Senators
Introduce Frequent Flyer Legislation
Bill
Will Allow Military Personnel, Federal Employees to Retain Travel
Benefits
Thursday,
October 4, 2001
WASHINGTON - Governmental Affairs Committee
Chairman Joe Lieberman (D-CT), along with Ranking Member Fred
Thompson (R-TN) and Senators Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and John Warner
(R-VA), have introduced legislation that will allow military
personnel and federal employees to make use of promotional
benefits, such as frequent flyer miles, that they receive as a
result of official government travel.
“This initiative will correct a glaring inequity that
exists between government and private sector employees for
work-related travel," Lieberman said. "Not only is the
current prohibition on frequent flyer benefits unfair to our
federal workforce but it is inefficient for agencies that have to
take on this significant administrative burden.
By making these benefits available to government workers,
we will help make federal service more competitive with the
private sector.”
“I am pleased to join my colleagues in cosponsoring this
legislation which allows federal employees and military personnel
to retain frequent flier mileage awards earned while on government
travel,” Thompson said. “This
legislation should serve to boost employee morale and enhance
federal recruitment and retention efforts at a time when we want
to encourage citizens to answer the call to public service.”
“Federal employees and military personnel are frequently
asked to travel on behalf of their government, often times going
long distances from home for many days at a time,” said Akaka,
Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on International
Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services.
“These hard working men and women deserve to retain the
benefits they receive in the course of their public service.
That is why I am pleased to join Senators Lieberman,
Thompson, and Warner in sponsoring this legislation.”
“Civilian federal employees and their DOD counterparts
have long deserved the opportunity to receive earned frequent
flyer miles,” said Warner. “At the very moment we are struggling to recruit and retain
the very best talent for the federal government, and this bill
represents a significant step forward in that effort.”
The bill, S.1498, which was introduced Wednesday, would
allow those federal employees currently prohibited by the 1994
Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act to retain travel benefits
such as frequent flyer miles, upgrades, and access to carrier
clubs or facilities. Covered
are executive branch employees, including military personnel,
foreign service members, and their families, judicial branch
personnel, and employees of the General Accounting Office, the
Library of Congress, the Government Printing Office, and other
legislative-branch agencies.
Earlier this year the House of Representatives passed
legislation to allow federal employees to retain travel benefits.
In September, the Armed Services Committee adopted an
amendment offered by Senators Lieberman and Warner to extend these
privileges to executive branch employees as well as military
personal as part of the Department of Defense 2002 Authorization
Act. The bill
introduced today further expands the number of federal employees
eligible to retain these benefits.
|