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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 9

To express the sense of Congress that a comprehensive effort is required

to revitalize and sustain the all-volunteer force and address the decline

in the quality of life for members of Armed Forces and their families

and to provide a 4.8-percent increase in the rates of monthly basic

pay for members of the uniformed services.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 1, 1999

Mr. BUYER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Armed Services

A BILL

To express the sense of Congress that a comprehensive effort

is required to revitalize and sustain the all-volunteer

force and address the decline in the quality of life for

members of Armed Forces and their families and to

provide a 4.8-percent increase in the rates of monthly

basic pay for members of the uniformed services.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing America’s

5 Future Uniformed Services Act (SAFE–USA) of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds the following:

3 (1) The steady decline in the defense budget

4 during the past 15 years has eroded the readiness

5 of the Armed Forces to execute those missions called

6 for under the National Military Strategy to the point

7 where the Joint Chiefs of Staff have repeatedly

8 characterized the ability of the Armed Forces to exe9 cute the National Military Strategy as representing

10 ‘‘moderate to high risk’’.

11 (2) This erosion in readiness of the Armed

12 Forces, particularly in recent years, has resulted

13 from inadequate rates of equipment modernization,

14 delayed equipment maintenance, degraded quality

15 and quantity of combat training, and a declining

16 quality of life for members of the Armed Forces and

17 their families.

18 (3) The declining quality of life for members of

19 the Armed Forces and their families has resulted

20 from a range of factors, including inadequacies in

21 pay and benefits, military retirement, health care,

22 military housing, and family support programs, as

23 shown by the following:

24 (A) Low military pay, estimated on aver25 age to be 13.5 percent behind civilian levels, is
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1 forcing servicemembers and their families to

2 struggle to make ends meet.

3 (B) Inequities in the current military re4 tirement system are a contributing factor to the

5 current military personnel retention problem.

6 (C) Growing dissatisfaction with military

7 health care is another important factor contrib8 uting to military retention problems.

9 (D) Military families and unaccompanied

10 military personnel continue to live in inadequate

11 facilities, as indicated by the fact that military

12 barracks and dormitories are on average over

13 45 years old and almost two-thirds of military

14 family housing has been deemed by the Depart15 ment of Defense as unsuitable.

16 (E) With a current force in which 65 per17 cent of military personnel are married, family

18 support programs are increasingly inadequate

19 to meet their needs in the face of historically

20 high rates of peacetime operations and the re21 sulting increase in family separations.

22 (4) The drawdown of the Armed Forces during

23 the post-Cold War period, combined with the dra24 matic increase in the pace of military operations
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1 during the same period, has resulted in significant

2 strains on military personnel and their families.

3 (5) The Armed Forces face severe recruiting

4 and retention difficulties and shortages of personnel

5 with high-demand skills.

6 (6) Surveys conducted by the Armed Forces

7 and testimony before Congress indicate that the

8 leading factors in declining retention rates are inad9 equate pay, family separations resulting from in10 creased contingency operations, and the lack of ade11 quate resources to carry out assigned missions.

12 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

13 It is the sense of Congress that—

14 (1) the United States must provide the Armed

15 Forces with sufficient resources to maintain the nec16 essary capability to execute the National Military

17 Strategy with minimal risk; and

18 (2) despite past congressional efforts to improve

19 military pay and benefits and housing, health care,

20 and family support programs, a comprehensive effort

21 is required to revitalize and sustain the all-volunteer

22 force and address the decline in the quality of life

23 for members of Armed Forces and their families

24 by—
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1 (A) significantly improving the quality and

2 availability of affordable housing for military

3 families and enhancing the condition of housing

4 for unaccompanied military personnel;

5 (B) reforming the military retirement sys6 tem to permit the Armed Forces to retain suffi7 cient high-quality personnel to meet require8 ments; and

9 (C) enhancing pay and benefits to permit

10 the Armed Forces to recruit and retain high11 quality personnel.

12 SEC. 4. FISCAL YEAR 2000 INCREASE IN MILITARY BASIC

13 PAY.

14 (a) INCREASE IN BASIC PAY.—Effective on January

15 1, 2000, the rates of monthly basic pay for members of

16 the uniformed services shall be increased by 4.8 percent.

17 (b) WAIVER OF SECTION 1009 ADJUSTMENT.—The

18 adjustment to become effective during fiscal year 2000 re19 quired by section 1009 of title 37, United States Code,

20 in the rates of monthly basic pay authorized members of

21 the uniformed services shall not be made.

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