Senate panel votes to let feds, military members keep frequent flier miles

While resisting the temptation to grant such a valuable perk to themselves and their staffs, the senators melded their own bill (S.1498) with a similar House-passed measure (H.R. 2456). In the process, they expanded the House bill to include members of the military and their dependents.

Under a substitute amendment sponsored by committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., those entitled to keep the frequent flyer miles would include virtually all federal employees, members of the foreign service and their dependents, and members of the uniformed services and their dependents. The substitute was adopted by voice vote and sent to the Senate floor.

Lieberman said this particular bill may not be considered by the Senate, since the same language has been incorporated in the defense authorization bill, which has yet to reach the floor. "We're acting on this bill (S.1498)," he said, "just in case the defense authorization bill runs into unexpected difficulties."

Sen. Fred Thompson, of Tennessee, the ranking Republican on the panel, said addition of military members and their dependents to the bill should "improve recruitment, retention and morale of military personnel."