Senator seeks pay boost for federal workers serving in reserves
Proposed amendment would pay them their civilian salary while they are deployed in the National Guard or Reserves.
As the Senate debates the fiscal 2005 Defense Authorization Act, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is planning to introduce an amendment that could boost the pay of federal workers serving Reserve or National Guard duty.
Murray originally offered the bill in February as the Guard and Reserve Enhanced Benefits Act of 2004, but it stalled in committee. She announced Wednesday that she would put the legislation forward as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act.
Faced with a full schedule on the Senate floor, aides are unsure when the amendment will be presented. Mike Spahn, a spokesman for Murray, said the senator is hoping to offer the amendment "either in the next couple days or soon after recess." The Senate is scheduled to go into recess next week and will not return until June 1.
Under the amendment, federal employees who are called up for reserve duty would be entitled to the same level of pay they were receiving in civilian life. An employee's original federal employer would be responsible for providing the additional funding.
"Many families are concerned about the loss of income between their spouse's civilian salary and their active-duty salary," Murray said in a statement Wednesday. "The amendment we will offer will ensure we have pay equity for federal employees called to duty, and it will provide tax credits to employers to encourage their support of activated Guard and Reserves."
Murray was joined by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., in supporting the bill. The amendment also would allow student loans to be deferred without penalty during an extended deployment and would assist spouses of deployed reservists with child care costs.
Officials in Murray's office believe the proposal has bipartisan backing.
"I think that there is broad support, certainly within the Democratic caucus and hopefully beyond," Spahn said. Under the amendment, "We're giving them as much as they're giving us."
Nelson, meanwhile, is offering a separate amendment to provide $10 million to National Guard Family Assistance Centers, which are designed to provide assistance to families of deployed military personnel. Nelson secured a similar amendment last year, although only half of that funding has actually reached the assistance centers.
Daschle is joining forces with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in proposing an amendment to provide access to the military health care plan, Tricare , for all reservists and their families. An earlier one-year trial of the broadened Tricare benefits was passed last year, but the Defense Department has been slow to put it in place. Daschle is now pushing for a permanent widening of the plan. Despite opposition from the White House, a Daschle aide said the bill would most likely pass.
"I don't know how anyone can vote against giving National Guard members the same health care as our active duty," she said.