Mobilized National Guard and reserve troops with the same duties and qualifications as active troops would be eligible for the same benefits under bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).
The Reserve Component Benefits Parity Act would provide qualified National Guard and reserve troops post-mobilization access to TRICARE health benefits, a lower eligibility age for retirement pay and access to post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.
The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) allowed the Department of Defense to order National Guard and reservist personnel into active duty, but it didn’t establish that those troops would have access to the same benefits as other active-duty troops. The bill would be retroactive to the passage of the 2012 NDAA and would cover approximately 5,800 National Guard and Reserve Troops.
“Since 2013, the Department of Defense has been involuntarily mobilizing National Guard soldiers, including 48 members of the West Virginia National Guard, without providing them the same benefits as their active duty counterparts,” Capito said. “Our National Guard is an operational reserve vital to our national security, and when our brave men and women are called to serve, they deserve equal pay and equal benefits. I sponsored legislation to fix this fundamental unfairness and do right by our National Guard.”
The measure would also allow National Guard and reserve forces to accrue high deployment allowance to prevent rapid successive deployments, and it would establish eligibility for training and rehabilitation services interrupted by deployments.
“Our service members deserve nothing but the best, but due to a loophole in current law, some Minnesota National Guard and reserve soldiers have been denied important health, education and retirement benefits,” U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), a cosponsor of the bill, said. “Our bipartisan legislation will close this loophole and help ensure these service members can access the hard-earned benefits they deserve.”
The bill would also ensure there is no reduction in federal pay for those deployed under the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.