Louis Stokes: “I rise in strong opposition to the offsetting amendment. This amendment would adversely affect a number of programs…”

“I rise in strong opposition to the offsetting amendment. This amendment would adversely affect a number of programs under the VA-HUD Subcommittee's jurisdiction. Part of the amendment would reduce the funds available for salary costs in 1994 by $1.575 billion. The amendment would also reduce administrative expenses by $1.8 billion--including $143 million from VA. This part of the amendment is similar to the one offered by Mr. Myers. But it is really more devastating because the reduction in salary funds proposed for rescission more than doubles--from $750 million to $1.575 billion. The agencies under the subcommittee's jurisdiction--and I think this is true for most of the Federal agencies--did not receive any additional 1994 funds for the so-called locality pay increase. Those costs are being absorbed. In the VA's medical care account, for instance, the cost of locality pay is approximately $130 million. I received a letter this morning from VA Secretary Jessie Brown--and I mentioned this during debate on the Myers amendment--stating that an amendment of this impact would have a disastrous impact. He indicated that a proportional reduction in the salary rescission would equate to $160 million and that would result in a reduction of 3,300 FTE. Since the Defense Department is now exempted--and it was not exempted in an early version--the reduction for VA would exceed $300 million equating to over 6,000 employees.”