Responding to the loss of pay many of the 110,000-plus federal government employees who are member of the military reserves or National Guard face when called up for duty, Democrats in the US Congress have introduced legislation requiring federal agencies to make up these pay differences. Such legislation has failed to make it out of Congress before, but the legislation's sponsors have argued that with many of these military volunteers being called up continuously and often on short notice since the tragedies of September 11, 2001 the issue needs to be revisited. While the legislation's opponents contend that members of the reserves and Guard are responsible for the economic impacts of their decision to volunteer for military service, for 48,000 of these federal employees active membership in the National Guard is a job requirement.
See STEPHEN BARR, The Washington Post, March 24, 2003