John Kline: “I thank Mr. Gutknecht for his leadership on this issue and for yielding me this time. I rise today in strong support of…”

“I thank Mr. Gutknecht for his leadership on this issue and for yielding me this time. I rise today in strong support of this amendment. In my 25 years of military service, sadly I have witnessed other examples of pay discrepancies. It is unfortunate that even today such issues arise, but I am pleased to be in a position now to help solve this problem. In a true sign of their dedication to duty and camaraderie, many members of the 34th Brigade Combat Team volunteered to join their fellow Guardsmen in Iraq despite having previously deployed to Bosnia and Kosovo. I was disappointed to hear that many of these dedicated citizen-soldiers were denied incentive pay simply because of the administrative mechanism used to mobilize them. This is not the way we as a nation should treat those who have volunteered to serve. Mr. Gutknecht and I promptly engaged the House Armed Services Committee professional staff to help solve this problem. As a member of the House Military Personnel Subcommittee, I was gratified by the staff's prompt action, and I would like to thank them as well as Chairman McHugh and Chairman Hunter for their efforts. I would also like to commend the entire Minnesota delegation for their strong support in both the House and Senate. This past week, my staff delivered a letter signed by the entire delegation to the Department of Defense requesting their assistance in resolving this inequity, and I will include a copy of the letter for the Record.…”