District of Columbia Military Retirement Equity Act of 2003

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3054) to amend the Policemen and Firemen's Retirement and Disability Act to permit military service previously performed by members and former members of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, the Fire Department of the District of Columbia, the United States Park Police, and the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division to count as creditable service for purposes of calculating retirement annuities payable to such members upon payment of a contribution by such members, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 3054.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3054, the District of Columbia Military Retirement Equity Act of 2003 is bipartisan legislation that will allow current and former police officers, firefighters, U.S. Park Police officers, and United States Secret Service employees in the District of Columbia to essentially buy back military service time to avoid costly reductions in their monthly benefit payment.

Under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the Department of the Treasury and the District of Columbia share responsibility for the D.C. police officers and firefighters retirement plan.

In conjunction with the District, the Treasury Department proceeded to audit the program and discovered a mistake in which individuals were concurrently receiving credit for their post-1956 military service while being eligible for Social Security. Treasury was then forced to reduce hundreds of annuitants' monthly benefits. Through no fault of their own, hundreds of retirees find themselves in the precarious position of having to buy back the military time or have a dramatic reduction in their annuity.

This reality is clearly unfair, was unintended, and must be corrected. I believe this House has an obligation to right this wrong for the benefit of those who selflessly protect our Nation's capital city, and this legislation gives us an opportunity to do just that. The D.C. Military Retirement Equity Act provides a fair mechanism for active duty retirees and retirees to buy back their military service time while it preserves their planned monthly annuity.

This legislation parallels the Civil Service Retirement Act. Federal employees who retired under the Civil Service Retirement Act were made aware of the post-1956 law and were permitted to buy the service credit by making payments equal to 7 percent of the military basic pay for the period in question. If the employee elected to buy back the service credit, it continued to be counted after the employee became eligible for Social Security. The current and former officers covered under this bill who have served our country not once but twice deserve the same opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support H.R. 3054. I thank and congratulate my colleagues, the distinguished cosponsors of this legislation, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon), for their efforts on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank my friend for his remarks. Let me say that even today, our police officers and firefighters in the District of Columbia, our Secret Service agents put their lives on the line and one never knows what is around the corner in a job like this. It is difficult recruiting and retaining the best and the brightest for these positions; and to some extent, they look at how we treat current retirees when they decide to sign up and for retention or to join the Department in the first place.

In this particular case, a grave mistake was made at the time of the Balanced Budget Act. It had ramifications of basically taking thousands of dollars away from people who over the last generation laid their lives on the line for the safety of the citizens who run our Nation's capital, our law makers and government institutions.

This legislation is, I think, a modest attempt to try to right that wrong, and I hope that current officers and those that are thinking of going into this understand the high regard in which this Congress holds these individuals and honors the service that they gave this city and this government during their tenure. That is what this equity act is all about. That is why it has strong bipartisan support, and that is why I urge our colleagues in the House to support this legislation today.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers at this point, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman) for his leadership and again the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), who is a cosponsor with me, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon), of course our distinguished Delegate from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton). We thank all of them for helping to put this together as we hopefully pass this today, send this to the other body for what we hope will be fast consideration and a signature on the President's desk.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, and I yield back any remaining time I have.

Mr. Speaker, I am transmitting a status report on the current levels of on-budget spending and revenues for fiscal year 2004 and for the 5-year period of fiscal years 2004 through 2008. This report is necessary to facilitate the application of sections 302 and 311 of the Congressional Budget Act and section 501 of the conference report on the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2004 (H. Con. Res. 95). This status report is current through November 14, 2003.

The term ``current level'' refers to the amounts of spending and revenues estimated for each fiscal year based on laws enacted or awaiting the President's signature.

The first table compares the current levels of total budget authority, outlays, and revenues with the aggregate levels set forth by H. Con. Res. 95. This comparison is needed to enforce section 311(a) of the Budget Act, which creates a point of order against measures that would breach the budget resolution's aggregate levels. The table does not show budget authority and outlays for fiscal years 2004 through 2008, because appropriations for those years have not yet been considered.

The second table compares the current levels of budget authority and outlays for discretionary action by each authorizing committee with the ``section 302(a)'' allocations made under H. Con. Res. 95 for fiscal year 2004 and fiscal years 2004 through 2008. ``Discretionary action'' refers to legislation enacted after the adoption of the budget resolution. A separate allocation for the Medicare program, as established under section 401(a)(3) of the budget resolution, is shown for fiscal year 2004 and fiscal years 2004 through 2013. This comparison is needed to enforce section 302(f) of the Budget Act, which creates a point of order against measures that would breach the section 302(a) discretionary action allocation of new budget authority for the committee that reported the measure. It is also needed to implement section 311(b), which exempts committees that comply with their allocations from the point of order under section 311(a).

The third table compares the current levels of discretionary appropriations for fiscal year 2004 with the ``section 302(b)'' suballocations of discretionary budget authority and outlays among Appropriations subcommittees. This table also compares the current level of total discretionary appropriations with the section 302(a) allocation for the Appropriations Committee. These comparisons are needed to enforce section 302(f) of the Budget Act because the point of order under that section equally applies to measures that would breach either the section 302(a) allocation or the applicable section 302(b) suballocation.

