Correcting Miscalculations in Veterans' Pensions Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4431) to amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for interest payments by agencies in the case of administrative error in processing certain annuity deposits for prior military service, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 4431

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Mr. Speaker, I urge support of H.R. 4431, the Correcting Miscalculations in Veterans' Pensions Act, introduced by Congressman Carter of Georgia.

Civilian Federal employees earn an annuity as a part of their service to the country. Newly hired civil servants with prior Federal service, such as members of the military or the Peace Corps, can pay a deposit to count their prior service toward that annuity. This allows an individual to increase their pension upon retirement by counting previous, noncivilian service in the annuity calculation.

Under Federal retirement rules, there is a set period of time in which the individual can pay the service deposit. If a deposit isn't paid within this period of time, interest is assessed.

For example, someone wishing to pay a military service deposit must do so within 2 years of starting civilian service. On the third anniversary of civilian employment, interest will begin to accrue annually until the deposit is paid in full.

From time to time, agencies make mistakes that can cause an individual to be assessed interest that would not otherwise be owed. Most commonly, the problem arises when an agency provides inaccurate information about the amount or due date of the deposit. But under current law, agencies cannot fix those mistakes, meaning the civil servant has to pay the cost of the agency's mistake.

A 1996 opinion by the Government Accountability Office found the Department of Energy was prohibited from paying the interest assessed as a result of an agency's mistake on a military service deposit without a change in the law. The agency made a mistake, and the agency wanted to pay the difference. But under the restrictions of current law, the individual had to cover the interest payments that accrued through no fault of his own.

This bill fixes that problem to ensure civil servants do not pay the cost of agencies' mistakes. Specifically, the bill authorizes Federal agencies to pay interest assessed on military service deposits, AmeriCorps service deposits, and Peace Corps service deposits, if the interest is a result of an agency error.

I thank the gentleman from Georgia, my friend, Mr. Carter, for his work on this important bill. I look forward to hearing from him in a moment.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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