On the recordNovember 6, 1997
Mr. President, it is my pleasure to support the defense authorization bill for several reasons. One of the reasons is, as the Senator from Idaho has indicated, as my colleagues have read in the newspapers, the Air Force and Navy are experiencing real difficulties encouraging experienced pilots to stay in the service. Our Nation has invested, in some cases, up to some $6 million apiece to train these pilots, and the airlines are now benefiting from that. They are hiring scores of pilots away from the military services every month. As part of our effort to retain these highly skilled pilots, the pending bill increases the pilot bonus from the current $12,000 to $25,000, which is paid out over a 5-year period of time. This is a modest increase. It comes from existing Air Force and Navy funds and was requested by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and the Chief of Naval Operations.
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