[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 58 (Wednesday, March 29, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S4804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-54. A resolution adopted by the Central Washington Farm 
     Crops Association relative to USDA; to the Committee on 
     Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
       POM-55. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the Commonwealth of Virginia; to the Committee on Armed 
     Services.

                   ``Senate Joint Resolution No. 328

       ``Whereas, American servicemen and women have dedicated 
     their careers to protect the rights we all enjoy; and
       ``Whereas, military personnel endure hardships, privation, 
     the threat of death and disability, and long separation from 
     their families in service to their country; and
       ``Whereas, career military personnel earn retirement 
     benefits based on the number of years of service and their 
     rank at retirement; and
       ``Whereas, service-connected disability compensation serves 
     a different purpose from longevity retirement pay and is 
     intended to compensate for pain, suffering, disfigurement and 
     impaired earning ability because of the disability; and
       ``Whereas, retired disabled servicemen and women endure a 
     reduction in longevity retirement pay for any service-
     connected disability compensation they receive; and
       ``Whereas, the offset of retirement benefits by service-
     connected disability compensation presents an economic 
     hardship to disabled military retirees, often reducing them 
     to a poverty-level existence; and
       ``Whereas, similarly situated federal civil service 
     retirees do not face a reduction in civil service retirement 
     benefits if they receive compensation for a service-connected 
     disability; and
       ``Whereas, it is fundamentally unfair to require disabled 
     military retirees essentially to fund their own disability 
     compensation; now, therefore, be it
       ``Resolved'' by the Senate, the House of Delegates 
     concurring, That Congress be urged to enact legislation to 
     eliminate this inequity and to allow disabled military 
     retirees concurrent receipt of full longevity retirement 
     benefits and service-connected disability compensation; and 
     be it
       ``Resolved further,'' That the Clerk of the Senate transmit 
     copies of this resolution to the President of the United 
     States, the President of the United States Senate, the 
     Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and 
     the Virginia Congressional Delegation, so that they may be 
     apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia.''

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