thedrifter
07-12-05, 06:17 PM
Your ’06 pay plans
House, Senate will wrangle over a tangle of special pays and bonuses that promise to fatten your wallet
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
As Congress shapes its 2006 pay-and-benefits plan for service members, two themes stand out. First, lawmakers are concerned about recruiting and retention problems — enough so that they are willing to try a variety of new ideas to address shortfalls.
One approach, planted by the Army in the House version of the 2006 defense authorization bill, would pay a $1,000 “finder’s fee” to soldiers who refer people to recruiters. The reward would be paid if the referred person — who could not be related to the soldier — completes basic and advanced training.
Another precedent-setting idea included in the Senate version of the bill would pay a $2,500 bonus to members of the Navy or Air Force — which have more people than they need — who agree to join the Army or Marine Corps.
Also under consideration are increases in traditional enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses and in special pays and bonuses for critical skills. And the focus is on lump-sum rather than monthly payments, in the belief that a $1,000 check is a bigger carrot than $100 in monthly incentive pay to get people to sign up for long obligations.
Second, lawmakers continue to seek ways to improve pay and benefits for combat troops and their families.
They must face the issue in part because current life insurance and death benefits rates are temporary; they were increased in May as part of a supplemental funding bill under authority that expires with the fiscal year on Sept. 30. If Congress fails to act, payments to the families of war dead would be cut on Oct. 1.
Again, novel ideas are in play. The House bill, for example, proposes “wounded warrior pay” of $430 per month during hospitalization for those who are injured or fall ill in a war zone.
The House approved its version of the bill, HR 1815, on May 25 and is waiting for the Senate to catch up so work on a final bill can start. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved its bill, S 1042, on May 17, but floor debate — initially scheduled for late June — has been delayed while the Senate works on other issues.
Aides now believe the Senate will pass the bill by the last week of July, with negotiations on a final bill delayed until September because Congress traditionally goes on vacation in August.
Here is a rundown of major pay-and-benefits provisions in the two bills, with our predictions of the outcomes:
Basic pay
What: A 3.1 percent pay raise is part of both the Senate and House bills. This amount, slightly above last year’s private-sector wage raises, follows a formula approved by Congress that tries to close the so-called “gap” between military and civilian pay by setting military raises 0.5 percentage point above the rise in the Employment Cost Index, a measure of civilian wage growth.
This pay formula, set in 1999 when the gap between military and civilian pay had grown to 13.5 percent, expires with the 2006 raise, which would cut the pay gap to 4.6 percent. Without the pay formula, it is unclear what may happen with military pay raises in 2007 and beyond, but permanent law governing federal raises calls for minimum increases that are 0.5 percentage point below the ECI.
Who: All active-duty and drilling reserve members.
Prediction: A sure thing.
Thrift Savings Plan matching contributions
What: The Senate bill includes a proposal for the military to match troops’ contributions to the federal Thrift Savings Plan. The plan would authorize — but not order — all services to provide matching contributions for all first-term personnel and would direct the Army to test the concept. Current law allows matching contributions as a re-enlistment incentive for people in critical skills who agree to serve six more years, but no service offers that option. The House bill has no similar provision.
Who: All services would be covered, but the Army is expected to be the primary user.
Prediction: Stands an even chance of approval but is unlikely to be offered if it becomes law.
Saved pay for warrant officers
What: Enlisted members who become warrant officers would have greater protection against the possibility of a pay reduction under a Senate proposal to expand the list of pays, bonuses, and allowances that fall under a “saved pay” rule. The expanded list includes hazardous duty pays and other special and incentive pays. The House bill has no similar provision.
Who: Enlisted members who become warrant officers.
Prediction: Even odds.
Supplemental Subsistence Allowance
What: A temporary allowance created to keep low-income service members with families off food stamps would be made permanent under the House and Senate bills. The allowance, up to $500 a month, was created in 2001 and is set to expire in 2006. It has worked in reducing the number of military members who qualify for food stamps.
Who: Fewer than 1,400 people, mostly junior enlisted personnel with large families.
Prediction: A sure thing.
Reserve housing allowance
What: Under a House proposal, mobilized reservists would be paid the same rate of housing allowance as active-duty troops when mobilized for more than 30 days. This would eliminate the lower Basic Allowance for Housing Type II payments now given to those mobilized for more than 30 but less than 140 days. The result: an average boost of $425 a month. The Senate bill includes no similar provision.
Who: About 30,000 reservists would qualify, based on current mobilizations.
Prediction: Even odds.
Adoption leave
What: Service members eligible for military reimbursement of adoption-related expenses also would get up to 21 days of leave in connection with an adoption under a provision of the House bill.
