Bayh, Durbin, Landrieu Say Final Patriot Penalty Provision Does Not Go Far Enough

Senators reintroduce legislation to help eliminate pay cut for Guard and Reserve


Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Senators Evan Bayh (D-IN), Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) today criticized a provision in the final Defense Authorization bill that passed the Senate last night because it did not go far enough in addressing the Patriot Penalty, a pay cut our National Guard and Reserve members are forced to take when they are called to active duty and lose their civilian salaries. While praising the provision as a step in the right direction, they also reintroduced legislation offered earlier this fall to eliminate the Patriot Penalty for more military families.

"Recognizing the struggle many of our military families face every day is a step in the right direction," Senator Bayh said. "But what these brave guard and reserve members really need is a solution, not a symbolic victory. The legislation we are reintroducing today will help ensure that far more families no longer face a pay cut for serving their country."

"Let's spare our activated Guard and Reserve this economic hardship," Durbin said. "Let them focus all of their attention on terrorists, not on missing mortgage payments at home."

"At a time when the National Guard and Reserves are defending their country abroad, they are being forced to defend their wages at home," Sen. Landrieu said. "We must pass this bill in order to close the gaping financial hole created while our fighting men and women are overseas."

Bayh, Durbin and Landrieu reintroduced their legislation today to immediately begin work gathering support to strengthen the assistance offered in the provision in hopes of providing financial help to more military families when Congress returns to work next year.

In November, the Senate unanimously approved legislation that would have ended the Patriot Penalty for 55 percent of our National Guard and Reserve members by providing direct payments of up to $3,000 per month to affected troops who have been deployed for more than six months. By contrast, the provision in the final bill offers direct payments only after troops have been deployed for more than 18 months, a requirement so extreme that it will help just 8 percent of families currently facing the Patriot Penalty.

The legislation offered by Bayh, Durbin and Landrieu would cost $295 million over five years, while this version would cost $27 million. The difference between the cost of the two bills is roughly the same amount that the U.S. spends in Iraq each day.

According to a recent Department of Defense study, more than 50 percent of all Reservists reported a loss in income when they were called up for active duty. The average income loss for Reservists on active duty for a year equals $4,416 per year. At the same time, recruitment rates for the year are currently 24 percent below normal for the Army National Guard and 20 percent below normal for the Army Reserve.

http://bayh.senate.gov/releases/2005/12/22DEC05PR.htm