The last table gives the current level for 2005 of accounts identified for advance appropriations under section 501 of H. Con. Res. 95. This list is needed to enforce section 501 of the budget resolution, which creates a point of order against appropriation bills that contain advance appropriations that are: (i) not identified in the statement of managers or (ii) would cause the aggregate amount of such appropriations to exceed the level specified in the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I also rise in support of this legislation, and I want to commend the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) and the others who have brought this legislation forward. I know the important role that the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) played in urging us to pass this legislation. It makes sense.

This bill offers a fair remedy for retired and active duty District firefighters, District police officers, U.S. Secret Service, and U.S. Park Police that is in parity with Federal employees. There is no reason they should not have that parity.

In the late 1980s, Congress passed similar legislation offering Federal retirees enrolled in the Federal Employees Retirement System and the Civil Service Retirement System an opportunity to buy back their military time to maintain a consistent annuity once they became eligible for Social Security benefits. After the Department of the Treasury assumed financial responsibility of the D.C. Metro plan in 1997, they conducted an audit and discovered an oversight of a Federal law that prohibits any retiree with post-1956 military service from crediting that time towards their retirement once they become eligible for Social Security.

These brave men and women serve our country and our communities without question. We have a duty to meet our commitment to them, that they will be offered opportunities for a comfortable retirement. There are at least 300 retired police officers and firefighters whose annuities have already been reduced, with an average of 3 years of post-1956 military service. The D.C. police officers and firefighters retirement plans cover approximately 14,000 retirees and survivors who served as D.C. police officers, firefighters, U.S. Secret Service and Park Police. We need to treat them fairly.

That is why I would urge all my colleagues to support this bill. It is a bill that I cannot see how anybody could

oppose it. I just think it is the right thing to do; and given that fact, there is nothing more that I could say on this matter except let us as quickly as we can pass this bill to the other body and hope they send it to the President for his signature. Let no time go further and lose the opportunity to correct what is a defect in the law and that we have an opportunity to correct.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I have no other speakers here at the present time, but I know there are Members who want to put their statements in the Record in support of this legislation, especially those who have played such a fundamental role in advancing this cause and bringing it to our attention.

Mr. Speaker, seeing that they will have an opportunity, I am sure, at the appropriate time, I yield back the balance of our time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleague and good friend from Virginia, Mr. Davis, in supporting H.R. 3054, the DC Military Retirement Equity Act. This measure goes a long way in providing a fair solution to an unjust problem.

When I was notified that hundreds of former military service members and retired Firefighters, Police Officers, Secret Service personnel, and U.S. Park Police were having their annuities forcibly reduced due to no fault of their own, it was clear that this was an injustice in need of swift action.

The solution, H.R. 3054, will allow retired and active duty DC Firefighters and Police Officers as well as U.S. Secret Service and Park Police to buy back any military service time in order for them to maintain their monthly annuity. An oversight in the administration of their retirement plans neglected to account for a federal law prohibiting any post 1956-military service from being credited towards a retiree's benefits once that retiree becomes eligible for Social Security.

In the past few months, many retirees have had their hard earned monthly annuities reduced by up to $600 per month. Future retirees can expect similar reductions, unless we pass this measure. Unlike options given to federal employees under FERS and CSRS, these members were never told about this provision and never offered an opportunity to buy back their time. H.R. 3054 will allow retirees to maintain their monthly annuities and will allow working men, women and their families to accurately plan for their retirement. These dedicated men and women selflessly served their country in the military and continued in their service by protecting our communities. We have a responsibility to ensure that they receive what they have rightfully earned.

I am pleased that Chairman Davis, Chairman Weldon, Ranking Member Waxman, Ranking Member Davis, Congresswoman Norton and I have been able to work in a bipartisan manner to develop a positive solution to a potentially crippling injustice. I would urge my colleagues to support

Mr. President, I hereby submit to the Senate the budget scorekeeping report prepared by the Congressional Budget Office under section 308(b) and in aid of section 311 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended. This report meets the requirements for Senate scorekeeping of section 5 of S. Con. Res. 32, the First Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for 1986.

This report shows the effects of congressional action on the 2004 budget through November 19, 2003. The estimates of budget authority, outlays, and revenues are consistent with the technical and economic assumptions of the 2004 Concurrent Resolution on the Budget, H. Con. Res. 95, as adjusted.

The estimates show that current level spending is below the budget resolution by $7.0 billion in budget authority and by $11.1 billion in outlays in 2004. Current level for revenues is $57 million below the budget resolution in 2004.

Since my last report, dated November 11, 2003, the Congress has cleared for the President's signature the following acts that changed budget authority, outlays, or revenues for 2004: the National Defense Authorization Act for 2004, H.R. 1588; the Military Construction Appropriations Act, 2004, H.R. 2559; the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2004, H.R. 2754; and, the District of Columbia Military Retirement Equity Act of 2003, H.R. 3054.

I ask unanimous consent that the budget scorekeeping report be printed in the Record.