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Brett Neely
WASHINGTON

Bill would restore National Guard's paid leave benefits

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Legislation is headed to President Barack Obama's desk that would restore paid leave to deployed National Guard members, including more than 2,000 members of Minnesota's Red Bulls Brigade.

After the Red Bulls were sent overseas last year, the Pentagon changed its leave policy for Guard members. The policy went into immediate effect.

Without reversal, those policy changes would cost some members as many as 27 days of paid leave.

Republican Congressman John Kline led the effort in the House to restore the troops' benefits retroactively. DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar got the bill through the Senate.

"These are troops that are citizen soldiers, they are not active duty and they really have been serving as active duty and we felt it was really important that they got the leave that they deserved," Klobuchar said.

In addition to Minnesota's National Guard, nearly 50,000 other Guard members nationwide will also see their leave restored under the bill.