On Tuesday, May 15, 2012, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 4045, a bill to modify the Department of Defense Program Guidance relating to the award of Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence administrative absence days to members of the reserve components to exempt any member whose qualified mobilization commenced before October 1, 2011, and continued on or after that date, from the changes to the program guidance that took effect on that date, under a suspension of the rules requiring a two-thirds majority for approval. The bill was originally introduced on February 15, 2012, by Rep. John Kline (R-MN) and was referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
H.R. 4045 would provide that, as of October 1, 2011, changes made to the program guidance relating to the award of Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence administrative absence days to members of the reserves under a specified Department of Defense (DOD) instruction shall not apply to reservists whose qualified mobilization commenced before October 1, 2011, and continued until the termination of the mobilization.
According to the Association of the United States Navy (AUSN), in January 2007, the Department of Defense (DOD) established the Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) program, to allow more post-deployment leave for servicemen and women returning from multiple tours in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. This post-deployment leave is crucial to Reservists, who needs time for both transit and reintegration. However, in October 2011, DOD reduced the amount of leave for deployed sailors promised to them under the policy in effect when their deployments began. In some cases this policy change can result in the loss of up to 24 days of transit and reintegration time.
There was no Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate available for this legislation.
