Louise Slaughter: “H.R. 3159 is a very straightforward bill with a very straightforward message. Like its name implies, this is a bill to…”

“H.R. 3159 is a very straightforward bill with a very straightforward message. Like its name implies, this is a bill to ensure that our military is ready to carry out combat and combat-related missions by having a stable, predictable deployment policy. H.R. 3159 would require that our uniformed men and women, our military units, receive minimum periods of rest and recuperation between their deployments to Iraq. We have been hearing for over a year now about the strain on our active duty, Reserve and Guard units caused by multiple redeployments to Iraq and the ever-shrinking time at home provided by many units between deployments. There is a very simple reason, Mr. Speaker, why this bill is so timely now. On May 9, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced a change to deployment policy. Secretary Gates changed the current policy for active Army units from 1 year at home for 1 year deployed to a policy of 15 months deployed for every 12 months at home. Mr. Speaker, this is a change that is moving in the wrong direction.”