[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 29, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1905-S1906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. McCAIN:
  S. 2322. A bill to amend title 37, United States Code, to establish a 
special subsistence allowance for certain members of the uniformed 
services who are eligible to receive food stamp assistance, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Armed Services.


           remove servicemembers from food stamps act of 2000

 Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill to 
remove thousands of our servicemembers from the food stamp rolls.
  The Remove Servicemembers from Food Stamps Act of 2000 provides 
junior enlisted servicemembers who are eligible for food stamps in the 
pay grade E-1 through E-5 an additional allowance of $180 a month. A 
not-yet-published Department of Defense report estimates that 6,300 
servicemembers receive food stamps, while the General Accounting Office 
and Congressional Research Service place this number at around 13,500. 
Regardless of this disparity, the fact that just one servicemember is 
on food stamps is a national disgrace. This bill will end the ``food 
stamp Army'' once and for all.
  This legislative proposal is estimated to cost only $6 million 
annually. Interestingly, the Congressional Budget Office determined 
that it would represent an overall savings to taxpayers since it would 
save the Department of Agriculture more than $6 million by removing 
servicemembers from the food stamp rolls for good.
  Last year, this legislation was included in S. 4, the Soldiers', 
Sailors', Airmen's, and Marines' Relief Act of 1999. Although the 
Senate approved this legislation as part of S. 4, I was greatly 
disappointed when food stamp relief was rejected by conferees from the 
House of Representatives despite the strong support of Admiral Jay 
Johnson, the Chief of Naval Operations, and General Jim Jones, the 
Commandant of the Marine Corps. With over 13,500 military families on 
food stamps, and possibly thousands more eligible for the program, I 
cannot understand the Congress' refusal to rectify this problem in last 
year's National Defense Authorization Act.
  It is outrageous that Admirals and Generals received a 17 percent pay

[[Page S1906]]

raise last year while our enlisted families continue to line up for 
free food and furniture. Last year, we poured hundreds of millions of 
dollars into programs the military did not request, like the C-130J. We 
spent $375 million as a down payment on a $1.5 billion amphibious 
assault ship that the Navy did not want and that the Secretary of 
Defense said diverts dollars from higher priority programs. We added 
$5.1 million to build a gymnasium at the Naval Post-Graduate School and 
$15 million to build a Reserve Center in Oregon--neither was in the 
President's budget request or identified by the Joint Chiefs as a 
priority item.
  It is difficult to reconcile how Congress could waste $7.4 billion on 
pork barrel spending in the defense budget, while we ignore the basic 
needs of our military families. I have been open to all suggestions for 
solutions to this problem and am willing to work toward a bipartisan 
plan that would satisfy the administration, Congress, and the 
Department of Defense. Sadly, politics, not military necessity, remains 
the rule, not the exception.
  It is unconscionable that the men and women who are willing to 
sacrifice their lives for their country have to rely on food stamps to 
make ends meet, and it is an abrogation of our responsibilities as 
Senators to let this reality go on without some sort of legislative 
remedy.
  I will not stand by and watch as our military is permitted to erode 
to the breaking point due to the President's lack of foresight and the 
Congress' lack of compassion. These military men and women on food 
stamps--our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines--are the very same 
Americans that the President and Congress have sent into harm's way in 
recent years in Somalia, Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo, and East Timor. They 
deserve our continuing respect, our unwavering support, and a living 
wage.
  The legislation is supported by every enlisted association or 
organization that specifically supports enlisted servicemember issues 
in the Military Coalition and in the National Military/Veterans 
Alliance. Associations include the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Non-
Commissioned Officers Association, the American Legion, the Retired 
Enlisted Association, the National Association for Uniformed Services, 
the Fleet Reserve Association, the Air Force Sergeants Association, the 
U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers Association, the Disabled 
American Veterans, the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of 
the U.S., and the Naval Enlisted Reserve Association.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill and to act swiftly. It is a 
step in the right direction toward improving the lives of our 
servicemembers and their families who are struggling to feed their 
families. There is no reason not to pass this bill immediately. We have 
waited too long already. We must end the days of a ``food stamp Army'' 
once and for all. Our military personnel and their families deserve 
better.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2322

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Remove Servicemembers from 
     Food Stamps Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. SPECIAL SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCE FOR MEMBERS ELIGIBLE TO 
                   RECEIVE FOOD STAMP ASSISTANCE.

       (a) Allowance.--(1) Chapter 7 of title 37, United States 
     Code, is amended by inserting after section 402 the following 
     new section:

     ``Sec. 402a. Special subsistence allowance

       ``(a) Entitlement.--Upon the application of an eligible 
     member of a uniformed service described in subsection (b), 
     the Secretary concerned shall pay the member a special 
     subsistence allowance for each month for which the member is 
     eligible to receive food stamp assistance.
       ``(b) Covered Members.--An enlisted member referred to in 
     subsection (a) is an enlisted member in pay grade E-5 or 
     below.
       ``(c) Termination of Entitlement.--The entitlement of a 
     member to receive payment of a special subsistence allowance 
     terminates upon the occurrence of any of the following 
     events:
       ``(1) Termination of eligibility for food stamp assistance.
       ``(2) Payment of the special subsistence allowance for 12 
     consecutive months.
       ``(3) Promotion of the member to a higher grade.
       ``(4) Transfer of the member in a permanent change of 
     station.
       ``(d) Reestablished Entitlement.--(1) After a termination 
     of a member's entitlement to the special subsistence 
     allowance under subsection (c), the Secretary concerned shall 
     resume payment of the special subsistence allowance to the 
     member if the Secretary determines, upon further application 
     of the member, that the member is eligible to receive food 
     stamps.
       ``(2) Payments resumed under this subsection shall 
     terminate under subsection (c) upon the occurrence of an 
     event described in that subsection after the resumption of 
     the payments.
       ``(3) The number of times that payments are resumed under 
     this subsection is unlimited.
       ``(e) Documentation of Eligibility.--A member of the 
     uniformed services applying for the special subsistence 
     allowance under this section shall furnish the Secretary 
     concerned with such evidence of the member's eligibility for 
     food stamp assistance as the Secretary may require in 
     connection with the application.
       ``(f) Amount of Allowance.--The monthly amount of the 
     special subsistence allowance under this section is $180.
       ``(g) Relationship to Basic Allowance for Subsistence.--The 
     special subsistence allowance under this section is in 
     addition to the basic allowance for subsistence under section 
     402 of this title.
       ``(h) Food Stamp Assistance Defined.--In this section, the 
     term `food stamp assistance' means assistance under the Food 
     Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.).
       ``(i) Termination of Authority.--No special subsistence 
     allowance may be made under this section for any month 
     beginning after September 30, 2005.''.
       (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter 
     is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
     402 the following:

``402a. Special subsistence allowance.''.

       (b) Effective Date.--Section 402a of title 37, United 
     States Code, shall take effect on the first day of the first 
     month that begins on or after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act.
       (c) Annual Report.--(1) Not later than March 1 of each year 
     after 2000, the Comptroller General of the United States 
     shall submit to Congress a report setting forth the number of 
     members of the uniformed services who are eligible for 
     assistance under the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et 
     seq.).
       (2) In preparing the report, the Comptroller General shall 
     consult with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of 
     Transportation (with respect to the Coast Guard), the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services (with respect to the 
     commissioned corps of the Public Health Service), and the 
     Secretary of Commerce (with respect to the commissioned 
     officers of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
     Administration), who shall provide the Comptroller General 
     with any information that the Comptroller General determines 
     necessary to prepare the report.
       (3) No report is required under this subsection after March 
     1, 2005.
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