TO PROVIDE IMPROVED FUNDING FOR THE SOLDIERS' AND H.R. 3954 TO PROVIDE FOR AN EXCLUSIVE REMEDY AGAINST THE H.R. 15136 GUAM SUPPLEMENTAL MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AUTHORIZATION H.R. 15378 TO AUTHORIZE ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL 78-845 COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES SECOND SESSION SEPTEMBER 23 AND 28, 1976 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1976 HOUSE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES NINETY-FOURTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION MELVIN PRICE, Illinois, Chairman F. EDWARD HÉBERT, Louisiana DAN DANIEL, Virginia G. V. (SONNY) MONTGOMERY, HAROLD RUNNELS, New Mexico RONALD V. DELLUMS, California MENDEL J. DAVIS, South Carolina PATRICIA SCHROEDER, Colorado ABRAHAM KAZEN, JR., Texas ANTONIO B. WON PAT, Guam BOB CARR, Michigan JIM LLOYD, California BOB WILSON, California DONALD J. MITCHELL, New York ANDREW J. HINSHAW, California FULL COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 13549, TO PROVIDE FOR ADDITIONAL INCOME FOR THE UNITED STATES SOLDIERS' AND AIRMEN'S HOME BY REQUIRING THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE HOME TO COLLECT A FEE FROM THE MEMBERS OF THE HOME; BY APPROPRIATING NONJUDICIAL FORFEITURES FOR SUPPORT OF THE HOME; AND BY INCREASING THE DEDUCTIONS FROM PAY OF ENLISTED MEN AND WARRANT OFFICERS; H.R. 3954, TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE, TO PROVIDE FOR AN EXCLUSIVE REMEDY AGAINST THE UNITED STATES IN SUITS BASED UPON MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ON THE PART OF ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY MEDICAL PERSONNEL, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES; SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE XM-1 TANK PANEL; H.R. 15136, TO AUTHORIZE APPROPRIATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF FACILITIES ON GUAM, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES; H.R. 15378, TO AUTHORIZE ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS DURING THE FISCAL YEAR 1977 FOR PROCUREMENT OF NAVAL VESSELS FOR THE ARMED FORCES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, Washington, D.C., September 23, 1976. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 2118, Rayburn House Office Building, the Honorable Melvin Price (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. The committee meets today to receive several reports from subcommittees and special committees. The first report will be made by Mr. Stratton on behalf of the Military Compensation Subcommittee. Mr. STRATTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The first item of business I would like to present to the committee concerns the status of H.R. 13549. [H.R. 13549] [H.R. 13549, 94th Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To provide for additional income for the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home by requiring the Board of Commissioners of the Home to collect a fee from the members of the Home; by appropriating nonjudicial forfeitures for support of the Home; and by increasing the deductions from pay of enlisted men and warrant officers Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) for months after the month in which this Act is enacted, the Board of Commissioners of the United States (1) 316 Soldiers' and Airmen's Home (hereinafter in this section referred to as the "Home") shall collect a fee from each member of the Home. (b) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, the amount of the fee required to be collected from each member of the Home pursuant to subsection (a) shall be— (A) for months after the close of the sixty-month period referred to in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, an amount equal to 25 per centum of— (i) the monthly amount of the military retired pay of the member, (ii) the monthly amount of the disability compensation or pension paid by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to the member; or (iii) the monthly amount of military retired pay and such disability compensation, in the case of any member receiving both; and (B) for months during the sixty-month period beginning with the month after the month in which this Act is enacted, an amount equal to such percentage (but less than 25 percentum of the monthly amount of military retired pay, disability compensation, or pension, as the case may be, of each member as the Board of Commissioners may determine to be appropriate to provide for an incremental phasing-in of the fee amount specified in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph. (2) In any case in which a member of the Home has assigned more than 75 per centum of his disability compensation or pension payable by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to his child, wife, or parent pursuant to section 4 of the Act of March 3, 1883 (24 U.S.C. 52), the amount of the fee collected under this section for each member for each month shall equal the monthly amount of the disability compensation or pension payable pursuant to such section 4 to the treasurer of the