Stop-loss may get you $1,500 more a month

[unhappycamper]

Stop-loss may get you $1,500 more a month
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 9, 2008 6:49:34 EDT

A World War II veteran who has championed the cause of better body armor for deployed troops and is a leader in the effort to improve GI Bill education benefits has set his sights on a new goal: paying $1,500 a month to service members held on active duty under the controversial stop-loss policy.

The plan sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., would apply to active-duty, National Guard and reserve troops whose discharges, separations or retirements are delayed by stop-loss orders. And it would apply not only to the estimated 4,000 troops currently affected by stop-loss but also to the estimated 58,000 people whose retirements were delayed or enlistments extended since October 2001, when the first stop-loss orders were issued.

The $1,500 would be paid for every month in which a service member spent even a single day serving under stop-loss orders. According to Lautenberg aides, the average stop-loss has lasted 6.6 months — which would be worth $10,500 under his plan.

Lautenberg’s bill, S 3060, was introduced May 22 and was referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over the defense budget and military personnel issues. What happens to the bill, which Lautenberg is calling the Stop Loss Compensation Act of 2008, would depend on the cost.

The Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan arm of Congress responsible for placing cost estimates on pending legislation, has been asked to determine the price tag of Lautenberg’s bill for both future and retroactive coverage.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/06/airforce_stoploss_060908/

[ingac70]

1. Republicons will fight that one. n/t