MILITARY RETIREE HEALTH CARE IN THE DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL -- (House of Representatives - October 30, 2000)

[Page: H11588]  GPO's PDF

---

   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.

[Page: H11589]  GPO's PDF

   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.

( home )