Don Nickles: “I think the pension change--which, I might mention, is an entitlement change--is not paid for in this bill and it costs…”

“I think the pension change--which, I might mention, is an entitlement change--is not paid for in this bill and it costs $14 billion over the next 10 years. So it is not an insignificant provision. There are also provisions in here dealing with a thrift savings plan. I am in favor of that. I don't have a problem with that. We should encourage that for military personnel. Most provisions in here I agree with and some I disagree with. I think changing the retirement percentage is a mistake. There is another provision in the bill that Senator Cleland, I think, was talking about. I compliment him. He was able to get this in the bill in the markup. I don't believe they had cost estimates and actually knew how much it would cost during the markup, but it was a provision dealing with the GI bill, providing benefits, educational benefits for GIs. He expanded the benefit to say it could be transferred to spouses and children. What does this mean? The bill itself increases the GI benefit from $528 a month to $600 a month, a nice, generous increase. That means a GI that is in the regular service with a commitment for 3 years can sign up and receive educational benefits totaling $600 per month--a pretty nice benefit. That is $7,200 per year. This bill is used by a significant number of GIs. This bill eliminates the coshare. They have to pay, right now, $100 a month, or for the first year $1,200. This bill eliminates that.”