Request for Temporary Lodging Allowance

GAO was asked to decide the propriety of amending the Joint Travel Regulations. The amendment would provide for the payment of station housing and cost-of-living allowances to members of the uniformed services for their service dependents who were relocated to a designated place outside the contintental United States, Hawaii, or Alaska incident to the reclassification of the member's duty station from an unrestricted area to a restricted area. GAO held that Federal regulation 37 U.S.C. 405 was broad enough to support a carefully drawn regulation which would provide for the payment of temporary lodging allowances (TLA) where the member's duty station does not change but is reclassified. Accordingly, the regulations may be amended to authorize TLA. However, to the extent that the amended regulation conflicts with 50 Comp. Gen. 83, that decision would no longer be followed.