[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 123 (Thursday, September 20, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9551-S9552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SURVIVOR BENEFIT PLAN AMENDMENT TO THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION 
                       BILL FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002

  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, today, I am offering an amendment to the 
national Defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2002 that would 
correct the longstanding injustice to the widows or widowers of our 
military retirees. The proposed legislation, which reflects the 
language of S. 145 which I introduced on January 23, 2001, would 
immediately increase for surviving spouses over the age 62 the minimum 
survivor Benefit Plan, SBP, annuity from 35 percent to 40 percent of 
the SBP covered retired pay. The bill would provide a further increase 
to 45 percent of covered retired pay as of October 1, 2004, and to 55 
percent as of September 2011.
  As I outlined in my many statements in support of this important 
legislation

[[Page S9552]]

the Survivor Benefit Plan advertises, that if the service member elects 
to join the plan, his survivor will receive 55 percent of the member's 
retirement pay. Unfortunately, that is not so. The reason that they do 
not receive the 55 percent of retired pay is that current law mandates 
that at age 62 this amount be reduced either by the amount of the 
survivor's Social Security benefit or to 35 percent of the SBP. This 
law is especially irksome to those retirees who joined the plan when it 
was first offered in 1972. These service members were never informed of 
the age-62 reduction until they had made an irrevocable decision to 
participate. Many retirees and their spouses, as our constituent mail 
attests, believed their premium payments would guarantee 55 percent of 
retired pay for the life of the survivor. It is not hard to imagine the 
shock and financial disadvantage these men and women who so loyally 
served the Nation for many years experience when they learn of the 
annuity reduction.
  Uniformed services retirees pay too much for the available SBP 
benefit both, compared to what we promised and what we offer other 
Federal retirees. When the Survivor Benefit Plan was enacted in 1972, 
the Congress intended that the government would pay 40 percent of the 
cost to parallel the government subsidy of the Federal civilian 
survivor benefit plan. That was short-lived. Over time, the 
government's cost sharing has declined to about 26 percent. In other 
words, the retiree's premiums now cover 74 percent of expected long-
term program costs versus the intended 60 percent. Contrast this with 
the Federal civilian SBP, which has a 42-percent subsidy for those 
personnel under the Federal Employees Retirement System and a 50-
percent subsidy for those under the Civil Service Retirement System. 
Further, Federal civilian survivors receive 50 percent of retired pay 
with no offset at age 62. Although Federal civilian premiums are 10 
percent retired pay compared to 6.5 percent for military retirees, the 
difference in the percent of contribution is offset by the fact that 
our service personnel retire at a much younger age than the civil 
servant and, therefore pay premiums much longer than the Federal 
civilian retiree.

  Although the House conferees thwarted my previous efforts to enact 
this legislation into law, I am ever optimistic that this year we will 
prevail. I base my optimism on the fact that the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 included a sense of the Congress 
on increasing Survivor Benefit Plan annuities for surviving spouses age 
62 or older. The sense of the Congress reflects the concern addressed 
by the legislation I am introducing again today.
  Since I introduced S. 145, 32 of my colleagues joined as cosponsors 
to the bill. I hope my colleagues will speak in support of this 
important legislation and the Senate will adopt this amendment.

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