[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 114 (Friday, July 14, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S9997]
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-220. A resolution adopted by the Society For 
     Conservation Biology relative to late successional forests; 
     to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
       POM-221. A joint resolution adopted by the General Assembly 
     of the State of Colorado; to the Committee on Agriculture, 
     Nutrition, and Forestry.

                    ``House Joint Resolution 95-1012

       ``Whereas, the United States Congress is considering 
     measures to reauthorize the federal 1990 Farm Bill, which 
     includes the `Conservation Program Improvements Act' (`Act'), 
     a voluntary, incentive-based, nonregulatory land retirement 
     program through which farmers and ranchers have enrolled up 
     to 45 million acres of highly erodible land nationally and 
     just under 2 million acres in Colorado; and
       ``Whereas, the Act empowers farmers and ranchers to protect 
     the long-term food producing capability of the United States 
     by reducing land and water erosion of crop land; and
       ``Whereas, the Act enables farmers and ranchers to provide 
     excellent wildlife habitat for game and nongame species and 
     to improve badly silted fisheries habitat; and
       ``Whereas, the Act has protected and improved water quality 
     by reducing sedimentation and nonpoint source pollution; and
       ``Whereas, the Act has reduced federal farm program 
     expenditures for deficiency payments, diversion payments, and 
     commodity loan and storage payments; and
       ``Whereas, the Act has supplemented the incomes of over 
     6,376 farmers and ranchers in Colorado in return for setting 
     aside highly erodible lands; and
       ``Whereas, the United States currently has record surplus 
     crop production and will continue to have such in the 
     foreseeable future; now, therefore,
       ``Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the 
     Sixtieth General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the 
     Senate concurring herein: That the Colorado General Assembly 
     hereby requests the United States Congress to fully 
     reauthorize the federal `Conservation Program Improvements 
     Act', Public Law 101-624.
       ``Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this resolution be 
     sent to the President of the United States, the Secretary of 
     the United States Department of Agriculture, the President of 
     the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States 
     House of Representatives, and the members of Colorado's 
     Congressional delegation.''
                                                                    ____

       POM-222. A resolution adopted by the House of the General 
     Assembly of the State of Indiana; to the Committee on Armed 
     Services.

                       ``House Resolution No. 75

       ``Whereas, over 27,619 Hoosiers have given their lives for 
     their country in World War I, World War II, the Korean 
     Conflict, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf Conflict, and 
     over 37,510 Hoosiers remain living with service-connected 
     disabilities from injuries inflicted on them while they were 
     serving their country;
       ``Whereas, those servicemen and servicewomen who have 
     chosen to make a career of defending their country are 
     integral to the success of our military forces throughout the 
     world;
       ``Whereas, currently disabled veterans receive compensation 
     proportionate to severity of their injuries; and, military 
     retirees, who have served at least 20 years, accrue 
     retirement pay based on longevity;
       ``Whereas, federal legislation has been introduced to amend 
     Title 38 of the U.S. Code to eliminate and antiquated 
     inequity which still exists in the federal law applicable to 
     retired career service personnel who also receive service-
     related disability benefits;
       ``Whereas, under the 19th century law, these disabled 
     career service personnel are denied concurrent receipt of 
     full retirement pay and disability compensation benefits. 
     They must choose receipt of one or the other or waive an 
     amount of retirement pay equal to the amount of disability 
     compensation benefits;
       ``Whereas, this discrimination unfairly denies disabled 
     military retirees the longevity pay they have earned by their 
     years of devoted patriotism and loyalty to their country. It, 
     in effect, requires them to pay for their own disability 
     compensation benefits;
       ``Whereas, many retirees actually returned to active duty 
     to service in Operation Desert Storm and returned home 
     disabled; but, when these loyal Guardsmen and Reservists 
     arrive back home, they were not eligible to receive both VA 
     disability and retirement pay;
       ``Whereas, no such inequity applies to retired Congress-
     persons, Federal civil service job-holders, or other retirees 
     who are receiving service-related disability benefits;
       ``Whereas, America's career service-personnel's commitment 
     to their country-in pursuit of national and international 
     goals--must be matched by their own county's allegiance to 
     them for those sacrifices; and
       ``Whereas, a statutory change is required to correct this 
     injustice. Now therefore, be it resolved by the House of 
     Representatives of the General Assembly of the State of 
     Indiana:
       ``Section 1. That the General Assembly of the State of 
     Indiana urges the United States Congress to amend the United 
     States Code relating to the computation of retired pay to 
     permit full concurrent receipt of military longevity retired 
     pay and service-connected disability compensation benefits.
       ``Section 2. That the Principal Clerk of the House of 
     Representatives shall send certified copies of this 
     resolution to the presiding officers and the majority and 
     minority leaders of both houses of the Congress of the United 
     States, to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the 
     House of Representatives of the Congress of the United 
     States, to the President of the United States, to the 
     Secretary of Defense, and to each member of the Indiana 
     Congressional delegation.''
     

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