORTATION COSTS
INCURRED BY MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED
FORCES ON REST AND RECUPERATION LEAVE.
The Secretary of Defense shall reimburse a member of the
United States Armed Forces for transportation expenses
incurred by such member for one round trip by such member
between two locations within the United States in connection
with leave taken under the Central Command Rest and
Recuperation Leave Program during the period beginning on
September 25, 2003, and ending on December 18, 2003.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
Hampshire (Mr. Bradley) and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bradley).
General Leave
Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent
that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and
extend their remarks on S. 2057.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Hampshire?
There was no objection.
Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he
may consume to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder).
Mr. SNYDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2057, which would
retroactively reimburse 38,000 service members for their travel
expenses incurred while on R&R, rest and recuperation leave. I would
like to recognize and commend the majority for bringing this bill to
the floor.
Last year, the United States Army issued a policy that will require
both Active and Reserve forces to spend one year boots on the ground
overseas. To improve morale and address the concerns expressed by
commanders and troops in the field, the Department of Defense
established a rest and recuperation program for those service members
with 12-months tours.
Initially, the program allowed service members to travel from Kuwait
to Germany and Baltimore, Maryland. Subsequently, they expanded that to
two other airports, one in Atlanta and one in Dallas; and from these
airports service members were then required to pay for their continued
travel home.
Subsequent to this, the Department of Defense also established a
similar program for our fine men and women on duty as part of Operation
Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. As part of this program, these service
members were required to pay for the continued flight to their final
destination, to their home.
Last year, Congress recognized the unfair burden this policy placed
on service members and sought to rectify it. However, in the course of
doing that, the new benefit did not really kick in with the regulations
until December 19, 2003. This was 3 months after the program started.
So we have approximately 38,000 troops who had to pay for their own
travel expenses from their points of arrival in the United States to
home. This amounts to about $13 million. If my math is correct, that is
an average of about $342 for each one of those service members.
This is a small price to pay to restore fairness amongst the troops
for this very important moral effort.
Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ramstad).
Mr. RAMSTAD. I thank my friend from New Hampshire for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, last year, the U.S. military began employing its first
rest and recuperation program, known as R&R, since the Vietnam War.
Soldiers who have served 12 straight months in a combat zone qualify
for R&R.
Sadly, however, we all remember the televised interviews of combat-
weary American soldiers back from Iraq on R&R and stranded at
Baltimore-Washington International Airport, unable to afford a plane
ticket home.
Sad but true, Mr. Speaker, too many of our brave and battle-fatigued
soldiers were unable to get to their hometowns to see their loved ones
because same-day airfare was too expensive for many of our troops to
afford.
That is why last fall I introduced an amendment with my friend, the
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore), to make money available to cover
troops' travel costs to their hometowns. With the support of the
gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), chairman of the Committee on
Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, our amendment was passed and
the Pentagon began paying our troops' airfare all the way home.
Unfortunately, though, Mr. Speaker, the Pentagon did not implement
this program retroactively, which means the first wave of troops who
came back from Iraq for R&R and who managed to scrape up the cash for
airfare home are still to this day stuck with the tab to see their
families.
So, today, Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 2057, which
will cover retroactively the domestic travel costs our brave troops
incurred while on R&R leave.
Mr. Speaker, the Ramstad-Moore amendment put the House on record that
the Federal Government should cover all travel and transportation costs
necessary to return our brave troops home. That is why passage of this
bill is so important. Now Congress must finish the job it began last
fall, to make sure none of our troops fall between the cracks and are
forced to pay their own transportation costs to get home.
Let us show today that we support our troops. Let us cover the costs
that enabled our troops to return home for R&R, briefly reuniting wives
and husbands, parents and children and other loved ones.
I urge all my colleagues to support this important bill.
I want to thank the gentleman from California (Chairman Hunter) of
the Committee on Armed Services and the gentleman from New Hampshire
(Chairman Bradley) for their support of this legislation, as well the
gentleman from California (Chairman Lewis) of the Committee on
Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, for their continued support of
covering troop travel costs, and also want to thank the majority leader
for allowing this legislation to come to the floor.
Mr. SNYDER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr.
Ramstad) for his fine words and support.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr.
Moore).
Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr.
Ramstad) for his remarks and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder)
as well.
Last September, I heard a National Public Radio story about troops
coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq. They were being deposited at
Baltimore and Atlanta, and from there forced to pay their own way home
or stay in Baltimore and Atlanta. I could not believe this. I checked
with my staff and found out it was in fact true.
I drafted a bill which, within 8 days, I think, got 155 Republican
and Democrat cosponsors. I teamed up with the gentleman from Minnesota
(Mr. Ramstad) who just spoke, and we put our bills together. He had a
similar vote which passed by voice vote.
