WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today kept the pressure on the House and Senate Armed Services Committee members deciding whether to keep a provision which would retroactively provide Post-Deployment/ Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) benefits to hundreds of Iowa National Guard members. Grassley sent the letter with several of his colleagues.
Approximately 850 members of the Iowa National Guard did not receive their earned leave due to a delay between the announcement of the leave program by the Department of Defense and the establishment of the program by the individual services. The language would reimburse soldiers who were left out during that period.
“Iowa National Guard soldiers have continuously answered the call of duty. This is a simple fix that will give these brave and patriotic soldiers what they earned,” Grassley said.
Here is a copy of the text of the letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.
The Honorable Ike Skelton The Honorable Howard “Buck” McKeon
Chairman Ranking Member
House Armed Services Committee House Armed Services Committee
2120 Rayburn House Office Building 2120 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Carl Levin The Honorable John McCain
Chairman Ranking Member
Senate Armed Services Committee Senate Armed Services Committee
228 Russell Senate Office Building 228 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Chairman Skelton, Chairman Levin, Ranking Member McKeon, and Ranking Member McCain,
As you work to conference H.R. 2647, the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), we are writing to express our strong support for the preservation of language which will allow the Department of Defense (DOD) to retroactively provide Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) benefits to members of the Armed Services. Due to a recent change in the DOD’s position on the number of days of benefits that can be accrued under the PDMRA program, we also respectfully request that you eliminate the 40-day limit on PDMRA benefits currently included in both the House and Senate-passed NDAA.
Section 663 of the House-passed bill and Section 604 of the Senate-passed bill give the Pentagon the necessary legal authority to finally provide PDMRA benefits to troops who have so far been denied these benefits because of a delay between the announcement of the PDMRA program and the establishment of the program by the individual services. This glitch has affected over 20,000 Army National Guard troops across the country.
We appreciate you working with us to include this important authorizing language in both the House and Senate-passed bills, and we request that you ensure that the final FY2010 NDAA includes this language. We believe the preservation of this language in the final bill is critical to ensuring that these long overdue benefits are provided to troops as soon as possible.
Section 663 and Section 604 also set the maximum number of PDMRA benefits to be provided to troops at 40 days of benefits. The DOD had consistently indicated that it was not possible for Service members to earn more than 40 days of benefits under the PDMRA program, but has recently changed its position on this limit. The Army now estimates that nearly 100 former members of the Armed Services have accumulated more than 40 days of PDMRA benefits, and the DOD now concurs to eliminate any reference to a cap on PDMRA compensation in the final FY2010 NDAA.
Due to this change in position by DOD, and because we believe that all affected troops should receive the full benefits that they have earned and deserve, we respectfully request that you remove any reference to a maximum number of days of PDMRA benefits in the final FY2010 NDAA.
Thank you for your work on the behalf of our men and women in uniform, and for your attention to this important matter. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any assistance to you on this issue.
Sincerely,