[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 147 (Tuesday, November 8, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2297]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING THE EMPLOYERS OF OUR GUARD AND RESERVE BUT MORE NEEDS TO BE 
                                  DONE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 8, 2005

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support this important 
resolution. When it comes to taking care of our citizen-soldiers, many 
employers have gone well beyond what the law requires. They make up any 
loss of income that an employee encounters when going on active duty, 
or they keep the soldier's family on the company health insurance, or 
they find other ways to ease an employee's separation from loved ones 
during activation. This bill is an excellent opportunity for Congress 
to thank these conscientious employers.
  In particular, I would like to extend special gratitude to those 
employers who have taken it upon themselves to eliminate any pay gap 
that their employees encounter because their military salary is less 
than their civilian salary.
  Thanks to the diligent efforts of the Employees Support for Guard and 
Reserve, nearly \1/3\ of our activated citizen-soldiers have employers 
who eliminate that pay gap. Companies making such payments include IBM, 
Sears, General Motors, Home Depot, United Parcel Service and Ford Motor 
Company.
  In addition, the governments of at least 30 states, including my home 
state of California, offer this differential pay for state employees 
who go on active duty.
  Unfortunately, the Pentagon has prevented the Federal Government from 
following these conscientious employers and making up any pay gap 
encountered by Federal employees who have been activated in the Guard 
and Reserve.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit for the Record a wonderful 
article by Bob Barr that ran in the Washington Post highlighting the 
efforts of Senator Durbin and other Members of Congress on this issue.
  While I strongly support this resolution I also believe that what is 
good for the goose should be good for the gander, and that the time has 
come for the Federal Government, the largest single employer of the 
citizens who make up the Guard and Reserve--must match the example set 
by employers throughout this country and support our own citizen-
soldier employees.

          Private Sector Surpasses Agencies on Pay to Deployed

                           (By Stephen Barr)

       Wachovia Corp., the banking giant, Eaton Corp., an 
     industrial manufacturer, and Enterprise Rent-a-Car keep their 
     employees on full salary and benefits, regardless of military 
     compensation, when they are called to active duty in the 
     reserves and National Guard.
       Other organizations also help out their reserve and Guard 
     employees beyond the letter of the law. Citizens Financial 
     Group Inc., the Los Angeles Police Department, Sears, Roebuck 
     and Co., the state of Delaware and Toyota Motor Sales USA 
     Inc. provide financial support to their employees, including 
     a pay differential, for periods ranging from a year to the 
     duration of the deployment.
       The companies were among 15 recently honored by the 
     Pentagon with the 2005 Secretary of Defense Employer Support 
     Freedom Award, in recognition of their exceptional support of 
     their Guard and reserve employees. The 15 companies went 
     beyond the requirements of the 1994 Uniformed Services 
     Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, which seeks to 
     guarantee that workers have a comparable job waiting for them 
     when they return from their military service.
       The federal government, however, falls short of being a 
     model employer in its treatment of civil service employees 
     called to active duty. Although federal agencies comply with 
     the law, the government does not make up the difference in 
     pay when an employee is called to active military duty and 
     receives a smaller salary.
       David M. Walker, the head of the Government Accountability 
     Office, attended the Freedom Award banquet Oct. 15 and later 
     told a House committee that ``the U.S. government is not 
     leading by example or practicing what it preaches in 
     connection with employer support for the Guard and 
     reserves.''
       Walker, in his prepared statement, said the GAO and federal 
     agencies are constrained by law and ought to have some leeway 
     to ease salary shortfalls for Guard and reserve families.
       ``Federal agencies should be able to make up any salary 
     differential that activated Guard and reserve members might 
     otherwise lose out of our annual appropriation,'' Walker 
     said. ``We would also like to be able to be sure that 
     applicable employees and their family members continue to 
     receive their employer-provided benefits.''
       There are about 1.13 million people in the Guard and 
     reserves, and Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) and other members of 
     Congress have estimated that about 40 percent of those called 
     to active duty suffer a loss of income, putting mortgages and 
     other obligations in jeopardy, because their military pay is 
     less than they would have earned in their civilian jobs.
       About 126,850 reservists are employed by federal agencies, 
     and about 96,600 of them work for the Defense Department. 
     Sen. Richard J Durbin (D-IL) estimates that 17,000 federal 
     employees have been mobilized to serve in Iraq, Afghanistan 
     and other places.
       The Senate has approved an amendment sponsored by Durbin 
     that would require a federal employee's agency to pay the 
     difference between a worker's reservist pay and federal 
     civilian pay. More than 100 House members, organized by 
     Lantos, have written to the House Appropriations Committee 
     backing the Durbin amendment.
       The amendment has been stripped out of bills during past 
     House-Senate negotiations--what the senator calls ``the 
     darkness of a conference committee.''
       In general, Defense officials have opposed bills that would 
     close the ``pay gap'' for some mobilized reservists because 
     they believe it could cause morale problems. Officials have 
     contended that all parts of the armed forces--active, Guard 
     and reserves--should be compensated according to their 
     performance of military duties under the existing military 
     pay system.
       The officials point out that federal employees who are 
     mobilized may take a month of military leave each calendar 
     year with differential pay and that a special category of 
     federal employees, military technicians, can receive two 
     months at full civilian salary. Federal agencies also may 
     pick up health insurance costs for up to 24 months for their 
     mobilized reservists.
       Still, the House members said in their letter, ``what is 
     good for the goose should be good for the gander,'' 
     suggesting that the government, as the largest employer of 
     reservists, should be able to match the support offered by 
     companies to ease financial burdens on employees called to 
     serve.

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