[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 56 (Thursday, April 22, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4115-S4117]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. BIDEN:
S. 865. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide
the same tax treatment for danger pay allowance as for combat pay; to
the Committee on Finance.
[[Page S4116]]
DIPLOMATIC DANGER PAY
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, today I want to right a wrong--a small
wrong, but a wrong nevertheless. It affects a handful of our diplomats
who serve in the world's most dangerous places: Beirut, Bosnia, Kosovo,
the unsettled nations of Africa and the former Soviet Union and
elsewhere. And unfortunately, as the events of recent weeks prove, the
need for Americans--soldiers and diplomats alike--to go in harm's way,
is unlikely to abate.
Our diplomats, colleagues of those killed last summer in the tragic
embassy bombings in Africa, receive an allowance for their service in
the most frightening places in the world--a danger allowance.
This allowance is not unlike that paid to our military when they are
in combat. In fact, in some places, such as Bosnia, where our military
and diplomatic personnel serve side by side, both receive a special
allowance for their sacrifices.
The military justifiably receives this benefit tax-free. But our
diplomatic personnel do not. Through an oversight in the Internal
Revenue Code, diplomats are taxed on their danger pay, even though they
often face similar hardships and dangers. I think that's wrong.
I have a bill which would amend the Internal Revenue Code to right
this wrong. It affects just a handful of people. But to them it will
serve as recognition of the sacrifice they make when they represent the
American people in dangerous settings overseas. I urge its quick
passage.
I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill appear in the
Record.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
S. 865
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. TREATMENT OF DANGER PAY ALLOWANCE.
(a) In General.--Subchapter C of chapter 80 of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to provisions affecting more
than one subtitle) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``SEC. 7874. TREATMENT OF DANGER PAY ALLOWANCE.
``(a) General Rule.--For purposes of the following
provisions, a danger pay allowance area shall be treated in
the same manner as if it were a combat zone (as determined
under section 112):
``(1) Section 2(a)(3) (relating to special rule where
deceased spouse was in missing status).
``(2) Section 112 (relating to the exclusion of certain
combat pay of members of the Armed Forces).
``(3) Section 692 (relating to income taxes of members of
Armed Forces on death).
``(4) Section 2201 (relating to members of the Armed Forces
dying in combat zone or by reason of combat-zone-incurred
wounds, etc.).
``(5) Section 3401(a)(1) (defining wages relating to combat
pay for members of the Armed Forces).
``(6) Section 4253(d) (relating to the taxation of phone
service originating from a combat zone from members of the
Armed Forces).
``(7) Section 6013(f)(1) (relating to joint return where
individual is in missing status).
``(8) Section 7508 (relating to time for performing certain
acts postponed by reason of service in combat zone).
``(b) Danger Pay Allowance Area.--For purposes of this
section, the term `danger pay allowance area' means any area
in which an individual receives a danger pay allowance under
section 5928 of title 5, United States Code, for services
performed in such area.''
(b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for
subchapter C of chapter 80 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 7874. Treatment of danger pay allowance.''
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall apply to remuneration paid in taxable years ending
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, among the worst situations facing
spouses, children, and families of members of the United States Armed
Forces, is to be greeted by an official party, wearing their dress blue
uniforms, announcing the grim news that their loved one has been killed
or declared missing.
On Sunday, September 14, 1997 nine families endured such an
experience as the United States Air Force declared one of its C-141
Starlifter cargo planes, en route from Namibia to Ascension Island, was
overdue and presumed to have gone down in the Atlantic Ocean. At the
same time, a German military plane was also declared missing in the
same area, amid indications that the two planes had collided and
crashed into the Atlantic.
An extensive search was begun, during which only a few airplane
seats, a few papers, some debris from the U.S. cargo plane, remnants of
the German aircraft, and the body of one victim were recovered. No
other remains were recovered, and no survivors were located. On
Saturday, September 27, 1997 the search for the crewmen of the Air
Force jet ended and all were declared dead.
