Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo says a measure that would retroactively pay soldiers more money for extended tours of duty is closer to becoming a reality. Braley says the original measure paid solders an extra 200-dollars a day for extended duty.
Braley says "bureaucratic bungling" caused delays and it took six months to implement that program so that 20,000 service members left the military without receiving the compensation. He says that included 800 members of the Iowa National Guard. Braley introduced a measure to retroactively pay those soldiers and he says it is in the military funding bill in the U.S. House.
Braley says it would bring Iowa guardmembers one step closer to receiving the pay. He says a companion bill that was co-sponsored by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley was introduced last year, but has not been reintroduced this year, so he says the house bill would likely have strong support to make it in the final defense spending bill.
The bill passed the U.S. House today on a vote of 389-22.