[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 25569]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     MILITARY RETIREE HEALTH CARE IN THE DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Shows) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHOWS. Mr. Speaker, today President Clinton is expected to sign 
the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2001. This will 
help promote a first-class military, and it is a great victory for our 
military retirees because it takes a giant step in correcting an 
injustice suffered by our military retirees and their families. The 
defense bill provides pharmacy benefits and extends TRICARE to retirees 
beyond age 65 as a supplement to Medicare, and fulfills the promise of 
lifetime health care to America's eldest military retirees.
  Retirees joined the service with a promise of lifetime health care; 
but right now TRICARE, the military health care plan, ends at age 65. 
Unlike all other Federal retirees, military retirees get Medicare but 
nothing else if they cannot afford supplemental insurance; and many 
retirees under age 65 are not covered due to serious flaws in the 
TRICARE program.
  To remedy this sad situation, last year the gentleman from Georgia 
(Mr. Norwood) and I and Senators Tim Johnson, John McCain, and our 
esteemed colleague, Paul Coverdell, introduced the Keep Our Promise to 
America's Military Retirees Act, H.R. 3573.
  The Keep Our Promise Act united military retirees and families across 
the country. Their billboards, bumper stickers, e-mails, phone calls, 
and letters to newspapers and Congress have educated us to their 
plight. Their persistence gained the Promise Act 306 cosponsors in the 
House and 36 in the Senate.
  We would not be celebrating historic improvements in military health 
care today without the grass roots support for the Shows-Norwood Keep 
Our Promise Act.
  We should commend the efforts of every military retiree or family 
member across the country who participated in the grass roots efforts. 
I cannot allow Congress to adjourn without acknowledging the efforts of 
two very special Americans, two Mississippians. Jim Whittington of 
Laurel and Floyd Sears of Ocean Springs organized the meeting in March 
of 1999 that resulted in the introduction of the Keep Our Promise Act. 
They led the grass roots in the fight for justice for military retirees 
that brings us here today.
  There are many, many more grass roots leaders who must be recognized. 
While it is not possible to name them all, I want to thank several 
people who communicated regularly with my staff and me for the 
outstanding work to keep our promise to America's military retirees: 
Colonel George ``Bud'' Day and everyone with the Class Act Group; 
General Robert Clements, Edith Smith, Floyd Felts, Dick Manion, Lonnie 
Vessel, Jack Hollinsworth, Chuck Huffman, and Joe Priestley.
  I also appreciate the many veterans and military service 
organizations of the Military Coalition and the National Military and 
Veterans Alliance.
  Particularly, I want to thank my friends at the National Association 
for Uniformed Services, the Retired Enlisted Association, the Retired 
Officers Association and the Air Force Sergeants Association. I am 
proud that the defense bill accomplishes part of what the Keep Our 
Promise Act would do by extending military health care to retirees over 
age 65; but the defense bill does not do everything the Promise Act 
would do. The Promise Act would offer military retirees the option to 
participate in the FEHBP plan because many retirees are not well served 
by TRICARE. We need to pass the rest of Keep Our Promise Act because it 
is the right thing to do, and I promise that the military retirees 
across the country will keep fighting for the benefits they were 
promised, earned and richly deserve.

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