Murtha pushes retroactive stop-loss payments

Murtha pushes retroactive stop-loss payments
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Dec 11, 2008 13:15:33 EST

Retroactive stop-loss allowances of up to $500 a month could be included in the next supplemental war funding bill, providing back payments for anyone whose military service was involuntarily extended since the 2001 terrorist attacks, a key lawmaker said Wednesday.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, said about 185,000 people would be eligible for one month of retroactive payment for any month during which their separation or retirement was delayed by as little as one day.

Congress created the stop-loss allowance earlier this year, but restricted the payments only to people affected by involuntary extensions in fiscal 2009, which began on Oct. 1 and ends on Sept. 30. Those payments have not yet begun because the Army — the only service that has had people under stop-loss orders since Oct. 1 — is still working out details, including whether to pay the full $500-per-month maximum authorized under the law, or a lesser level of payment.
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