[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 125 (Thursday, September 11, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S11424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROVIDING FOR THE ADJUSTMENT OF CERTAIN FEDERAL ANNUITY COMPUTATIONS

  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 978, which is at the 
desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 978) to amend chapter 84 of title 5, United 
     States Code, to provide that certain Federal annuity 
     computations are adjusted by 1 percentage point relating to 
     periods of receiving disability payments, and for other 
     purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon 
the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in 
the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 978) was read the third time and passed.
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, it is altogether fitting that we have 
finally accomplished this idea on the second anniversary of the violent 
and dastardly attacks of September 11, 2001. Several survivors of that 
tragic day helped inspire this legislation, which will adjust Federal 
employees' retirement computations to offset reductions in the 
retirement amounts arising from on-the-job injuries covered under the 
workers compensation program.
  I thank my colleague, John Warner of Virginia, for cosponsoring the 
measure. I particularly thank Kay Cole James in the Office of Personnel 
Management and her staff for working with me on this measure for well 
over a year now. Moreover, I wish to thank my colleague, Senator Susan 
Collins of Maine, whose leadership today, earlier this year, and last 
year helped move this measure several times through the procedural 
hoops of the Senate. Finally, we have gotten it passed on the House 
side.
  Mr. President, this bill addresses a problem in the retirement 
program for Federal employees that has been recognized for a long time 
but unresolved since 1986, when the current retirement system was 
established. Unfortunately, complications arising from the Tax Code and 
the Workers Rehabilitation Act of 1973 have blocked any solution.
  My resolve to introduce this bill and address this problem was 
inspired by Ms. Louise Kurtz, a Federal employee from Virginia who was 
severely injured in the September 11 attack, 2 years ago today, on the 
Pentagon. She worked at the Pentagon as a civil service employee. She 
suffered burns from the impact of American Airlines Flight 77, but even 
with all these burns, she still was trying to rescue and help others 
get out. She suffered burns on over 70 percent of her body. I have seen 
her several times. In fact, I saw her last year, at the Project 
Phoenix, the reopening and dedication of the Pentagon. She had no 
fingers left--just little nubs, really. Her ears were mostly burned off 
as well. She is a person, though, who continues to endure these painful 
surgeries and faces other surgeries in the future. She wants to 
continue with her rehabilitation. She still hopes to return to work 
someday.
  Current law, however, does not allow Mrs. Kurtz to contribute to her 
retirement program while she is recuperating and receiving workers 
compensation disability payments. As a result, after returning to work 
and eventually retiring, she will find herself inadequately prepared 
and unable to afford to retire because of the lack of contributions 
during her recuperation and rehabilitation.
  As Mrs. Kurtz's situation reveals, Federal employees under the 
Federal employees retirement system who have sustained an on-the-job 
injury and are receiving disability compensation from the Department of 
Labor's Office of Workers Compensation Programs are unable to make 
contributions or payments into Social Security or the Thrift Savings 
Plan. Therefore, under the current situation, which is being changed by 
this law, future retirement benefits from both sources--the Thrift 
Savings Plan and Social Security--are reduced.
  This legislation offsets the reductions in Social Security and the 
Thrift Savings Plan retirement benefits by increasing the Federal 
Employees Retirement System's direct benefit calculation by 1 
percentage point for the extended periods of disability.
  Mr. President, you have probably already heard my talk about this 
bill because we have actually passed this measure twice in the Senate. 
We passed it once on October 17, 2002, and then again in July of this 
year, 2003. As a lead sponsor of the bill, I was pleased to see that my 
colleague on the House side, Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis, with her 
persistence, finally got the House of Representatives to pass this 
measure yesterday. By taking this matter up and passing it in the 
Senate today, we are clearing it for the President's signature.
  The passage of this bill ensures that the pensions of our hard-
working Federal employees will be kept whole during a period of injury 
and recuperation, especially now that many of them are on the front 
lines in protecting our homeland security in this new and ongoing war 
against terror. By protecting the retirement security of injured 
Federal employees, we have provided an incentive for them to return to 
work and increased our ability to retain our most dedicated and 
experienced Federal workers. This is a reasonable and fair approach, in 
which the whole Senate acted in a logical and compassionate manner last 
fall, and, of course, we did so in July, and we have done so again 
today.
  On the second anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, 
the Pentagon, and Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania after the 
brave efforts of those passengers, I thank my colleagues for once again 
passing this compassionate legislation honoring and helping some of the 
survivors of these horrific events.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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