Clinton approves military pay raise, new DOE agency

President Clinton Tuesday signed the 2000 National Defense Authorization bill, which includes a 4.8 percent military pay raise and the creation of a new nuclear weapons agency in the Energy Department.

In addition to the 4.8 percent across-the-board military pay raise in 2000, annual pay raises thereafter will be set at one-half percent above the annual increases in the Employment Cost Index. Pay raises are currently set at 0.5 percent below those increases. The bill also restructures the military pay tables to give more money to mid-level officers and reforms military retirement.

"The excellence of our military is the direct product of the excellence of our men and women in uniform," President Clinton said at a signing ceremony at the Pentagon. "This bill invests in that excellence."

The new semi-autonomous DOE agency, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), will oversee the nation's nuclear weapons complex. According to the bill, the Secretary of Energy is responsible for establishing policy for the NNSA and the head of the agency, an undersecretary of Energy, is "subject to the authority, direction and control of the Secretary."

The bill cedes authority for nuclear weapons, non-proliferation and naval propulsion to the NNSA and creates an office of both intelligence and counterintelligence.

Other provisions of the Defense authorization bill include:

• Extending the Pentagon's authority to offer buyouts of up to $25,000 until September 2003.
• Eliminating the "dual compensation law," which establishes a ceiling on pay for retired military officers who work as civilians for the federal government. The current ceiling is $110,700. About 6,000 military retirees are affected by the ceiling and lose an average of $800 per month in benefits, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
• Extending the expiration date for the authority to pay severance pay in a lump sum from Oct. 1, 1999 to Oct. 1, 2003.
• Improved dental insurance coverage for military retirees.
• Easing cost accounting standards for federal contracts.
• Permanently requiring quadrennial defense reviews.
• Requiring that DoD provide a minimum of two uniformed military personnel for the funerals of honorably discharged veterans.
• Requiring a study comparing military health care benefits with civilian health benefits.
• A reduction in funding for declassification efforts at DoD from $200 million a year to $51 million in 2000.
• Increasing the pay cap on senior executives paid out of non-appropriated funds to Level III of the Executive Level pay schedule.
• Providing restoration of leave to civilian personnel who lose leave while serving in combat zones.