Senator Amy Klobuchar

Working for the People of Minnesota

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Joel Gross
Press Secretary
(202) 224-3244

News Releases

Klobuchar, Mikulski Deliver on Promises Made for Reintegration of Returning Guardsmen

Call for $45 million in emergency supplemental

April 3, 2008

Washington, D.C. – As congressional leaders draft emergency supplemental legislation, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Senators Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) today led a bipartisan coalition of their colleagues to fight to include $45 million to support reintegration initiatives for National Guard members and Reservists returning from combat.  In separate letters to Appropriations Chairman Robert C. Byrd (D-W.V.) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Mo.), and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ranking Member Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the Senators noted that the President’s fiscal year 2009 budget provides no funding for reintegration initiatives for National Guard members and Reservists, including the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, which was authorized as part of the fiscal year 2008 Defense Authorization bill (H.R. 4986). 

“This is about putting our nation’s heroes first,” said Senator Klobuchar.  “As Americans, we are all proud of the men and women who serve in our nation’s armed forces and risk their lives every day.  We must make sure that we give our troops the resources they need both in the field and at home when they return.  Minnesota’s National Guard, along with all Guard members and Reservists, continue to serve us all proudly both at home and abroad – these brave men and women are always there when we need them most and we must honor their sacrifice.”

“The Guard is treated like a step-child when they fight abroad, and when they return.  It is unacceptable that returning members of the Guard and Reserve don’t receive the same care as returning active duty Soldiers, even though we are asking them to make the same sacrifices,” said Senator Mikulski, a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.  “We know that the stress of combat and long deployments away from home can wreak havoc on our troops’ well-being and family life in the months after their return.  The brave men and women in our Guard and Reserve have been fighting side-by-side with our active duty troops in Iraq and Afghanistan so that we may live in freedom – they deserve the same support from the government when they return to their civilian lives.”

While President Bush continues to ask for billions of federal dollars every week for the war, his administration has not fully funded a national reintegration program for National Guard and Reserve personnel to assist their transition from combat to civilian life.  The Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, which establishes paid reintegration events at 30, 60 and 90-day intervals upon return, will also provide counseling and services for members and their families.

The program is especially crucial because, unlike active duty soldiers who live and work with their military units and have ready access to counseling and care, Guardsmen and Reservists are with their units only during their short post-deployment processing window.  After this point, it becomes increasingly challenging for them to access the services they need.

Without a fully funded national reintegration program, some states, including Minnesota and Maryland, have had to either fully or partially fund their programs.  Adequate federal funding is critical to ensuring this program’s implementation nationwide to meet our obligation to provide the benefits our soldiers earn during their time in harm’s way.

Last year, Senator Klobuchar was a leader in the fight to pass the Defense Authorization amendment which created the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, based on the highly successful Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program of the Minnesota National Guard.  She has called for more equitable benefits for deployed Guard members and secured additional federal support for Minnesota’s innovative Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program.

With approximately 1,500 members of the Maryland National Guard returning from overseas deployments in the next six months, Senator Mikulski and Maryland Governor Martin O’ Malley held a roundtable discussion in March with members of the National Guard and their families.  At the event, she pledged to fight for the supplemental funding, and to continue efforts to fully fund the program for fiscal year 2009.

Senators signing the letters include: Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), Saxby Chambliss (R- Ga.), Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Blanche L. Lincoln (D-Ark.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.), John E. Sununu (R-N.H.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

The Senate is expected to consider the emergency supplemental spending bill in late April.

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