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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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing America’s
Future Uniformed Services Act (SAFE–USA) of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The steady decline in the defense budget
during the past 15 years has eroded the readiness
of the Armed Forces to execute those missions called
for under the National Military Strategy to the point
where the Joint Chiefs of Staff have repeatedly
characterized the ability of the Armed Forces to exe-
cute the National Military Strategy as representing
‘‘moderate to high risk’’.
(2) This erosion in readiness of the Armed
Forces, particularly in recent years, has resulted
from inadequate rates of equipment modernization,
delayed equipment maintenance, degraded quality
and quantity of combat training, and a declining
quality of life for members of the Armed Forces and
their families.
(3) The declining quality of life for members of
the Armed Forces and their families has resulted
from a range of factors, including inadequacies in
pay and benefits, military retirement, health care,
military housing, and family support programs, as
shown by the following:
(A) Low military pay, estimated on aver-
age to be 13.5 percent behind civilian levels, is
forcing servicemembers and their families to
struggle to make ends meet.
(B) Inequities in the current military re-
tirement system are a contributing factor to the
current military personnel retention problem.
(C) Growing dissatisfaction with military
health care is another important factor contrib-
uting to military retention problems.
(D) Military families and unaccompanied
military personnel continue to live in inadequate
facilities, as indicated by the fact that military
barracks and dormitories are on average over
45 years old and almost two-thirds of military
family housing has been deemed by the Depart-
ment of Defense as unsuitable.
(E) With a current force in which 65 per-
cent of military personnel are married, family
support programs are increasingly inadequate
to meet their needs in the face of historically
high rates of peacetime operations and the re-
sulting increase in family separations.
(4) The drawdown of the Armed Forces during
the post-Cold War period, combined with the dra-
matic increase in the pace of military operations
during the same period, has resulted in significant
strains on military personnel and their families.
(5) The Armed Forces face severe recruiting
and retention difficulties and shortages of personnel
with high-demand skills.
(6) Surveys conducted by the Armed Forces
and testimony before Congress indicate that the
leading factors in declining retention rates are inad-
equate pay, family separations resulting from in-
creased contingency operations, and the lack of ade-
quate resources to carry out assigned missions.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that—
(1) the United States must provide the Armed
Forces with sufficient resources to maintain the nec-
essary capability to execute the National Military
Strategy with minimal risk; and
(2) despite past congressional efforts to improve
military pay and benefits and housing, health care,
and family support programs, 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
by—
(A) significantly improving the quality and
availability of affordable housing for military
families and enhancing the condition of housing
for unaccompanied military personnel;
(B) reforming the military retirement sys-
tem to permit the Armed Forces to retain suffi-
cient high-quality personnel to meet require-
ments; and
(C) enhancing pay and benefits to permit
the Armed Forces to recruit and retain high-
quality personnel.
SEC. 4. FISCAL YEAR 2000 INCREASE IN MILITARY BASIC
PAY.
(a) INCREASE IN BASIC PAY.—Effective on January
1, 2000, the rates of monthly basic pay for members of
the uniformed services shall be increased by 4.8 percent.
(b) WAIVER OF SECTION 1009 ADJUSTMENT.—The
adjustment to become effective during fiscal year 2000 re-
quired by section 1009 of title 37, United States Code,
in the rates of monthly basic pay authorized members of
the uniformed services shall not be made.
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