Mr. President, an investigation confirmed everyone's worst fears. In
fact, on that fateful day--September 13, 1997--a German Luftwaffe
Tupelov TU-154M collided with a U.S. Air Force C-141 Starlifter off the
coast of Namibia, Africa. As a result of that mid-air collision nine
United States Air Force Service members were killed. These are the
rank, name, age, assignment, and hometowns of those killed: Staff
Sergeant Stacy D. Bryant, 32, loadmaster, Providence, Rhode Island;
Staff Sergeant Gary A. Bucknam, 25, flight engineer, Oakland, Maine;
Captain Gregory M. Cindrich, 28, pilot, Byrans Road, Maryland; Airman
1st Class Justin R. Drager, 19, loadmaster, Colorado Springs, Colorado;
Staff Sergeant Robert K. Evans, 31, flight engineer, Garrison,
Kentucky; Captain Jason S. Ramsey, 27, pilot, South Boston, Virginia;
Staff Sergeant Scott N. Roberts, 27, flight engineer, Library,
Pennsylvania; Captain Peter C. Vallejo, 34, aircraft commander,
Crestwood, New York; and Senior Airman Frankie L. Walker, 23, crew
chief, Windber, Pennsylvania;
At McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, families and members of the
crewmen's squadron from the 305th Operation Group were trying to make
sense of what happened. Monica Cindrich, wife of the pilot, had to
explain to her 3 year-old son why his father would not be returning. On
the day following the crash, Sharla Bucknam went alone to her son
Andrew's third birthday party. Any Smart held out hope that her fiance,
Captain Ramsey, would return for their wedding, planned for the
following May. And Justin Drager's father, Larry, a retired Air Force
Master Sergeant prayed for a miracle. It was his son's very first
mission since the Air Force certified him as a loadmaster on the giant
cargo plane that would take the 19-year-old from Colorado Springs to
the faraway places he joined the military to see.
At a memorial service at McGuire Air Force Base, the nine crew
members were honored as heroes who gave their lives for a humanitarian
mission. The plane was returning home to McGuire after delivering
troops and 32,000 pounds of mine-clearing equipment to Namibia. As the
chaplain called the names of each crew member in a final roll call, a
squadron member answered ``Absent, sir.'' The crowd of more than 3,000
stood solemnly as a lone bugler played taps and three C-141s flew over
in formation.
Formal investigations by both the government of Germany and the
United States Air Force found that the German military plane was flying
at the wrong altitude. The two planes, occupying the same air space, at
the same altitude, closed on each other at a combined speed of over
1,000 miles per hour. The two planes hit almost nose to nose.
The German crew saw the U.S. plane about a second before impact and
struggled for two-and-a-half minutes to regain control of the TU-154 as
it crashed into the Atlantic.
The German military transport was carrying 12 German marines, two of
their spouses and 10 crew members. Unfortunately, there were no
survivors. The German Air Force plane was en route from Germany to Cape
Town, South Africa, where the marines were to have participated in a
boat race marking the 75th anniversary of the South African Navy.
The details concerning the crash are unsettling and I doubt anyone
would want to die in the manner that the crew of ``MISSION REACH 4201''
did. While the German crew had about a one-and-one-half second warning
that they were going to collide with another aircraft, the crew aboard
the C-141 literally did not know what hit them.
The cockpit voice recorder aboard the American aircraft chillingly
captures the conversations of the ``MISSION REACH 4201'' crew as fate
cruelly
[[Page S4117]]
steers the two military transports toward a deadly collision. Reviewing
the transcript shows that Captains Greg Cindrich and Peter Vallejo--the
two pilots of the Starlifter--had no inclination that a collision was
imminent until it was too late. The two officers were discussing topics
such as Social Security and the exploration of Mars.
