Committee agrees to cover troops' travel costs

Some 29,000 members of the armed forces stationed for long periods overseas would be compensated for money spent getting home under a bill approved Wednesday by the House Armed Services Committee.

The committee passed the measure,(S. 2057), by voice vote. It provides roughly $13 million to retroactively reimburse U.S. military service members for domestic travel expenses incurred under the Central Command Rest and Recuperation Leave Program before it was expanded to include travel within the United States.

The bill passed the Senate March 4.

"This is paying back the troops who had to pay for their own travel from these debarkation centers and their home town," said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

The Defense Department offered travel leave home to some troops serving in Iraq since September, providing transportation from Kuwait City to the United States. But once troops arrived in the United States, they were responsible for paying to get to their final destination.

Last year Congress approved $55 million for troop travel home in the fiscal year 2004 supplemental appropriations bill, but Defense Department regulations prohibited military service members from being reimbursed for costs associated with leave before Dec. 19, according to Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y.