Cotton Blog: Arkansas National Guard Returns to Work

Statement

Last week, 700 members of the Arkansas National Guard and dual-status military technicians were placed on furlough as a result of the government shutdown. These furloughs were largely unnecessary because of the Pay our Military Act, legislation signed into law last week to allowing active duty service members and civilian employees of the Department of Defense to be paid during a government shutdown.

Unfortunately, the Administration chose to make this shutdown as painful as possible and furloughed over 350,000 Department of Defense employees despite the Pay Our Military Act.

Over the weekend, the Department of Defense announced that over 90 percent of those 350,000 furloughed employees would be able to return to work this week. This includes those 700 members of the Arkansas National Guard. These hard-working men and women serve our state and our country and they deserve to be paid. I am pleased the Department of Defense put politics aside and took these employees off furlough.

Source