Michigan National Guard soldiers who purchased meals out-of-pocket while they were deployed at the U.S. Capitol earlier this year are being reimbursed.
The bipartisan bill reimburses what members of the Michigan National Guard spent on food while providing security support at the U.S Capitol.
The measure comes several months after guard members filed complaints with the Michigan congressional delegation for being served spoiled and undercooked food.
State Sen. Tom Barrett of the 24th district is a member of the Michigan National Guard. He said service members didn’t trust what they were served, so they had to buy their own meals.
“There's no excuse for why soldiers can't be provided a healthy meal that is safe to eat that isn't going to make them sick," he said.
"There's just absolutely no excuse for that, and when we heard these really disturbing reports, we wanted to step up and do something about it," he said.
Barrett alongside State Sen. Adam Hollier of Michigan's 2nd district spearheaded the efforts to raise more than $100,000 to pay the soldiers back.
“We were really thankful with the quick and robust response from the corporate philanthropic community in our state when we put this call to action out, as well as from private individual donors in our state," Barrett said.
The funds will be distributed equally to those deployed by the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
Each soldier is eligible to receive up to 100 dollars.
