Braley has led two-year effort ensuring thousands of troops receive promised benefits
Washington, DC - Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) announced today that members of the Iowa National Guard have finally started receiving long-overdue payments they were promised for extended tours in Iraq. Braley has worked to ensure delivery of Respite Leave benefits for over two years.
"The news that Iowa's National Guard members are finally receiving the Respite Leave payments they earned is both exciting and long overdue," Braley said. "Hundreds of Iowa National Guard members bravely served our country and waited patiently to be compensated. I've been working for over two years now to fix this problem, and I'm thrilled to announce today that these troops are finally being paid for their service."
Braley has been leading efforts to fix this back pay problem and ensure that thousands of troops nationwide receive proper compensation. His Guaranteed Benefits for Our Troops Act (HR 1222) was signed into law in October as part of the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act and enables the Pentagon to release the promised benefits.
Under Braley's fix, hundreds of Iowa National Guard members will be provided benefits they were promised under the Department of Defense's Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) program, commonly known as "Respite Leave." Due to a delay between the announcement of the PDMRA program by the Department of Defense and the implementation of the program by the individual services, thousands of Army National Guard troops across the country did not receive proper Respite Leave compensation. The majority of affected troops nationwide are expected to be paid by March 19, 2010.
Braley first introduced the Guaranteed Benefits for Our Troops Act in July 2008. It allows the Pentagon to retroactively grant up to $200 per day to affected troops.
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