President Obama signed legislation Friday ensuring long-promised paid leave benefits for members of Minnesota's "Red Bull" National Guard unit and more than 49,000 Guard troops across the country. The president's signature came a week after Congress cleared the measure recouping time-off benefits that had been promised before the soldiers shipped overseas last year. "Promises made should be promises kept," said U.S. Rep. John Kline, a Minnesota Republican who has been meeting with Pentagon leaders, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, to reverse a decision last fall that cut many of the troops' benefits in half. In the end, congressional action was needed to restore the benefits, which will help more than 2,000 Minnesota soldiers spend more time with their families. Many returned from their last deployment at the end of April. The measure, which was carried in the Senate by Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, exempts troops who were deployed before the Pentagon issued new restrictions last October that limited paid time off. Some troops, including members of the famed Minnesota "Red Bulls," faced the loss of as much as a month of paid time. "When our men and women in uniform signed up to serve there wasn't a line, and there shouldn't be a line to get the benefits they earned when they come home," Klobuchar said