Maxwell Frost: “Mr. Speaker, let me state at the outset that it is my intention to support this conference report. The National Defense…”

“Mr. Speaker, let me state at the outset that it is my intention to support this conference report. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 contains a number of provisions that are critical to the maintenance of our national defense forces. Most important among them is a 4.8 percent basic military pay raise and additional pay raises targeted to mid-grade officers and NCOs to improve retention and hopefully stem the loss of some of the best and brightest and most valuable members of our armed services. The quality-of-life issues addressed in this package are, in a word, essential to the men and women who serve in uniform and to their families. As Members of this body point out repeatedly, it is unconscionable that service men and women should be paid at rates so low that they depend upon food stamps to feed their families, or the military housing is oft times decrepit or substandard. This bill may not resolve all of those issues, but at least it puts us on the road to fixing a problem that cannot and should not be tolerated.”