IAVA Urges Congress to Compensate Troops for their Overtime

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

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NEW YORK - Today, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the country's first and largest nonpartisan organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, urged Congress to protect a provision in the war supplemental spending bill (H.R. 2346) that would provide back-pay to thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who were held under the military’s stoploss policy. This week the House and Senate are meeting to work out their differences in the bill; currently only the House version includes this provision.

“The bottom line is that our nation’s heroes deserve their overtime. In no other profession would an employee work overtime and not be compensated, and the same must be true of our military. Given all of the sacrifices that our troops and their families have made, these payments are long past due,” said IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff. “Congress must guarantee that this critical provision reaches the President’s desk. If passed, each servicemember could receive on average $5000 in retroactive payments. Now, more than ever, our servicemembers are relying on lawmakers to do the right thing.”

Since 2001, more than 170,000 troops have been held past their enlistment contracts under the stoploss policy.  Since 2004, IAVA has been calling for the end to the abuse of stoploss. Last year, working with Senator Lautenberg, IAVA helped to pass legislation that increased pay to servicemembers on stoploss orders by $500/month. In March 2009, the Pentagon took the first step in phasing out the use of stoploss, and announced it would begin compensating these servicemembers for time served under stoploss.

However, unless Congress acts today and keeps this provision in the war supplemental spending bill, thousands of veterans who were stoplossed before October 2008 won’t see a dime.

To arrange an interview with IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff or another veteran who can discuss their experience being stoplossed, please contact Chrissy Stevens, (212)982-9699 or Chrissy@iava.org.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (www.IAVA.org) is the country's first and largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has more than 125,000 veteran members and civilian supporters nationwide. Its mission is to improve the lives of this country's newest generation of veterans and their families.