Dick Durbin: “This amendment to the Defense authorization bill addresses the financial burden facing many of the men and women who…”

“This amendment to the Defense authorization bill addresses the financial burden facing many of the men and women who serve in the military Reserve and National Guard and are forced to take unpaid leave from their Federal jobs when called to active duty. I offered this amendment to the fiscal year 2004 supplemental. It passed by a margin of 96 to 3 before it was removed in conference. The vote recognized the reality that since the end of the cold war, employment of our Reserve forces has shifted profoundly, from being primarily an expansion force to augment active forces during a major war to the situation today, where the Department of Defense admits that no significant operation can be undertaken by the United States of America without Guard and Reserve components.”