U.S. Rep. Runyan Presents Donation, Addresses Pay Parity at Lakehurst Base

While U.S. Rep. Jon Runyan (R-NJ) visited Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst last week to donate money for humanitary aid, his visit to the combined installation also served as an opportunity to address jobs and pay parity.

Runyan presented a check for $500 to the American Red Cross on behalf of the American Society of Military Comptrollers during a luncheon at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on May 20.

Following his remarks during the presentation, Runyan went on to praise the group's work. 

“The American Red Cross does a lot of great things” the congressman said. “Not only humanitarian aid, but also the things they do for our soldiers to make sure that they’re connected with their loved ones when they need them.”

During his speech at the luncheon, Runyan also spoke highly of joint bases, calling the Joint Base McGurie-Dix-Lakehurst an “economic engine,” in reference to the large number of civilian jobs it creates.

The remarks come as Runyan recently introduced language into the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would resolve the issue of pay parity, something that has been a problem at some joint bases.

Pay parity became an issue in 2005 when the Department of Defense began a process known as Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC. This led to some military bases around the country being combined into a joint base.

In certain cases, private civilian workers were not getting paid the same as co-workers on the same joint base because they were previously considered to have been in two separate metropolitan areas. 

For example, Lakehurst Naval Base private employees were considered to live in the New York region and were paid more than private workers at McGuire and Ft. Dix, who were considered to live in the Philadelphia area, even though they could be performing the same jobs.

Runyan’s addition to the Defense Act would end pay discrepancies at bases that were merged into joint bases during the 2005 BRAC.

When asked about how high of a priority the issue of pay parity will be if the bill needs to be worked on and amended in order to pass both chambers of congress, Runyan went on to reiterate the importance of the issue and the bipartisan support for it.

“I think it was a huge oversight in the last BRAC," he said. "Obviously, this is a joint base, it’s supposed to be one unit and there’s a pay parity issue here and it’s been a bipartisan charge the last few rounds.”

While Runyan’s amendment has bipartisan support and the act is expected to pass the House, there are still no guarantees that the bill in its current form will receive Senate approval.

Two of the issues that could give the bill a harder time getting through a Democratic controlled Senate:

• An amendment that says the Defense of Marriage Act will apply to the military, which would limit the number of bases that could perform same sex marriages for active military personal, making it fall under the laws of the local state’s jurisdiction.
• Language that states that the United States is involved in an ongoing conflict with Al Qaeda, which some Democrats fear is too open ended and could lead to continual ongoing military involvement overseas.

Though nothing is set in stone, the House is expected to vote on the bill later this week.