[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5] [House] [Pages 6784-6787] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROGRAM GUIDANCE MODIFICATION RELATING TO POST- DEPLOYMENT/MOBILIZATION RESPITE ABSENCE ADMINISTRATIVE ABSENCE DAYS Mr. KLINE. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4045) to modify the Department of Defense Program Guidance relating to the award of Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence administrative absence days to members of the reserve components to exempt any member whose qualified mobilization commenced before October 1, 2011, and continued on or after that date, from the changes to the program guidance that took effect on that date, as amended. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 4045 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. TREATMENT OF PROGRAM GUIDANCE RELATING TO THE AWARD OF POST-DEPLOYMENT/MOBILIZATION RESPITE ABSENCE ADMINISTRATIVE ABSENCE DAYS TO MEMBERS AND FORMER MEMBERS OF THE RESERVE COMPONENTS UNDER DOD INSTRUCTION 1327.06. (a) Discretion of the Secretary of Defense.--The Secretary of Defense may determine that the changes made by the Secretary to the Program Guidance relating to the award of Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence program administrative absence days or other benefits described in subsection (b) to members and former members of the reserve components under DOD Instruction 1327.06 effective as of October 1, 2011, shall not apply to a member of a reserve component, or former member of a reserve component, whose qualified mobilization (as described in such program guidance) commenced before October 1, 2011, and continued on or after that date until the date the mobilization is terminated. (b) Authorized Benefits.--Under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary concerned may provide a member or former member of the Armed Forces described in subsection (a) with one of the following benefits: (1) In the case of an individual who is a former member of the Armed Forces at the time of the provision of benefits under this section, payment of an amount not to exceed $200 for each day the individual would have qualified for a day of administrative absence had the changes made to the Program Guidance described in subsection (a) not applied to the individual, as authorized by such subsection. (2) In the case of a member of the Armed Forces on active duty at the time of the provision of benefits under this section, either one day of administrative absence or payment of an amount not to exceed $200, as selected by the member, for each day the member would have qualified for a day of administrative absence had the changes made to the Program Guidance described in subsection (a) not applied to the member, as authorized by such subsection. (3) In the case of a member of the Armed Forces serving in the Selected Reserve, Inactive National Guard, or Individual Ready Reserve at the time of the provision of benefits under this section, either one day of administrative absence to be retained for future use or payment of an amount not to exceed $200, as selected by the member, for each day the member would have qualified for a day of administrative absence had the changes made to the Program Guidance described in subsection (a) not applied to the member, as authorized by such subsection. (c) Exclusion of Certain Former Members.--An individual who is a former member of the Armed Forces is not eligible under this section for the benefits specified in subsection (b)(1) if the individual was discharged or released from the Armed Forces under other than honorable conditions. (d) Form of Payment.--The payments authorized by subsection (b) may be paid in a lump sum or installments, at the election of the Secretary concerned. (e) Relation to Other Pay and Leave.--The benefits provided to a member or former member of the Armed Forces under this section are in addition to any other pay, absence, or leave provided by law. (f) Definitions.--In this section: (1) The term ``Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence program'' means the program of the Secretary concerned to provide days of administrative absence not chargeable against available leave to certain deployed or mobilized members of the Armed Forces in order to assist such members in reintegrating into civilian life after deployment or mobilization. (2) The term ``Secretary concerned'' has the meaning given that term in section 101(5) of title 37, United States Code. (g) Commencement and Duration of Authority.-- (1) Commencement.--The authority to provide days of administrative absence under paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (b) begins on the date of the enactment of this Act and the authority to make cash payments under such subsection begins, subject to subsection (h), on October 1, 2012. (2) Expiration.--The authority to provide benefits under this section expires on October 1, 2014. (3) Effect of expiration.--The expiration date specified in paragraph (2) shall not affect the use, after that date, of any day of administrative absence provided to a member of the Armed Forces under subsection (b) [[Page 6785]] before that date or the payment, after that date, of any payment selected by a member or former member of the Armed Forces under such subsection before that date. (h) Cash Payments Subject to Availability of Appropriations.--No cash payment may be made under subsection (b) unless the funds to be used to make the payments are available pursuant to an appropriations Act enacted after the date of enactment of this Act. (i) Funding Offset.