[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 59 (Thursday, May 2, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H4401-H4402]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    COLA EQUITY FOR FEDERAL RETIREES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Davis] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my concern about one 
of the budget procedures attached in both the President's budget and 
now under consideration by the House Committee on the Budget that 
continues a delay on the cost-of-living allowance for Federal workers 
of 3 months.
  As you know, in this last Congress a terrible mistake was made when 
Federal employees were singled out, not Social Security recipients, 
Federal employees were singled out for delays in the cost-of-living 
allowance to Federal retirees for 3 months. Military retirees were 
treated to a 6-month delay. It was a terrible mistake. There was no 
COLA equity, and I think Members on both sides of the aisle recognize 
this is not the way we want to do business.
  Then comes the administration budget for this year that continues a 
deferral for Federal retirees, and at this point, as I understand, 
under the Committee on the Budget's recommendations, the military 
retirees will receive no COLA delay, Social Security will receive no 
COLA delay, but Federal retirees once again are singled out for a delay 
in the cost-of-living allowance, and that will be continued. A terrible 
mistake has been made once and they want to continue this, or at least 
some Members at this point are looking at this as a way to try to bring 
down the deficit.
  The difficulty with this of course is that Federal employees and 
retirees have already given over $150 billion toward the deficit in 
terms of benefits since 1980. They continue to be willing to give on a 
fair and reasonable basis. But this last year has seen an assault on 
Federal employees and retirees as we have never seen before.
  Of course, they are undergoing the downsizing that every other 
organization and State and local governments are going through across 
this country. But at the same time, they have been threatened with the 
loss of benefits. They were going to raise the retirement contribution, 
basically a 2.5-percent pay cut this body passed at one point, but 
fortunately was killed over in the other body. There was an effort to 
take their retirement and figure it on the high 5 years instead of the 
high 3 years. There were going to be caps on the health benefit plan. 
There were going to be caps on making them pay for parking that 
civilian employees get for free. But we defeated most of that at this 
point. Then, of course, we had the terrible furloughs in November and 
December.
  In every other organization throughout this country people are 
recognizing your employees are the essential component of being able to 
deliver the service to your customer. But here at the Federal level, we 
do not understand that. We end up treating our own employees and 
retirees as if somehow this is just another pocket to be picked, 
instead of one of the strongest assets this Government has.
  I hope as we entertain the budget deliberations this year, that we 
will not look to the Federal retirees to give unfairly and single them 
out for COLA adjustments. Many Federal retirees do not get Social 
Security. If they are under the Civil Service Retirement System, they 
do not get Social Security. They worked for the Federal Government and 
as a result of that gave up their rights to Social Security. Why should 
their cost-of-living allowance be attacked, and other retirees who by 
reason of the fact they did not work for the Government would continue?
  COLA equity is the byword. Everybody is willing to pay on a fair, 
level playing field. But this Congress owes it

[[Page H4402]]

to our Federal retirees and employees for fair treatment. We have not 
been fair in this last year. We can begin anew. I hope the Committee on 
the Budget in their final deliberations will look for COLA equity 
across the board.

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