Unfortunately, it only went back, according to the Department of
Defense, to December 19. Our intention was clearly that this be
retroactive back to the date when this program started, the rest and
recuperation, bringing our troops home to be reunited with their
families and loved ones for 2 weeks before they went back to
Afghanistan or Iraq to finish their tour of duty.
Now, I am very, very pleased that Senate S. 2057, the Senate
companion to H.R. 2731 that the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ramstad)
and I had, will complete the job; and if the House passes this today,
we will in fact ensure that the troops are entitled to be reimbursed
for their travel prior to December 19 and will in fact be reimbursed.
That is the right thing to do for our troops and country.
We talk so much in this body about how much we value our troops, and
it was simply, simply wrong that we would ask those folks coming home
from Iraq and Afghanistan to pay their own way back to their homes and
then back to the coastal port for deployment again to finish their tour
of duty.
There is a little bit of dispute about the number of troops. My
figures were 29,000, those of the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder)
were a bit more,
[[Page H1690]]
and there is a little bit of dispute about the cost of the
reimbursement for travel for these troops.
But I think the intention of Congress here is very, very clear, and
it is really, really nice when Republicans and Democrats can come
together and the people out there in the country can see that in fact
we are not just talking about supporting our troops, but we are putting
our money where our mouth is. It is exactly the right thing to do.
{time} 1415
Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity in late October and early November
to travel to Iraq to visit our troops and to assess the rebuilding of
that troubled nation. The first stop, Mr. Speaker, that we made was in
Kuwait in the desert at one of the camps, and we saw the actual R&R
facility where members of our military were being processed. We had the
chance to talk firsthand to people that were about to leave the theater
and go home and, boy, let me tell my colleagues, they were very
excited, Mr. Speaker, to be able to come home and visit loved ones. We
know this was during the time when they had to pay their own way; but,
nevertheless, they were pleased to be able to do it.
Then we traveled in and out of Baghdad with members coming on some of
the C-130 transport planes. Once again, the same thing, they were very
anxious to be able to come home for a couple of weeks and to be able to
reunite with their families.
So, Mr. Speaker, I salute our military for authorizing this.
Obviously, this legislation corrects an inequity, where those members
of our military who wanted to travel home prior to December 19 are now
going to be reimbursed for their expenses. Mr. Speaker, as indicated by
the previous speaker, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore), this was
done in a bipartisan fashion. I salute not only the gentleman from
California (Chairman Hunter), the gentleman from California (Chairman
Lewis), but certainly the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder), the
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore), and the gentleman from Connecticut
(Mr. Simmons) for their hard work on this very important piece of
legislation that will deal with all of our troops fairly and will
encourage this type of R&R in the future, which is so important to our
troops in so many far-flung areas of the world.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SNYDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Davis).
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman
from Arkansas for yielding me this time.
On Saturday of last week, I attended the funeral of Sergeant Phipps,
who had been killed in Iraq in the line of duty. And, of course, as one
could expect, it was a very solemn period, and there were thousands of
people from his community who came to pay their last respects.
It occurred to me as this bill was coming to the floor that
individuals should have the opportunity certainly to come home and
visit for rest, recuperation, and to see their families and friends
while they are alive and healthy.
So I simply came down to urge passage of this legislation and to
indicate my support for it and to suggest that all soldiers who give of
themselves should have the opportunity to experience interaction with
their family.
I thank the sponsors of this legislation, and I urge its strong
support.
Mr. SNYDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to
thank the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bradley) for his work on
behalf of this bill; along with the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr.
Ramstad), the gentleman from California (Chairman Hunter), and the
gentleman from Missouri (Ranking Member Skelton) also for their fine
work. I think this is a fine bill that will be much appreciated by our
men and women in uniform and their families.
Mr. MATHESON. Mr. Speaker, as a longtime supporter of the military, I
was dismayed to learn that U.S. troops were forced to pay their way
home from Baltimore-Washington International Airport, while on rest and
recuperation leave.
Late last year, Congress enacted legislation, which I supported,
requiring the Department of Defense to provide travel and
transportation allowances to military personnel serving in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom. As of December 19, 2003, the Department began
covering these costs. Unfortunately, a number of soldiers who were
issued leave beginning on September 25, 2003 were not eligible for
travel reimbursement. Today, the Congress has rectified this
discrepancy by ensuring that all of our soldiers will be reimbursed for
their travel while on leave.
I am well aware of the current demands faced by American soldiers and
the sacrifices made by family members and loved ones. American soldiers
have always excelled in their military duties and at a time when many
of our troops are deployed for a year or more, it is imperative that
Congress and the federal government adequately provide for them.
Mr. SNYDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I have no further
speakers, so I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Whitfield). The question is on the
motion offered by the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bradley) that
the House suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 2057.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas
and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
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