July 11, 1978
Page 20207
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, first of all, I strongly support the course of action recommended by my good friend from Mississippi. I regret that this amendment is offered to this bill. It is part of a very large problem, as the Senator from Mississippi has suggested. The future cost of Government pension systems, survivors benefits, and other pay and compensation items are enormous. Modifying these benefits or adding to them ought not to be a simple matter of adding an amendment of this nature to an unrelated procurement bill at this late hour of the day, considering some of the questions which have been raised by the sponsor of the amendment himself.
The Department of Defense has given us an estimate of future year costs of this amendment. The Senator from South Carolina disputes these costs. That simple disagreement ought to be resolved by thorough hearings and examination before the Senate makes this kind of a decision, which will surely mean a congressional decision. given the action already taken by the House of Representatives on the proposed revisions.
The subject of this amendment has been covered by recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Military Compensation. The Commission covered much broader ground than this particular amendment. The Senator from South Carolina and the Senator from Hawaii have eloquently testified to some of the equities that ought to be considered at the proper time. But,
Mr. President, in reviewing the merits of this amendment, I consider the staggering costs associated with the retirement and pension systems which we have had to consider in the Senate Budget Committee. There have been staggering costs associated with similar amendments, hastily taken in the past under similar conditions — that we have the responsibility now to fund and meet in the interests of those benefited by the past legislative actions of that kind. Mr. President, in reviewing these facts I cannot find words sufficiently strong to urge the Senate to look at this amendment carefully in accordance with the recommendation of the Senator from Mississippi.
What is involved is not only the viability of the benefits to be provided to the beneficiaries of this amendment, but the viability of all Government retirement and pension systems. We simply do not adequately know and understand the future costs of what we have already done as far as Federal retirement programs are concerned. Now, with insufficient consideration on the Senate floor, we are about to add to those past commitments, with disagreement between the sponsor of this amendment and the Department of Defense as to the costs of this amendment. And the costs involve more than the 9,000-odd widows to whom the Senator from Hawaii refers — much broader costs.
How many Senators do we have on the floor? A half dozen? How many are listening over the pipeline? I do not know. Everybody in the Senate is looking forward to adjourning so we can go to a festive occasion this evening. This is not the atmosphere in which to consider an amendment with potential future costs which have been only hinted at in this brief discussion this afternoon.
I am sympathetic to the equities which have been described and about which I am learning for the first time in this half-hour to 40 minutes of debate. I have only a hint as to the future costs, and they are being disputed on the floor by the author of the amendment himself.
There are other future implications which we ought to be aware of — on which we ought to focus. These pension systems involved in the proposed revision were not enacted into law in the first instance without careful consideration. Mr. President, I urge that we do not casually adopt this amendment, which will become the law of the land if the Senate votes for it this afternoon. We should be in the position of having an assessment of the future costs and nailing them down so that we know what they are before we vote. But it will be too late if we adopt this amendment.
I support the Senator from Mississippi and commend him for his concern and his sense of responsibility about this matter. We can get to the equities in due course; we can deal with them in due course; we can serve them in due course. But let us know what we are doing before we make the commitment.