If both husband and wife are in the military, only one could get the leave. The Senate bill has no similar provision. The Pentagon has been cool to the idea.
Who: About 2,500 families a year.
Prediction: Don’t bet on it.
Overseas COLA
What: A military family that stays overseas when a service member is reassigned to the United States could continue to receive overseas cost-of-living allowance under a provision in the House bill. This would not be automatic, but determined by a service secretary when it is in the best interests of the member, the family and the government. The Senate bill has no similar provision.
Who: Primary targets are service members returning to the States for training who will not have a lot of time to spend with their families and who expect another assignment immediately upon completion of the training.
Prediction: Even odds.
Danger pay while hospitalized
What: The Senate bill would repeal the three-month limit on giving imminent danger pay to a person hospitalized from injuries or wounds incurred in hostile action. There would be no time limit on payments. The House bill includes no similar provision.
Who: Mostly soldiers and Marines recovering from war wounds.
Prediction: Even odds.
Foreign language pay
What: With slightly different approaches, the House and Senate bills would change foreign language proficiency pay to give the services an option of offering lump-sum bonuses of up to $12,000 instead of monthly incentive pay of up to $1,000. The Senate bill would limit the lump-sum payments to those on active duty, but the House bill would make both active and reserve members eligible.
Who: Arabic speakers are in high demand.
Prediction: The bonus option is a sure thing, but only even odds on paying reservists at the same rate as active members.
Retroactive danger pay
What: Under both the House and Senate bills, the defense secretary could provide retroactive hostile-fire or imminent-danger pay, designating both the area in which payment is deserved and the starting date for payments.
Who: A handful of people.
Prediction: A sure thing.
Assignment incentive pay
What: Under both the House and Senate bills, this program, which gives a maximum $1,500 per month to those who take a designated assignment for a specific length of time, would be extended for a year and altered so the services would have the option of giving monthly or lump-sum payments.
Lump sums are expected to be lower than total monthly payments for the same assignment length.
Who: The Navy is the only service to have expressed interest in paying lump-sum assignment incentives, although all the services could use the authority.
Prediction: Even odds.
Selective re-enlistment bonuses
What: The standard maximum re-enlistment bonus, now $60,000, would increase to $90,000, and bonuses would be available to active and reserve enlisted troops with between 16 and 20 years of service, under the House bill. Current law does not allow re-enlistment bonuses for those with more than 16 years of service. The Senate bill includes an increase to $75,000 only for some Navy nuclear-qualified sailors.
Who: About 65,000 active-duty members and 30,000 National Guard and reserve members are expected to get bonuses in 2006.
Prediction: The House plan is a sure thing. Don’t bet on the Senate plan.
Nuclear bonuses
What: The House bill has two proposals to enhance retention incentives, one for officers and one for enlisted personnel. The bonus for Navy nuclear-qualified officers who extend their service would rise by $5,000 a year to a new limit of $30,000 for every extended year.
Annual career incentive bonuses for enlisted members would rise by $4,000 to a new maximum of $10,000.
Who: The Navy nuclear community — officer and enlisted — would benefit. About 700 people would qualify for the senior supervisor bonus.
Prediction: Even odds.
Reserve affiliation and accession bonuses
What: Enlistment bonuses for joining a reserve component would increase to a maximum of $15,000 under the House bill and $10,000 under the Senate bill. Both bills also would create a permanent lump-sum bonus of $10,000 for anyone with prior active-duty experience who joins the reserves. This would replace the $50-per-month affiliation pay currently given to prior-service members for each month of reserve service.
Who: About 39,000 people with no prior service are expected to receive bonuses averaging $7,200, about twice the current average. About 3,400 people leaving active duty are expected to get reserve affiliation bonuses averaging $9,400, about two-thirds larger than the current incentive.
Prediction: A sure thing.
Transfer bonuses
What: A bonus of up to $2,500 would be paid to active and reserve members who leave one branch of service and join another under the Senate bill. The House bill includes no similar provision.
Who: Aimed at getting sailors and airmen to transfer to the Army or Marine Corps.
Prediction: A sure thing.
Reserve critical-skills bonuses
What: The House and Senate take different approaches to the issue of retaining reservists in high-priority skills. The House bill would make reservists eligible for critical-skills bonuses, previously limited to the active-duty force. The only limit on the bonuses is a lifetime cap of $200,000, with the services otherwise allowed to determine who is eligible and how much they can receive for promising to serve at least one additional year. The Senate bill includes the critical-skills bonus, plus special pay of $10 to $50 per drill for people in some critical units, including company-grade officers.
continued.....
