The addition of Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ), means that every member of the House from the Garden State has backed the legislation, which was introduced in March, to lower the retirement age for those who have served at least 20 years to begin to draw their retirement pay.

"New Jersey has a strong military tradition we should never take for granted," Saxton said. "From our hundreds of thousands of veterans to our thousands of volunteer active and Reserve forces— some of whom are fighting the war on terrorism at this very minute— New Jersey has contributed to every major military action in the history of our country. Today forces out of both McGuire and Fort Dix have been deployed to fight the war on terrorism."

 "The reserve components of today are not the Reserves and Guard of the post-World War II era," Saxton said. "The new reserve component battles alongside the smaller active duty forces. This bill gets them going in the direction of equal footing when it comes to retirement."

Cosponsoring H.R. 3831 are Veterans Committee Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ), U.S. Representatives Rob Andrews (D-NJ), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Mike Ferguson (R-NJ), Marge Roukema (R-NJ) Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Steve Rothman (D-NJ). Payne became the most recent and 87th member of the House to cosponsor the bill.

The bill has been backed by numerous groups including: Air Force Sergeants Association, American Military Retirees Association, American Military Society, American Retirees Association, American World War II Orphans Network, Catholic War Veterans, Class Act Group, Gold Star Wives of America, Korean War Veterans Association, Legion of Valor, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Military Order of the World Wars, National Association of Uniformed Services, National Gulf War Resource Center, Naval Enlisted Reserve Association, Naval Reserve Association, Non Commissioned Officer Association, Society of Medical Consultants, Society of Military Widows, The Retired Enlisted Association, TREA Senior Citizen League, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Uniformed Services Disabled Retirees, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the US (VFW), Vietnam Veterans Of American, and Women in Search of Equity.

Members of the Reserve components— the National Guard in all 50 states, the Navy Reserve, the Coast Guard Reserve, the Army Reserve, the Marine Reserve and the Air Force Reserve— would qualify at age 55 for retirement pay that is based on an individual's participation in the retirement plan.

Saxton said lowering the age will help in retention and recruiting volunteers to serve in the Reserve and Guard. The active duty military can already draw retirement pay after 20 years of service.

In peacetime and in wartime the 1.4 million-member Reserve Component is often deployed side-by- side with their active-duty counterparts and has taken on more missions than ever. It is generally accepted that the active force cannot sustain an adequate readiness posture without the Guard and Reserve, who both performed extremely well in the Gulf War, in the Balkans and in the war on terrorism.