[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5252]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              POW/MIA ACCOUNTING AND RECOVERY SUPPORT ACT

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my 
colleagues to support H.R. 1520, the POW/MIA Accounting and Recovery 
Support Act of 2013.
  The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, is a task force within 
the Department of Defense with a mission to account for prisoners of 
war or those missing in action from all past conflicts. It's part of a 
commitment we have made to these American heroes, along with their 
families and loved ones seeking closure.
  As most are aware, the Pentagon recently announced plans to furlough 
as many as 800,000 Federal civilian workers in order to achieve 
spending reductions under the Budget Control Act. These workers will be 
required to take 14 unpaid days off between now and October. As a 
result, JPAC employees will have to take at least 1 furlough day a 
week, with no exceptions. This will significantly impact JPAC's 
accounting and recovery teams, which are actually deployed on 
operations that last between 35 and 45 days.
  The POW/MIA Accounting and Recovery Support Act will allow JPAC 
civilian employees to continue these critical missions without 
unnecessary disruption or delay. I encourage my colleagues to join me 
and Representative Stephen Lynch in cosponsoring H.R. 1520.

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