Guard and Reserve

GUARD AND RESERVE

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I salute my colleague from Arkansas for the tribute she made to this unit in her home State of Arkansas. Every one of us in the Senate can tell a similar story. But she tells us so well about the lives that are affected by the activation of Guard and Reserve men and women who leave important lives and careers and step aside to serve their Nation.

That is why it is so troubling that I come to the floor today to report for those who follow the Senate that yesterday in the conference committee of the Appropriations Committee where we met to discuss the $87 billion request of the President, we stripped out a provision which had been adopted on the Senate floor. I would like to describe it to those who want to stand behind the families of those activated Guard and Reserve men and women.

We have 1.2 million Guard and Reserve in the United States. Ten percent of them work for the Federal Government, when they are not serving in the Guard and Reserve. At the present moment, of the 120,000 Federal employees with the Guard and Reserve, 23,000 have been activated. They include some people who are in the unit the Senator from Arkansas just described.

I offered an amendment on the floor that said when you activate a Federal employee to the Guard and Reserve, the Federal Government agency that the person works for will make up any shortfall and any difference in income while that Guard or Reserve person is on active duty. That is not a radical suggestion. There are dozens of State governments and local units of government that already do that, including my home State of Illinois and the City of Chicago.

If you are a Chicago policeman in the Guard and you are activated, the City of Chicago stands behind you and says we will make up the difference in pay if there is a shortfall so that there is no hardship on your family. That amendment passed the floor of the Senate 96 to 3. Yesterday it was stripped out of the conference committee report that is being considered. It is $87 billion.

Every day we hear Senators come to the floor singing the praises, deservedly, of the men and women in uniform to say we stand in solidarity with them and their families as they fight for America. These same Members who come to the floor praising the guardsmen and reservists also voted for my amendment, saying let us hold them harmless if they go off to serve our Nation for 6 months, or 12 months, or 16 months. They all voted for this amendment.

Yesterday, on a party-line vote, with every Republican Senator voting no, they took this provision out of the bill. Many of the same Senators who just a few days ago had voted on the floor for this provision reversed their position and said no, the Federal Government will not set an example and will not make up the difference in pay for those thousands of Federal employees activated in the Guard and Reserve. That is unfair and it is unfortunate. Those who come here to wave the flag about their support for our fighting men and women weren't there yesterday on this crucial vote in this conference committee.

I hope those across America who follow this debate and who may know some of these families affected by this amendment will contact their Senators and tell them it was a grave injustice that we allowed this to occur. It was a real disappointment to me. We could have done the right thing yesterday, but, sadly, we did not.