--The Secretary of Defense shall transfer $4,000,000 from the unobligated balances of the Pentagon Reservation Maintenance Revolving Fund established under section 2674(e) of title 10, United States Code, to the Miscellaneous Receipts Fund of the United States Treasury. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Roby). Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kline) and the gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Minnesota. General Leave Mr. KLINE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Minnesota? There was no objection. Mr. KLINE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of the bill, H.R. 4045, legislation that would ensure members of the National Guard and Reserve--including members of Minnesota's famed Red Bulls--receive the benefits they have earned. Simply put, this legislation ensures that promises made are promises kept. The bill will grandfather the Minnesota National Guard and more than 49,000 other servicemembers around the country who mobilized and deployed under the Pentagon's original Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence program policy, providing them the benefits they were promised prior to deployment. Since September 11, 2011, members of the Reserve component have been uniquely affected by long deployments, leaving their families and careers to answer their Nation's call. In January of 2007, the Department of Defense instituted the PDMRA program to allow servicemembers the opportunity to spend more time with their families and readjust after multiple deployments in excess of 12 to 24 months. I would ask my colleagues to reflect on that number, 12 to 24 months. That is 1 to 2 years away from their families and their homes, putting their own lives on hold to protect and defend our families and our Nation. Madam Speaker, last year, after more than 2,000 Minnesota soldiers were deployed, the Pentagon changed the PDMRA program, significantly reducing the leave available to the Red Bulls and many others across the Nation. With little notice, many soldiers and their families were forced to cope with unexpected financial challenges, less time at home with loved ones, and an increased urgency to find employment. H.R. 4045, as amended, provides the Pentagon the authority to grandfather members of the National Guard and Reserve whose mobilization and deployment commenced before the Pentagon's PDMRA reduction policy took effect in October of last year. The legislation does three things: First, for servicemembers still on active duty, the bill provides DOD the authority to immediately restore their PDMRA leave days lost and gives them the option of selling their leave in lieu of taking the PDMRA day if they determine that that is in their best interest; Second, for servicemembers still in the service but off active duty, the bill provides DOD the authority to award a leave payment in lieu of the days they would have received for their service during the change; and Finally, the former servicemembers who have left the military altogether but were affected during the PDMRA policy change, the bill provides DOD the authority to reward a leave payment in lieu of the PDMRA days they would have received for there service during the change. In short, we're making these soldiers whole again and keeping our promises. The legislation is critical to ensuring our sons and daughters in uniform receive the benefits they were promised and have rightfully earned. Sergeant Matthew Hite recently returned home to Minnesota after his third deployment with the Minnesota National Guard. While he's been in Kuwait the past 11 months, his 7-year-old son, Charles, has learned to play T-ball. Sergeant Hite wasn't there to see Charles get his first hit or make his first catch. ``It's frustrating'' Sergeant Hite told the Star Tribune, ``frustrating that the time we thought we had to spend with family is being taken away.'' Every day, members of the reserve component are stepping off planes, beginning the process of reintegration, and returning to their civilian lives. Every day, units are receiving their final orders specifying an end date to their mobilization. I am hopeful that this commonsense effort to do right by our men and women in uniform will become law. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4045, and I reserve the balance of my time. Ms. BORDALLO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of this bill, and I thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kline) for bringing this measure to the floor. I also appreciate his continued leadership on pre- and post-deployment issues for the National Guard. The bill will correct an injustice for our National Guardsmen and reservists who have been putting their lives on the line to defend our Nation. The fiscal year 2013 Defense authorization bill includes a provision that also addresses this problem; but, regardless, this sends a clear message to the Department of Defense that we want to fix this problem, and quickly. The bill gives DOD the clear authority they need to make the necessary changes and to do so before the Defense authorization bill is likely to be completed. The bill is widely supported by outside groups, including the Military Officers Association of America, the National Guard Association of the United States, and the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, to name just a few. However, while I support the bill, I must raise the concern that this bill bypassed the normal committee process, and the minority was not included in the decision to bring this measure to the floor, which violates our tradition of bipartisanship. Still, in the interest of protecting our men and women in uniform, I stand in support of the bill, and I urge all of my colleagues to support it as well. I reserve the balance of my time. {time} 1920 Mr. KLINE. Madam Speaker, I am very happy to yield 3 minutes to my friend and colleague, a naval officer, another helicopter pilot, and a member of the Minnesota delegation, Mr. Cravaack. Mr. CRAVAACK. I thank Chairman Kline for the recognition. