Every week, 2,000 - 3,000 Second District residents write to me about the issues pending before Congress, and I work hard to respond to each person as promptly and thoughtfully as possible.  On this "Letter of the Week" blog, I highlight constituent letters that are of general interest.  If you'd like to share your own views, please feel free to e-mail me at any time!

Dear Nancy,

I am writing to urge you to ensure the final defense authorization bill
retains Senate-passed provisions to improve Guard/Reserve GI Bill
benefits, lower the Guard/Reserve retirement age and provide retirement
credit for up to 130 days of service per year.

Since September 11, 2001, the nation has continued to rely on National
Guard and Reserve forces for operational missions. More action is needed
to better reconcile Guard/Reserve programs with the very large operational
stresses now imposed on these servicemembers and their families.

Please do all you can to ensure these key Guard/Reserve incentives are
retained in the final defense bill.

Patrick from Topeka, KS

Dear Patrick,

Thank you for sharing your ideas on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2008. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I appreciate hearing the views of my constituents on defense.
I am very proud that the conference report that passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate retains much of the original House bill, including restoring our military’s readiness by increasing training dollars and taking care of the troops by prohibiting the Administration’s TRICARE fee increases for both servicemembers and retirees. The bill also adds 13,000 more soldiers to the Army and 9,000 more Marines this year as part of a plan to add 92,000 soldiers and Marines. A 3.5 percent pay increase for all servicemembers is included, 0.5 percent more than what the President requested.

I am pleased to see a provision that I offered as an amendment to the NDAA has been included in the final bill – restricting the use of public-private competitions, also known as A-76 competitions. Don’t get me wrong; contractors have their place within the defense environment and work as partners with the Department of Defense and with our bases.

However, in House Armed Services Committee briefings and hearings, I heard time and time again that the pendulum had swung too far to contracting out all types of functions, which is affecting readiness. The Boyda amendment allows the Department of Defense, not the White House, to determine when it is in the best interest of national security to contract out. Additionally, it provides civilian defense workers a level playing field when participating in A-76 competitions by eliminating recompetition of work performed by civilian employees and giving appeal rights to civilian employees equitable to contractors.

Several other provisions have been included in the bill as well including:

• Retirement of aging aircraft – over half of the remaining KC-135E aerial refueling aircraft can be mothballed. The 190 th Air Refueling Wing at Forbes Field is temporarily storing 12 KC-135Es and are required to keep them in “warm ready” condition with no additional resources. Previous Congresses had prevented the retirement of these aircraft. Working with the Air Force and the Adjutant General, I have requested that the aircraft at Forbes be removed by the Air Force with this new authorization.

• Expansion of survivor benefits – authorizes a monthly payment of $50 to surviving spouses who are denied the full amount of their Survivor Benefit Plan benefit because of concurrent receipt of Dependency and Indemnity Compensation. This will increase to $100 a month by 2014. I fully support the complete repeal of the offset and was disappointed that a full repeal was not included. However, this is the first time that Congress has taken action on concurrent receipt and I am grateful for this first step.

• Expansion of retiree benefits – allows 100% disabled retirees to receive full concurrent receipt of military retired pay and disability compensation retroactive to January 1, 2005. Additionally, any servicemember who was medically retired and served less than 20 years will now be eligible for combat-related special compensation. Finally, the age at which a Reservist can draw retirement pay below the age 60 will be reduced by 3 months for every aggregate 90 days of active duty service in support of a contingency operation.

•  Expansion of Reserve benefits – increases the time to 10 years for Reservists to use educational benefits under the GI Bill and increases the amount of benefits to 80% for any Reservist who serves at least three consecutive years of active duty service. Reservists who previously were unable to enroll in TRICARE Reserve Select because they are eligible for the Federal Employee Health Benefit will be able to enroll in TRICARE Reserve Select.

• Implementation of the National Guard Empowerment Act – expands the role of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau by authorizing a fourth star and making the National Guard Bureau a joint activity within the Department of Defense.

Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue. I hope you will continue to keep in touch and let me know if I may be of assistance in the future.

Sincerely,

Nancy Boyda
Member of Congress