House, Senate will wrangle over a tangle of special pays and bonuses that promise to fatten your wallet
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
As Congress shapes its 2006 pay-and-benefits plan for service members, two themes stand out. First, lawmakers are concerned about recruiting and retention problems — enough so that they are willing to try a variety of new ideas to address shortfalls.
One approach, planted by the Army in the House version of the 2006 defense authorization bill, would pay a $1,000 “finder’s fee” to soldiers who refer people to recruiters. The reward would be paid if the referred person — who could not be related to the soldier — completes basic and advanced training.
Another precedent-setting idea included in the Senate version of the bill would pay a $2,500 bonus to members of the Navy or Air Force — which have more people than they need — who agree to join the Army or Marine Corps.
Also under consideration are increases in traditional enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses and in special pays and bonuses for critical skills. And the focus is on lump-sum rather than monthly payments, in the belief that a $1,000 check is a bigger carrot than $100 in monthly incentive pay to get people to sign up for long obligations.
Second, lawmakers continue to seek ways to improve pay and benefits for combat troops and their families.
They must face the issue in part because current life insurance and death benefits rates are temporary; they were increased in May as part of a supplemental funding bill under authority that expires with the fiscal year on Sept. 30. If Congress fails to act, payments to the families of war dead would be cut on Oct. 1.
Again, novel ideas are in play. The House bill, for example, proposes “wounded warrior pay” of $430 per month during hospitalization for those who are injured or fall ill in a war zone.
The House approved its version of the bill, HR 1815, on May 25 and is waiting for the Senate to catch up so work on a final bill can start. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved its bill, S 1042, on May 17, but floor debate — initially scheduled for late June — has been delayed while the Senate works on other issues.
Aides now believe the Senate will pass the bill by the last week of July, with negotiations on a final bill delayed until September because Congress traditionally goes on vacation in August.
Here is a rundown of major pay-and-benefits provisions in the two bills, with our predictions of the outcomes:
Basic pay
What: A 3.1 percent pay raise is part of both the Senate and House bills. This amount, slightly above last year’s private-sector wage raises, follows a formula approved by Congress that tries to close the so-called “gap” between military and civilian pay by setting military raises 0.5 percentage point above the rise in the Employment Cost Index, a measure of civilian wage growth.
This pay formula, set in 1999 when the gap between military and civilian pay had grown to 13.5 percent, expires with the 2006 raise, which would cut the pay gap to 4.6 percent. Without the pay formula, it is unclear what may happen with military pay raises in 2007 and beyond, but permanent law governing federal raises calls for minimum increases that are 0.5 percentage point below the ECI.
Who: All active-duty and drilling reserve members.
Prediction: A sure thing.
Thrift Savings Plan matching contributions
What: The Senate bill includes a proposal for the military to match troops’ contributions to the federal Thrift Savings Plan. The plan would authorize — but not order — all services to provide matching contributions for all first-term personnel and would direct the Army to test the concept. Current law allows matching contributions as a re-enlistment incentive for people in critical skills who agree to serve six more years, but no service offers that option. The House bill has no similar provision.
Who: All services would be covered, but the Army is expected to be the primary user.
Prediction: Stands an even chance of approval but is unlikely to be offered if it becomes law.
Saved pay for warrant officers
What: Enlisted members who become warrant officers would have greater protection against the possibility of a pay reduction under a Senate proposal to expand the list of pays, bonuses, and allowances that fall under a “saved pay” rule. The expanded list includes hazardous duty pays and other special and incentive pays. The House bill has no similar provision.
Who: Enlisted members who become warrant officers.
Prediction: Even odds.
Supplemental Subsistence Allowance
What: A temporary allowance created to keep low-income service members with families off food stamps would be made permanent under the House and Senate bills. The allowance, up to $500 a month, was created in 2001 and is set to expire in 2006. It has worked in reducing the number of military members who qualify for food stamps.
Who: Fewer than 1,400 people, mostly junior enlisted personnel with large families.
Prediction: A sure thing.
Reserve housing allowance
What: Under a House proposal, mobilized reservists would be paid the same rate of housing allowance as active-duty troops when mobilized for more than 30 days. This would eliminate the lower Basic Allowance for Housing Type II payments now given to those mobilized for more than 30 but less than 140 days. The result: an average boost of $425 a month. The Senate bill includes no similar provision.
Who: About 30,000 reservists would qualify, based on current mobilizations.
Prediction: Even odds.
Adoption leave
What: Service members eligible for military reimbursement of adoption-related expenses also would get up to 21 days of leave in connection with an adoption under a provision of the House bill.
