Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - March 14, 2005)

By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. FEINGOLD):

S. 611. A bill to establish a Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services and a Federal Interagency Committee on emergency Medical Services Advisory Council, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Emergency Medical Services Act of 2005. This legislation will help to improve Federal efforts to support community-based emergency medical services across America. I am pleased to be joined by Senator FEINGOLD in this effort.

Today, New York University's Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response is releasing an important report, titled ``Findings from a National Roundtable to Improve Emergency Medical Service's Homeland Security Preparedness.'' This report details concerns and recommendations from more than 50 representatives of national EMS organizations and Federal agencies. Their top recommendation was to improve EMS homeland security preparedness through enactment of the very measure we are introducing today. I would note that a former member of my staff, Tim Raducha-Grace drafted this report. Tim continues to be a champion of first responders nationwide, and I congratulate him on this latest achievement.

A comprehensive, coordinated emergency medical services system is essential to assure prompt, quality care to help individuals suffering from automobile crashes to traumatic medical emergencies, to terrorist events. The emergency medical services system serves as one of the most important parts of our health care safety net.

Unfortunately, for the past 20 years, Federal support for EMS has been both scarce and uncoordinated. At least seven Federal agencies are involved in various aspects of emergency medical services (EMS), though most agencies focus on only one segment of the EMS system and don't effectively coordinate with other agencies.

In 2001, at the request of Senator FEINGOLD and myself, the General Accounting Office cited in its report Emergency Medical Services: Reported needs are Wide-Ranging with a Growing Focus on Lack of Data the need to increase coordination among Federal agencies as they address the needs of regional, State, or local emergency medical services systems.

This legislation would seeks to improve one of the few existing efforts to coordinate Federal support for EMS providers. This legislation would formally establish a Federal Interagency Council on Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS), and would require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, to provide organizational and staff support.

This legislation would enhance coordination among the Federal agencies involved with the State, local, tribal and regional emergency medical services and 9-1-1 systems. It would also help to assure Federal agencies coordinate their EMS-related activities and maximize the best utilization of established funding.

Local, State and Federal level emergency medical services systems are extremely diverse and involve numerous different agencies and organizations. To assure a viable, responsive emergency medical services system, Federal agencies need the input and advice of their non-Federal partners and from persons regulating or providing emergency medical services systems at the State and local level.

According to Tom Judge, the Executive Director of Lifeflight of Maine, and Jay Bradshaw, the State of Maine's EMS Director, improved coordination can help strengthen support for a wide range of emergency medical services, from rural EMS providers, to communications between EMS systems, to improving coordination between local EMS providers and their Federal partners.

Another GAO report made it clear that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services needs to better coordinate its reimbursement with the Department of Transportation's matching grants for equipment and vehicles. Many of Maine's communities are at risk of seeing their first ambulance service closures in rural areas, such as in Rumford, ME, due to low reimbursement rates. If DOT targeted assistance to the low reimbursement areas that were at risk of shutting down, we might be able to maintain service in those areas.

Improved coordination could also strengthen the integration between local providers and Federal agencies. Substantial numbers of our Reserve and National Guard units are being called up for duty, which has hurt search and air rescue capability across Maine. While LifeFlight of Maine is called upon to provide an eye in the sky there is little to no current capability for lifting someone out of the woods when there is no space to land. If the Navy pulls the last part time aircraft out of Brunswick Naval Air station, there wouldn't be any capability at all within a reasonable response timeframe.

I am pleased to have the support of Maine's EMS Director, Jay Bradshaw, Lifeflight of Maine, the American Ambulance Association, the National Association of Maine EMS Directors, and others.

We must ensure that Federal agencies coordinate their efforts to support the dedicated men and women who provide EMS services across our Nation. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting their efforts by cosponsoring this legislation.

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my colleague from California, Senator Feinstein, in introducing the Social Security Fairness Act. This bill repeals two provisions of current law--the windfall elimination provision (WEP) and the government pension offset (GPO) that unfairly reduce earned Social Security benefits for many public employees when they retire.

Individuals affected by both the GPO and the WEP are those who are eligible for Federal, State or local pensions from work that was not covered by Social Security, but who also qualify for Social Security benefits based on their own work in covered employment or that of their spouses. While the two provisions were intended to equalize Social Security's treatment of workers, we are concerned that they unfairly penalize individuals for holding jobs in public service when the time comes for them to retire.

