S.Amdt. 2202

SA 2202. Mr. SESSIONS (for himself, Mr. Chambliss, and Mrs. Clinton) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 1585, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2008 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle A of title VI, add the following:

SEC. 604. PAYMENT OF INACTIVE DUTY TRAINING TRAVEL COSTS FOR CERTAIN SELECTED RESERVE MEMBERS.

(a) Payment of Travel Costs Authorized.--

(1) In general.--Chapter 7 of title 37, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 408 the following new section:

“Sec. 408a. Travel and transportation allowances: inactive

duty training

“(a) Allowance Authorized.--Under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary concerned may reimburse a member of the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve described in subsection (b) for travel expenses for travel to an inactive duty training location to perform inactive duty training.

“(b) Eligible Members.--A member of the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve described in this subsection is a member who--

“(1) is--

“(A) qualified in a skill designated as critically short by the Secretary concerned;

“(B) assigned to a unit of the Selected Reserve with a critical manpower shortage, or is in a pay grade in the member's reserve component with a critical manpower shortage; or

“(C) assigned to a unit or position that is disestablished or relocated as a result of defense base closure or realignment or another force structure reallocation; and

“(2) commutes a distance from the member's permanent residence to the member's inactive duty training location that is outside the normal commuting distance (as determined under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense) for that commute.

“(c) Maximum Amount.--The maximum amount of reimbursement provided a member under subsection (a) for each round trip to a training location shall be $300.”.

(2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 7 of such title is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 408 the following new item:

“408a. Travel and transportation allowances: inactive duty training.”.

(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect on October 1, 2007. No reimbursement may be provided under section 408a of title 37, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), for travel costs incurred before October 1, 2007.