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of a critically important bill which I am a cosponsor of, offered by a fellow member of the Minnesota delegation, Chairman John Kline. The Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence program is an important program that allows servicemembers the opportunity to readjust after deployments and spend more time with their families. This earned leave further provides returning servicemembers with more time and a less stressful environment in which to seek employment in a time where a job search is becoming increasingly more difficult. These earned benefits will help combat the high stress experienced by those who have returned home from prolonged deployments. The Minnesota National Guard and tens of thousands of other guardsmen and reservists who have been deployed to the Middle East and were impacted by the PDMRA change were charged with the promise to defend our country. They have more than lived up to [[Page 6786]] their end of the bargain to keep their promise. Now it is time for the Department of Defense to live up to its end of the deal and provide these individuals with the full benefits they were promised at the time of their mobilization deployment. As Chairman Kline addresses in his support for this bill, some of the servicemembers affected by this policy change have performed multiple deployments in excess of 12 to 24 months since the beginning of the Iraq war. That is 1 to 2 full years that these servicemembers have been away from their families, halfway across the world in a combat environment. Some of the same servicemembers--specifically, the 2005- 2007 Iraq deploying servicemembers--could stand to lose up to 24 days under the changes in the PDMRA policy. I do not think it is too much to ask that those who were promised 24 days of leave for up to 2 years of deployed service to receive that leave. Therefore, it is imperative that we respect and honor the promises made to these individual families who have sacrificed so much in defense of our Nation. Recently, I have had the great privilege of welcoming the Minnesota National Guard Red Bulls home from their deployment in Iraq and Kuwait. When I attended their deployment ceremony last year in Pince City, Minnesota, one of the commanding officers in the brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Eddie Frizell said to the families, ``I'll bring them all home.'' True to his word, the first thing Lieutenant Colonel Frizell said in a hand salute to Major General Rick Nash, the adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard, when his feet touched the ground in Minnesota was, ``I brought them all home, sir.'' Madam Speaker, it is now time to bring them all the way home. I urge my colleagues to support the troops and support H.R. 4045, which will protect the promises made to our National Guard and Reserve, including members of the Minnesota's Red Bulls, by ensuring these servicemembers receive the benefits they were promised and highly deserve. Ms. BORDALLO. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlelady from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum). Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4045. This bill will ensure that all the servicemembers returning from overseas, including the Minnesota National Guard's Red Bulls, will receive the full benefits they were promised. Last year, after more than 2,000 of Minnesota's brave soldiers had already been mobilized for war, the Department of Defense reduced the amount of leave that the servicemembers would receive. For the Pentagon to apply this change to soldiers already deployed is simply unacceptable. Our men and women in uniform must be able to count on the benefits their Nation promised them when they left home. H.R. 4045 will correct this serious error by exempting servicemembers, like the Red Bulls, who had already deployed before the Pentagon's policy shift. Passage of this bill is a victory for the entire Minnesota delegation, which worked so hard on it. I especially want to thank Mr. Kline for his perseverance on this issue and for getting it to the floor today. Thank you very much, Mr. Kline. But, as I said, I applaud all my colleagues for coming together on behalf of the Minnesota Red Bulls and all of the servicemembers and their families. America's men and women in uniform dedicate their lives to defending our Nation and its values, and we are grateful for their outstanding service. As a daughter of a World War II disabled veteran of the Army Air Corps and as a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Affairs, it is a special honor to work on behalf of those who have served our country and to make sure that they receive every benefit that they've earned. As the Red Bulls return to Minnesota from another deployment, they know they can count on their entire Minnesota congressional delegation to have their back. I urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation. Mr. KLINE. