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Weiner wants feds to cover overseas city soldiers’ pay

BY CORY TISCHBEIN

The city has spent about $65 million paying the salaries of its more than 2,000 employees deployed overseas since 2001, but U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills) introduced a bill Monday that would place this responsibility on the federal government's shoulders.

When city workers who are reservists enter active duty, the city pays the difference between their city and military salary, preventing city employees from taking a pay cut for serving overseas.

“For every police officer taken off the streets of New York to serve in Fallujah, [Iraq] New York taxpayers are footing the bill,” Weiner said at a news conference Monday.

Under Weiner's revenue-sharing proposal, the federal government would provide $40 billion in aid to cities and states to finance the employees' salary reimbursements.

In a report, Weiner said city police officers, firefighters and municipal workers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 have missed 691,493 workdays.

Currently, 488 city employees are on military leave, including 281 NYPD employees and 59 FDNY employees, causing the city to make up for millions in monetary costs and productivity losses, Weiner said.