These two provisions have enormous financial implications not just for Federal employees, but for our teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public employees as well. Despite their challenging, difficult and sometimes dangerous jobs, these invaluable public servants often receive far lower salaries than private sector employees. It is therefore doubly unfair to penalize them when it comes to their Social Security benefits. These public servants--or their spouses--have all paid taxes into the Social Security system. So have their employers. Yet, because of these two provisions, they are unable to collect all of the Social Security benefits to which they otherwise would be entitled.

While the GPO and WEP affect public employees and retirees in virtually every State, their impact is most acute in 15 States, including Maine. Nationwide, more than one-third of teachers and education employees, and more than one-fifth of other public employees, are affected by the GPO and/or the WEP.

Almost one million retired government workers across the country have already been adversely affected by these provisions. Millions more stand to be affected by them in the future. Moreover, at a time when we should be doing all that we can to attract qualified people to public service, this reduction in Social Security benefits makes it even more difficult for our Federal, State and local governments to recruit and retain the teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public servants who are so critical to the safety and well-being of our families.

The Social Security windfall elimination provision reduces Social Security benefits for retirees who paid into Social Security and who receive a government pension from work not covered under Social Security, such pensions from the Maine State Retirement Fund. While private sector retirees receive Social Security checks based on 90 percent of their first $612 average monthly career earnings, government pensioners checks are based on 40 percent a harsh penalty of more than $300 per month.

The government pension offset reduces an individual's survivor benefit under Social Security by two-thirds of the amount of his or her public pension. It is estimated that nine out of ten public employees affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal benefit, even though their deceased spouses paid Social Security taxes for many years.

What is most troubling is that this offset is most harsh for those who can least afford the loss--lower-income women. In fact, of those affected by the GPO, 73 percent are women. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the GPO reduces benefits for more than 200,000 of these individuals by more than $3,600 a year--an amount that can make the difference between a comfortable retirement and poverty.

Our teachers and other public employees face difficult enough challenges in their day-to-day work. Individuals who have devoted their lives to public service should not have the added burden of worrying about their retirement. Many Maine teachers, in particular, have talked with me about this issue. They love their jobs and the children they teach, but they worry about the future and about their financial security in retirement.

I hear a lot about this issue in my constituent mail, as well. Patricia Dupont, for example, of Orland, ME, wrote that, because she taught for 15 years under Social Security in New Hampshire, she is living on a retirement income of less than $13,000 after 45 years in education. Since she also lost survivors' benefits from her husband's Social Security, she calculates that a repeal of the WEP and the GPO would double her current retirement income.

These provisions also penalize private sector employees who leave their jobs to become public school teachers. Ruth Wilson, a teacher from Otisfield, Maine, wrote:

``I entered the teaching profession two years ago, partly in response to the nationwide pleas for educators. As the current pool of educators near retirement in the next few years, our schools face a crisis. Low wages and long hard hours are not great selling points to young students when selecting a career.

``I love teaching and only regretted my decision when I found out about the penalties I will unfairly suffer. In my former life as a well-paid systems manager at State Street Bank in Boston, I contributed the maximum to Social Security each year. When I decided to become an educator, I figured that because of my many years of maximum Social Security contributions, I would still have a livable retirement `wage.' I was unaware that I would be penalized as an educator in your State.''

In September of 2003, I chaired a Governmental Affairs Committee hearing to examine the effect that the GPO and the WEP have had on public employees and retirees. We heard compelling testimony from 73-year old Julia Worcester of Columbia, ME, who told us about her work in both Social Security-covered employment and as a Maine teacher, and about the effect that the GPO and WEP have had on her income in retirement. Mrs. Worcester worked for more than 20 years as a waitress and in factory jobs before deciding, at the age of 49, to go back to school to pursue her life-long dream of becoming a teacher. She began teaching at the age of 52 and taught full-time for 15 years before retiring at the age of 68. Since she was only in the Maine State Retirement System for 15 years, Mrs. Worcester does not receive a full State pension. Yet she is still subject to the full penalties under the GPO and WEP. As a consequence, she receives just $107 a month in Social Security benefits, even though she worked hard and paid into the Social Security system for more than 20 years. After paying for her health insurance, she receives less than $500 a month in pension income.

After a lifetime of hard work, Mrs. Worcester, is still substitute teaching at 75, just to make ends meet. This simply is not fair. I am therefore pleased to join Senator Feinstein in introducing this legislation to repeal these two unfair provisions, and I urge my colleagues to join us a cosponsors.

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