Political Quotes

“I rise to comment on a provision in the fiscal year 2011 NDAA which the Senate passed today. Section 635 of H.R. 6523, The Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2011, contains a sense of Congress concerning age and service requirements for retired pay for nonregular service. The sense of Congress serves to clarify a provision which I authored and which is contained in section 647 of the fiscal year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. I appreciate the committee's desire to clarify the intent of that provision and ensure proper credit is given to members of the Reserve. As can be inferred from the title of the provision in the fiscal year 2008 NDAA, the intent of the provision is to provide earlier retired pay to members of the Ready Reserve who serve in active Federal status or perform active duty for significant periods. The sense of Congress in the fiscal year 2011 NDAA notes that the intent of the original provision was for reservists to begin receiving retired pay according to time spent deployed, by 3 months for every 90-day period spent on active duty over the course of a career, rather than limiting qualifying time to such periods wholly served within the same fiscal year. I agree with this sense of the Congress to the extent that reservists should receive credit for each 90-day period of continuous duty even though that duty may span 2 different fiscal years.”