If both husband and wife are in the military, only one could get the leave. The Senate bill has no similar provision. The Pentagon has been cool to the idea.
Who: About 2,500 families a year.
Prediction: Don’t bet on it.
Overseas COLA
What: A military family that stays overseas when a service member is reassigned to the United States could continue to receive overseas cost-of-living allowance under a provision in the House bill. This would not be automatic, but determined by a service secretary when it is in the best interests of the member, the family and the government. The Senate bill has no similar provision.
Who: Primary targets are service members returning to the States for training who will not have a lot of time to spend with their families and who expect another assignment immediately upon completion of the training.
Prediction: Even odds.
Danger pay while hospitalized
What: The Senate bill would repeal the three-month limit on giving imminent danger pay to a person hospitalized from injuries or wounds incurred in hostile action. There would be no time limit on payments. The House bill includes no similar provision.
Who: Mostly soldiers and Marines recovering from war wounds.
Prediction: Even odds.
Foreign language pay
What: With slightly different approaches, the House and Senate bills would change foreign language proficiency pay to give the services an option of offering lump-sum bonuses of up to $12,000 instead of monthly incentive pay of up to $1,000. The Senate bill would limit the lump-sum payments to those on active duty, but the House bill would make both active and reserve members eligible.
Who: Arabic speakers are in high demand.
Prediction: The bonus option is a sure thing, but only even odds on paying reservists at the same rate as active members.
Retroactive danger pay
What: Under both the House and Senate bills, the defense secretary could provide retroactive hostile-fire or imminent-danger pay, designating both the area in which payment is deserved and the starting date for payments.
Who: A handful of people.
Prediction: A sure thing.
Assignment incentive pay
What: Under both the House and Senate bills, this program, which gives a maximum $1,500 per month to those who take a designated assignment for a specific length of time, would be extended for a year and altered so the services would have the option of giving monthly or lump-sum payments.
Lump sums are expected to be lower than total monthly payments for the same assignment length.
Who: The Navy is the only service to have expressed interest in paying lump-sum assignment incentives, although all the services could use the authority.
Prediction: Even odds.
Selective re-enlistment bonuses
What: The standard maximum re-enlistment bonus, now $60,000, would increase to $90,000, and bonuses would be available to active and reserve enlisted troops with between 16 and 20 years of service, under the House bill. Current law does not allow re-enlistment bonuses for those with more than 16 years of service. The Senate bill includes an increase to $75,000 only for some Navy nuclear-qualified sailors.
Who: About 65,000 active-duty members and 30,000 National Guard and reserve members are expected to get bonuses in 2006.
Prediction: The House plan is a sure thing. Don’t bet on the Senate plan.
Nuclear bonuses
What: The House bill has two proposals to enhance retention incentives, one for officers and one for enlisted personnel. The bonus for Navy nuclear-qualified officers who extend their service would rise by $5,000 a year to a new limit of $30,000 for every extended year.
Annual career incentive bonuses for enlisted members would rise by $4,000 to a new maximum of $10,000.
Who: The Navy nuclear community — officer and enlisted — would benefit. About 700 people would qualify for the senior supervisor bonus.
Prediction: Even odds.
Reserve affiliation and accession bonuses
What: Enlistment bonuses for joining a reserve component would increase to a maximum of $15,000 under the House bill and $10,000 under the Senate bill. Both bills also would create a permanent lump-sum bonus of $10,000 for anyone with prior active-duty experience who joins the reserves. This would replace the $50-per-month affiliation pay currently given to prior-service members for each month of reserve service.
Who: About 39,000 people with no prior service are expected to receive bonuses averaging $7,200, about twice the current average. About 3,400 people leaving active duty are expected to get reserve affiliation bonuses averaging $9,400, about two-thirds larger than the current incentive.
Prediction: A sure thing.
Transfer bonuses
What: A bonus of up to $2,500 would be paid to active and reserve members who leave one branch of service and join another under the Senate bill. The House bill includes no similar provision.
Who: Aimed at getting sailors and airmen to transfer to the Army or Marine Corps.
Prediction: A sure thing.
Reserve critical-skills bonuses
What: The House and Senate take different approaches to the issue of retaining reservists in high-priority skills. The House bill would make reservists eligible for critical-skills bonuses, previously limited to the active-duty force. The only limit on the bonuses is a lifetime cap of $200,000, with the services otherwise allowed to determine who is eligible and how much they can receive for promising to serve at least one additional year. The Senate bill includes the critical-skills bonus, plus special pay of $10 to $50 per drill for people in some critical units, including company-grade officers.
continued.....