[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 945 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 945
To amend title 37, United States Code, to improve the process for
adjusting the rates of pay for members of the uniformed services.
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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 29, 2003
Mr. McCain introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Armed ServicesYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 37, United States Code, to improve the process for
adjusting the rates of pay for members of the uniformed services.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REVISED ANNUAL PAY ADJUSTMENT PROCESS.
(a) Requirement for Annual Adjustment.--Subsection (a) of section
1009 of title 37, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
``(a) Requirement for Annual Adjustment.--Effective on January 1 of
each year, the rates of basic pay for members of the uniformed services
under section 203(a) of this title shall be increased under this
section.''.
(b) Effectiveness of Adjustment.--Subsection (b) of such section is
amended by striking ``shall--'' and all that follows and inserting
``shall have the force and effect of law.''.
(c) Percentage of Adjustment.--Subsection (c) of such section is
amended to read as follow:
``(c) Equal Percentage Increase for All Members.--(1) Subject to
subsection (d), an adjustment made under this section in a year shall
provide all eligible members with an increase in the monthly basic pay
that is the percentage (rounded to the nearest one-tenth of 1 percent)
by which the ECI for the base quarter of the year before the preceding
year exceeds the ECI for the base quarter of the second year before the
preceding calendar year (if at all).
``(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), but subject to subsection (d),
the percentage of the adjustment taking effect under this section
during each of fiscal years 2004, 2005, and 2006, shall be one-half of
1 percentage point higher than the percentage that would otherwise be
applicable under such paragraph.''.
(d) Publication of Adjusted Rates.--Subsection (e) of such section
is amended--
(1) by striking ``(e) Notice of Allocations.--'' and
inserting ``(e) Notification and Publication Requirements.--
(1)''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(2) The rates of basic pay that take effect under this section
shall be printed in the Federal Register and the Code of Federal
Regulations.''.
(e) Presidential Determination of Need for Alternative Pay
Adjustment.--Such section is further amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (h); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (f) the following new
subsection (g):
``(g) Presidential Determination of Need for Alternative Pay
Adjustment.--(1) If, because of national emergency or serious economic
conditions affecting the general welfare, the President considers the
pay adjustment which would otherwise be required by this section in any
year to be inappropriate, the President shall prepare and transmit to
Congress before September 1 of the preceding year a plan for such
alternative pay adjustments as the President considers appropriate,
together with the reasons therefor.
``(2) In evaluating an economic condition affecting the general
welfare under this subsection, the President shall consider pertinent
economic measures including the Indexes of Leading Economic Indicators,
the Gross National Product, the unemployment rate, the budget deficit,
the Consumer Price Index, the Producer Price Index, the Employment Cost
Index, and the Implicit Price Deflator for Personal Consumption
Expenditures.
``(3) The President shall include in the plan submitted to Congress
under paragraph (1) an assessment of the impact that the alternative
pay adjustments proposed in the plan would have on the Government's
ability to recruit and retain well-qualified persons for the uniformed
services.''.
(f) Definitions.--Such section, as amended by subsection (e), is
further amended by adding at the end the following:
``(i) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) The term `ECI' means the Employment Cost Index (wages
and salaries, private industry workers) published quarterly by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
``(2) The term `base quarter' for any year is the 3-month
period ending on September 30 of such year.''.
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