[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6334]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 KOSOVO

  (Mr. WALZ of Minnesota asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to express my deep 
concern over the recent Department of Defense proposal to remove combat 
status from American soldiers serving in Kosovo. This summer, roughly 
400 Minnesota National Guard soldiers who serve in my district will 
once again answer the call to duty in Kosovo. Almost every one of these 
400 soldiers from my district will be going for the second or third 
time since September 11. In addition to the financial hardship these 
soldiers and their families will endure, the Department of Defense is 
asking them to suffer further by reclassifying this mission. 
Reclassification will cost American soldiers more than just the $225 a 
month in hazardous duty pay, the payroll tax exemption and the flights 
home to see their families. We will all pay for this with the loss of 
morale.
  Kosovo suffers from ethnic unrest. The country has unexploded 
ordnance and American soldiers work to defuse these daily. Mr. Speaker, 
Kosovo is still a dangerous place. It's revealing that the State 
Department's assessment is different than the Department of Defense. 
Foreign service officers receive hazardous duty pay.
  Ensuring that this mission remains classified as a combat mission is 
more than about $225 a month to soldiers. It's about doing right for 
those who risk their lives in defense of this Nation.

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