Home on behalf of such member, but adjusted accordingly during the sixty-month period referred to in paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection to carry out the purposes of such paragraph. (c) All fees collected pursuant to this section shall be for the sole and exclusive use of the Home. SEC. 2. Section 4818 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (24 U.S.C. 44) is amended by inserting "or under authority of section 815 of title 10, United States Code" before ", over and above". SEC. 3. The Act of February 13, 1936, chapter 66 (24 U.S.C. 44a), is amended by striking "25 cents," and inserting in place thereof "50 cents". REPORT OF HON. SAMUEL S. STRATTON, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW YORK, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY COMPENSATION Mr. STRATTON. This is the bill providing for improved funding for the Soldiers' and Airmen's Home. It passed the House some time ago. It has been over in the Senate. The Senate has made some substantial changes in the bill, and also added an amendment to the bill to provide 2 years of grade relief for the Air Force in lieu of approving our overall revision of the officer grade structure contained in the DOPMA bill which passed the House, as you know, very recently. In view of the lateness of the session and the very remote possibility of getting any improvements in the conference, I would like to ask that the committee direct me to take the bill from the Speaker's table and on behalf of the committee agree to the Senate amendment thereto. In doing so, I would like to state very clearly, and I will state on the floor, that in accepting the Senate bill we do not necessarily accept the interpretation of some sections of the bill that were contained in the actual Senate committee report, and that we accept the 2-year extension of the grade relief with reluctance and only with the understanding that we will continue to work for passage of our DOPMA legislation in the next Congress. There are two points about the Soldiers' and Airmen's Home bill I want to stress: (1) The bill as passed by the House provided for a phasing-in of the user's fee over a 5-year period. As passed by the Senate, it merely provides the same ultimate limit on the user's fee of 25 percent of retired pay, but the Senate committee report implies that the full 25percent fee should be initiated immediately. My recommendation today is that we accept the amended bill, but with the understanding that the bill language does not require the full user's fee has to be instituted immediately, and that we prefer it to be instituted on a gradual basis as recommended originally by the House. (2) Both bills provide that the deduction from the active-duty pay may be increased from 25 cents to 50 cents a month. Our bill recommends going immediately to 50 cents and avoiding frequent changes. For active-duty personnel this is a relatively small amount, obviously, and the bill, as it comes out of the Senate, does not really provide the secure financial future for the home that we, ourselves, have provided in our bill. This is 50 cents from the active-duty pay of Regular enlisted men and women at a time when the minimum salary of a private is $361 a month. The deduction was 25 cents a month back in the days when a private made $7 a month, and today, at $361, we are suggesting that they take another 25 cents a month for it. It is our belief that the increased deduction should be instituted promptly in addition to the user's fee. I would like to say again, there is nothing in the Senate bill, the amendments that they have made, that would prevent this. But again, their report seems to be that the increase should be put in gradually for the active-duty personnel. With this understanding, I believe the committee can accept the Senate amendment that eliminates the accrual of nonjudicial fines and forfeitures for the home and which calls for a GAO audit of the home, to be completed by next August. As far as the grade-relief amendment which they put on, they provide for a 2-year extension of Air Force grade relief. This is the same thing we have been doing for the last several years; every couple of years we have to put through this temporary extension, and we had hoped to be able to obviate that this year with the DOPMA bill. But the Senate, of course, didn't go along. Personally, I would prefer a 1-year extension. In accepting the Senate extension, I think we should do so with the understanding that we will continue to work for the overall revision of the officer promotion system and with the assurance to the House that we will call up the DOPMA legislation again early in the next session and try to reach an agreement with the Senate on the DOPMA bill. I talked to Senator Byrd, who handled the Airmen's Home bill. This procedure on my part, which I am asking the permission of the committee to implement, is acceptable to him. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Kazen. Mr. KAZEN. On the Soldiers' and Airmen's Home, you said it was your impression you are going to interpret it as giving them 5 years |