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to another member of the Minnesota delegation, Mr. Paulsen. Mr. PAULSEN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I also rise in strong support of H.R. 4045. Madam Speaker, the promises that we make to our young men and women and those who serve and have volunteered to put our Nation's uniform on should always, always be kept. And this important legislation does exactly that by assuring that nearly 50,000--tens of thousands servicemembers will receive the benefits that they, in fact, were promised. In October of last year, the Department of Defense significantly changed the amount of earned time and leave time for our troops and began providing less time off for servicemembers after a long deployment. But in that process, they failed to take into account those reservists who were already deployed, including the 2,000 members of the Minnesota National Guard. Madam Speaker, if we don't pass this legislation, members of the National Guard and the Reserve, including members of Minnesota's famed Red Bulls, will stand to lose approximately 27 days of leave that they were promised. They've already earned that leave. Let's do the right thing. This is simple. This is straightforward. We need to keep the promises out there for our service men and women. I want to applaud Chairman Kline. I want to applaud all the members of the Minnesota delegation for working together on something so critical and important and for sending a bipartisan message that we will stand behind our promises to our troops and our men and women in uniform. Ms. BORDALLO. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz). Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I thank the gentlelady from Guam who, as always, is an absolute stalwart supporter of our military forces and has a long tradition, coming from Guam, in defense of this Nation. Also, a special thank you to Colonel Kline, my colleague from Minnesota, for his unwavering support of our veterans and for bringing this forward and trying to correct this injustice. You've heard it today, Madam Speaker, about a change in policy. And while a stroke of the pen at the Pentagon may not seem like that much, it impacts our veterans and their families. These are folks that have deployed, in many cases, three times. For example, the Red Bulls from Minnesota: once for 9 months, once for 22 months, and once for a year. We came up, as a Nation, to make the determination that these folks should have a little bit of time of leave when they come back, readjust with their families, see children they maybe have never celebrated a birthday with, and then try to go back and get into the job market. As a Nation, these are our best and brightest. These are our future leaders. We want them getting readjusted. We want them back into the job market. And by the Pentagon changing this midstream, it's not so much the financial or the monetary insult; it's the insult to what these folks went through. When they went, they were promised a benefit. When they came back, we had cut it in half. We hear a lot about a 99 and a 1 percent. There is a 99 and a 1 percent in this country--1 percent who are serving in uniform and have served overseas, 99 percent of us who have benefited from that sacrifice. So I commend the delegation. I commend this House. If there is an issue that binds this Nation together, it's the absolute unwavering support of those who are willing to lay down their lives and sacrifice time with their families to serve each and every one of us. The least we can do is make sure that the benefits that were promised, that were guaranteed, are delivered upon. It's the right thing to do. It's the right thing for the country. It binds us together. [[Page 6787]] And I want to thank all of the folks here who made this possible. I urge my colleagues to support this piece of legislation. {time} 1930 Ms. BORDALLO. I thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz), especially for his assistance with the Reserve Component Caucus. I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. KLINE. I have no further requests for time, and I'm going to close by thanking Members on both sides of the aisle. You've heard from members of the Minnesota delegation here tonight, my good friends, the Democrats Mr. Walz and Ms. McCollum, Mr. Cravaack, and Mr. Paulsen. This legislation affects members of the Guard and Reserve all over the country. I'm especially pleased that my friend and fellow committee member and fellow traveler, Ms. Bordallo, was managing the debate on the other side of the aisle. She and I have traveled to some fairly remote corners of Iraq and Afghanistan and places like that over the years, and I must say I've never been anywhere where our Nation was at conflict and where we had men and women serving in uniform that we didn't come across somebody from the Guam National Guard. So I really want to thank her for her support on this legislation and the support of men and women in uniform everywhere. I know from the reaction I see from those soldiers that when they see Ms. Bordallo, there is great affection and respect there--both ways. Again, I want to thank all who weighed in on this. It was clearly an injustice. It needed to be fixed, and this is one of those times when we've come together as Democrats and Republicans working together. We have Senators, Republicans and Democrats, in the Senate working the other body to move this through. Speed counts here. Every day that this is delayed, another soldier loses the opportunity to take advantage of this paid leave. With that, Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kline) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4045, as amended. The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table. ____________________