Tom Harkin: “first I want to most sincerely compliment the distinguished Senator from Virginia, the chairman of the committee, and…”

“first I want to most sincerely compliment the distinguished Senator from Virginia, the chairman of the committee, and the ranking member, Senator Levin, for bringing this bill to the floor so expeditiously. The pay structure of the military needs to be addressed. We are losing too many good people. Last summer I happened to find myself up in Iceland, talking to some of the pilots up there who are performing pretty hazardous flying duty. I remember I met in the Oak Club with a bunch of them. They were pilots, highly trained--maybe they had been in 7 or 8 years--and now they are getting out. A lot of them wanted to stay but simply because of the families they had, the pay just wasn't there. We just cannot afford to keep losing that many good people out of the military. So this bill is long overdue, but it is welcome relief for a lot of our military families. I think it will go a long way toward retaining a lot of our qualified people. I know it is 4.8 percent. Frankly, if it was 5 percent, I would vote for it. If it was 6 percent, I would support it. I know we have budgetary constraints, but with a volunteer force like we have, and with some of the duty these people have to pull now in faraway places for a long period of time, not knowing what is around the corner, we have kind of a different situation than it was when the two of us were in the military some years ago. I think this is a good shot. It is needed right now.”