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Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1175 - National Defense Supplemental Authorization for Fiscal Year 1991

March 13, 1991

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY

(House Floor)
(Aspin (D) WI and Dickinson (R) AL)

The Administration has reached an agreement with the bipartisan Senate leadership on a compromise to increase carefully selected benefits for veterans and military personnel on a basis that is fully consistent with the Budget Enforcement Act. It is hoped that a similar agreement may be reached in the House. Unfortunately, H.R. 1175 — as reported by the House Armed Services Committee — does not meet these tests.

H.R. 1175, as reported by the House Armed Services Committee, would authorize more than $1.2 billion in increased direct spending for military personnel and veterans benefits over 5 years without offsets. It contains provisions that are inappropriate for inclusion in emergency supplemental legislation because they are either unnecessary or not urgently needed at this time. The bill contains mandatory scoring language, consistent with House Rule XXI, which would undo a key element of the Federal spending control mechanisms in the Omnibus Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1990. If these issues are not addressed, the President's senior advisers would recommend that he veto H.R. 1175.

The most objectionable benefits provisions in H.R. 1175 would:

—   Pay a Family Separation Allowance to dual military couples without dependents. This is contrary to longstanding military policy to treat each servicemember as a military member in his/her own right, and not as a dependent.

—   Alter the basis for payment of Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) payments to surviving spouses by establishing four DIC benefit rates based on the veteran's age at time of death. The Administration opposes this provision because the age of the veteran at the time of his or her death is not an appropriate factor to use in determining the monthly DIC payment.

—   Increase Montgomery GI Bill benefits by an unacceptably large percentage. The increase is more than ten times the increase contained in the agreement between the Administration and the bipartisan Senate leadership.

—   Establish a new direct home loan program for reservists unable to obtain private financing at guaranteed loan interest rates. There is no evidence that reservists have been or will be denied private loans or forced to pay higher interest rates because of the possibility of being called to active duty.

In addition, Section 503 of the House Armed Services Committee substitute designates direct spending in, and appropriations authorized under, Titles II and III as emergency requirements and provides that these benefits provisions do not take effect unless the President designates all of them en bloc as emergencies. This is contrary to the Budget Enforcement Act, which specifically states that the Presidential designation may be made on a provision-by-provision basis.

Scoring for the Purpose of Pay-As-You-Go and the Caps

H.R. 1175 would increase direct spending; therefore, it is subject to the pay-as-you-go requirement of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1990. No offsets to the direct spending increases are provided in the bill. A budget point of order applies in the Senate against any bill that is not fully offset under CBO scoring. If, contrary to the Administration's recommendation, the Senate waives any such point of order that applies against H.R. 1175, enactment of this legislation would add to the end of year pay-as-you-go requirement, which must be met to avoid sequester.

OMB's preliminary scoring estimates of this bill are presented in the table below. Final scoring of this legislation may deviate from these estimates. If H.R. 1175 were enacted, final OMB scoring estimates would be published five days after enactment, as required by OBRA. The cumulative effect of all enacted legislation on the pay-as-you-go requirement will be issued in monthly reports transmitted to Congress.

Estimates for Pay-As-You-Go
(outlays in millions)

  1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1991-95
Title I -- -- -- -- -- --
Title II 131 -- -- -- -- 131
Title III 2 212 253 292 318 1,077
Title IV -- -- -- -- -- --
Title V -- -- -- -- -- --
TOTALS 133 212 253 292 318 1,208

In addition to the above outlays from direct spending, Section 301(b) — pension benefits for veterans and surviving spouses would result in additional long term costs, with a net present value of between $2.2 and $2.9 billion. These figures represent OMB's preliminary net present value estimate of this provision.

Title II of H.R. 1175 would also authorize increases in discretionary spending for military personnel benefits totaling $227 million in FY 1991 and $28 million in each of FYs 1992 through 1995. Total authorizations for discretionary spending for the period 1991-1995 would total $339 million.

George Bush, Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1175 - National Defense Supplemental Authorization for Fiscal Year 1991 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/330720

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