A primary focus of this act was to address the pressing financial needs of our military personnel. They will receive a 4.8 percent pay raise beginning Jan. 1, 2000. The following six years will include a raise of 0.5 percent above the annual increase in the Employment Cost Index, which measures changes in private sector wages. A reform of the military pay tables will go into effect on July 1, 2000. These measures are designed to help address the growing gap between private sector and military pay.
Military retirement is another key component in the quality of life for military personnel.
The Thrift Savings Plan will also be made available, allowing a pre-tax contribution of up to 5 percent of pay to be put into a retirement fund. Hopefully these measures will ease families' worries about the future, and encourage them to remain in the military. It is my hope that this is only the beginning of further improvements for military health care. I believe that it is vitally important for service members to have good equipment to work with. The spouse or parent of someone in the military should be confident in the planes, trucks, tanks, and ships that carry their loved ones around the world.