The tape indicates that the crew survived for at least 13 seconds
following the impact with the German transport. In those 13 seconds,
the C-141 and crew of ``MISSION REACH 4201'' began hurtling toward the
Atlantic Ocean. They spent the last 13 seconds of the flight, of their
lives, strapping on oxygen masks and looking for flashlights to cope
with a failed electrical system. Aviation experts have determined that
it is possible that the nine doomed men may have actually survived for
as long as 30-seconds before the C-141 exploded. For thirteen to 30
seconds, these men fought to survive, fought to right their plane,
fought for their very lives. If thirteen to 30 seconds sounds like a
short amount of time, I challenge anyone to try holding their hand over
a burning match for that amount of time, let alone spend that amount of
time aboard a multi-ton aircraft as it plummets toward the ocean. These
men were able to contemplate for thirteen to 30 seconds that their
aircraft was damaged and diving toward the ocean from an altitude of
35,000 feet. That was thirteen to 30 seconds that these men could have
been thinking that no C-141 had successfully survived a crash landing
in water. It was thirteen to 30 seconds for these men to realize that
they were about to die.
Somewhere between thirteen and thirty seconds after the collision,
the C-141 of ``Mission Reach 4201'' exploded and what did not vaporize
became debris that was spread on the surface of the ocean, or sunk to
its cold and murky depths. Needless to say, rescuers and salvage
operators never recovered much of the American aircraft or crew. The
Air Force ultimately found a few parts of the airplanes and 15 pounds
of human remains of such minute quantities that DNA testing had to be
conducted to determine who was who. As a point of comparison, a bag of
cement is approximately 20 pounds. You could have put the entire
remains of nine adult men in a bag that is used to hold cement and have
room left over. There were not enough remains left of any one of the
crew members to afford their families the comfort of laying their sons,
fathers, brothers, and husbands to rest. Instead, only mementos were
placed in caskets and buried.
Accident investigations conducted by the United States Air Force and
the German Ministry of Defense both concluded that fault for the
collision and deaths lay with the German crew, who not only filed an
inaccurate flight plan, but were flying at the wrong altitude. The crew
of the C-141 were operating appropriately, and were exactly where they
were supposed to be when they met their untimely deaths. These nine men
died through no fault or negligence of their own, the United States Air
Force, or the government of the United States.
The families of each of the nine victims have endured not only
tremendous mental anguish and suffering, but significant financial
losses, and understandably, they are seeking compensation from the
German government. Sadly, despite the fact that this crash took place
almost two-years-ago, the German government has still to make the first
pfenning of compensation to any of the victims' families.
I rise today to offer a Sense of the Senate resolution that calls
upon the German government to make quick and generous compensation to
these families. Just as this Body agreed by unanimous consent on March
23, to authorize the Secretary of Defense to make humanitarian relief
payments of up to $2 million to each of the families killed in
Cavalese, Italy when a Marine Corps jet struck a ski gondola, we should
go on the record as expecting equitably fair and expeditious relief for
the families of our servicemen killed through the negligence of the
German government.
It gives me no pleasure to offer this resolution. The German
government and people are unquestionably among the closest of allies
and the best of friends. We stood side-by-side during the Cold War,
facing down the Eastern threat; we are working side-by-side in the
Balkans now; our economies are linked; and we value the strong
relationship between our two nations. Nevertheless, the Federal
Republic of Germany has an undeniable responsibility to make quick and
generous compensation to the nine families who lost loved ones aboard
``MISSION REACH 4201'' and I have pledged to Monica Cindrich, the widow
of Captain Gregory Cindrich and the mother of their four-year-old son,
that I will do all within my power to bring not only compensation to
her, but closure to this tragedy. Passing this sense of the Senate
resolution will help do just that.
Each of us gets into public service because we desire to help people,
to do what is right, and to fight for fairness. This Sense of the
Senate resolution allows us to achieve each of those goals. By securing
compensation for the deaths of the nine men killed, we will
unquestionably be helping their families; we will be making a stand for
what is right by making a stand for our military families; and finally,
we will be fighting for fairness. Just as our government has recognized
our responsibility in the case of the Italian ski gondola incident, it
is only fair that the German government recognize their responsibility
and obligation in this matter.
It is my hope that this resolution will pass with the support of an
overwhelming majority of Senators. By voting for this provision, each
of you will not only be sending an unmistakable message to the German
government, but perhaps even more importantly, you will be signaling to
our men and women in uniform that their elected officials will always
stand by them.
______