House Bill Blocks Cuts to Temporary Duty Per Diem

House lawmakers introduced a bill this week that would block the Defense Department from slashing per diem allowances for long-term temporary duty. The DoD is looking at a 25 percent reduction in the allowances for TDY longer than a month, and a 45 percent cut for assignments longer than 180 days -- a move that could require troops and civilian workers to cover about $22 million in travel expenses annually. The move is a cost-saving measure in a time of tight budgets. But Federal unions called the proposal "wrongheaded" and have persuaded a group of 26 lawmakers to oppose it and the new legislation co-sponsored by congressmen Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Walter Jones, R-N.C. For more details, see this Military.com article.