IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1177 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the practice of 
the Department of Defense to continue to use stop-loss orders to retain 
members of the Armed Forces who have completed their contractual 
obligations runs contrary to the stated policy of the United States to 
utilize an all-volunteer force. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 6, 2008 
Ms. SUTTON (for herself, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. COHEN, Ms. MCCOLLUM of 
Minnesota, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. STARK, 
Mr. KUCINICH, and Mr. FILNER) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the practice of the Department of Defense to continue 
to use stop-loss orders to retain members of the Armed 
Forces who have completed their contractual obligations 
runs contrary to the stated policy of the United States 
to utilize an all-volunteer force. 
Whereas the President’s stop-loss authority derives from sec-
tion 12305 of title 10, United States Code, which states 
that the President may suspend any provision of law re-
lating to promotion, retirement, or separation applicable 
to members of the Armed Forces who the President de-
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•HRES 1177 IH 
termines are essential to the national security of the 
United States; 
Whereas President George H.W. Bush issued Executive 
Order 12728 on August 22, 1990, delegating stop-loss 
authority to the Secretary of Defense; 
Whereas on September 19, 2001, Secretary of Defense Don-
ald Rumsfeld delegated this authority to each of the 
branches of the Armed Forces; 
Whereas the Army has implemented a stop-loss policy that 
prevents soldiers who have completed their contractual 
obligations from voluntarily separating from the Army if 
their units are deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan; 
Whereas since September 19, 2001, nearly 45,000 members 
of the Armed Forces have had their service involuntarily 
extended by stop-loss orders; 
Whereas on January 19, 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert 
Gates sent a memorandum to the Secretaries of the mili-
tary departments, Under Secretaries of Defense, and the 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff setting February 
28, 2007, as a deadline for the submission of plans to 
minimize stop-loss for regular and reserve component 
forces; 
Whereas the Department of Defense has not taken adequate 
action to implement stop-loss minimization plans; 
Whereas a report commissioned by the Pentagon stated that 
‘‘the persistent use of stop-loss underscores the fact that 
the war-fighting burden is being carried by a handful of 
soldiers’’ and that policies such as stop-loss ‘‘risk break-
ing the force as recruitment and retention problems 
mount’’; and 
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•HRES 1177 IH 
Whereas stop-loss orders place an unjustifiable strain on 
members of the Armed Forces and their families who 
have already sacrificed tremendously in defense of the 
United States: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the Secretary of Defense should— 
(1) immediately submit to Congress a plan to 
minimize the utilization of stop-loss orders that pre-
vent members of the Armed Forces who have com-
pleted their contractual obligations from voluntarily 
separating from the Armed Forces; and 
(2) immediately implement a new stop-loss pol-
icy to ensure that no member of the Armed Forces 
who has completed a tour of duty in Iraq or Afghan-
istan is subject to a stop-loss order. 
Æ 
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