Reimbursing Members of United States Armed Forces for Certain Transportation Expenses

REIMBURSING MEMBERS OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FOR CERTAIN TRANSPORTATION EXPENSES -- (House of Representatives - March 30, 2004)

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 2057) to require the Secretary of Defense to reimburse members of the United States Armed Forces for certain transportation expenses incurred by the members in connection with leave under the Central Command Rest and Recuperation Leave Program before the program was expanded to include domestic travel.

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Mr. RAMSTAD. I thank my friend from New Hampshire for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, last year, the U.S. military began employing its first rest and recuperation program, known as R&R, since the Vietnam War. Soldiers who have served 12 straight months in a combat zone qualify for R&R.

Sadly, however, we all remember the televised interviews of combat-weary American soldiers back from Iraq on R&R and stranded at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, unable to afford a plane ticket home.

Sad but true, Mr. Speaker, too many of our brave and battle-fatigued soldiers were unable to get to their hometowns to see their loved ones because same-day airfare was too expensive for many of our troops to afford.

That is why last fall I introduced an amendment with my friend, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore), to make money available to cover troops' travel costs to their hometowns. With the support of the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), chairman of the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, our amendment was passed and the Pentagon began paying our troops' airfare all the way home.

Unfortunately, though, Mr. Speaker, the Pentagon did not implement this program retroactively, which means the first wave of troops who came back from Iraq for R&R and who managed to scrape up the cash for airfare home are still to this day stuck with the tab to see their families.

So, today, Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 2057, which will cover retroactively the domestic travel costs our brave troops incurred while on R&R leave.

Mr. Speaker, the Ramstad-Moore amendment put the House on record that the Federal Government should cover all travel and transportation costs necessary to return our brave troops home. That is why passage of this bill is so important. Now Congress must finish the job it began last fall, to make sure none of our troops fall between the cracks
and are forced to pay their own transportation costs to get home.

Let us show today that we support our troops. Let us cover the costs that enabled our troops to return home for R&R, briefly reuniting wives and husbands, parents and children and other loved ones.

I urge all my colleagues to support this important bill.

I want to thank the gentleman from California (Chairman Hunter) of the Committee on Armed Services and the gentleman from New Hampshire (Chairman BRADLEY) for their support of this legislation, as well the gentleman from California (Chairman LEWIS) of the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, for their continued support of covering troop travel costs, and also want to thank the majority leader for allowing this legislation to come to the floor.