Sense of the House Regarding Rules of Compensation for Civilian Employees and Members of the Uniformed Services of the United States
SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING RULES OF COMPENSATION FOR CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES AND MEMBERS OF THE UNIFORMED SERVICES OF THE UNITED STATES -- (House of Representatives - March 31, 2004)
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Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding me this time.
I rise in support of H. Res. 581, not simply because I have the great honor to represent 15,000 civilian employees at Tinker Air Force Base and 6,000 at Ft. Sill Army Post and thousands of others throughout the district; not just because my own father, who had a distinguished 20-year career in the United States Air Force, followed that with, I think, an equally distinguished 20-year career as a civilian employee at Tinker Air Force Base, but because I think H. Res. 581 expresses equity, good management, smart personnel policy, and, frankly, is also an asset to our national defense.
Opponents of the idea of equal pay for military and civilian personnel quite often point to the inflation issue as something that they focus on. Frankly, I think the real question is the 32 percent wage gap between private sector and public sector employees, something that this House and this government has historically tried to address over time. I think we should continue on that path.
I also think it is of the utmost importance that we retain qualified personnel in Federal civilian service. Over 50 percent of that workforce is now within 5 years of retirement at Tinker Air Force Base. It is an extraordinarily skilled force. It needs to be encouraged; and, frankly, we need to have the incentives to recruit equally qualified people in the future.
I think in the end, Mr. Speaker, this is simply a matter of good policy. I have good friends on both sides of this issue. I think the motives are very good, but the reality is we know we need a first-rate military. We know we need to pay for that. We need a first-rate civilian personnel force to back them up when we are in conflict and, frankly, when we are not. So I am very proud to support this particular resolution.
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