[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 127 (Wednesday, August 2, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11200-S11201]
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-262. A petition from a citizen of the State of Missouri 
     relative to National Cemeteries; to the Committee on 
     Veterans' Affairs.
       POM-263. A resolution adopted by the TLWH Association of 
     Retired Commissioned Officers of the Armed Forces of the 
     Philippines relative to the proposed ``Filipino Veterans' 
     Equity Act of 1994''; to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
       POM-264. A concurrent resolution adopted by the House of 
     the General Assembly of the State of Indiana; to the 
     Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

                       ``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 the 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 an 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.''
                                                                    ____

       POM-265. A resolution adopted by the House of the 
     Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; to the 
     Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

                              ``Resolution

       ``Whereas, the Massachusetts House of Representatives urges 
     the Congress of the United States to retain veterans benefits 
     at their present level of funding; and
       ``Whereas, the Republican house budget resolution calls for 
     a twenty-seven billion dollar cut in VA programs and a three 
     billion dollar cut in disability compensation payments, while 
     the Republican Senate Budget Resolution calls for a cut of 
     thirty-two billion in VA programs and a six billion cut in 
     disability compensation payments; and
       ``Whereas, these cuts include placing a cap on the 
     disability compensation for veterans suffering from post 
     traumatic stress disorder, as well as a permanent reduction 
     in the ``COLA'' (cost of living adjustment) for recipients of 
     the Montgomery GI bill; and
       ``Whereas, House Republicans have also proposed a freeze on 
     veteran medical care that will hold funding at current levels 
     for the next seven years and this would mean that veterans 
     would lose twenty-four billion toward their health care, and 
     as a result an estimated four and one-half million veterans 
     would be denied care entirely; and
       ``Whereas, further proposals call for the closing of 
     thirty-five to four hundred and twelve VA medical facilities, 
     effectively eliminating the convenience of traveling to a VA 
     medical facility close to home for severally disabled 
     veterans and as for the remaining VA medical facilities, they 
     face a proposed one billion cut in funding for improvements 
     of existing hospitals; and
       ``Whereas, the proposal to cut the fifty million that was 
     appropriated last year to hire VA benefits officers will 
     discourage veterans from filing new compensation claims; and
       ``Whereas, many of these veterans and widows of veterans 
     are in their sixties and seventies living on fixed incomes, 
     and they can ill-afford these lengthy delays in having their 
     claims resolved; Therefore be it
       ``Resolved, That the Massachusetts House of Representatives 
     urges the Congress of the United States to retain veterans 
     benefits at their present level of funding; and be it further
       ``Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded 
     by the Clerk of the House of Representatives to the Presiding 
     Officer of each branch of congress and to the Members thereof 
     from the Commonwealth.''
                                                                    ____

       POM-266. A concurrent resolution adopted by the Legislature 
     of the State of Louisiana; referred jointly, pursuant to the 
     order of August 4, 1977, to the Committee on the Budget, and 
     to the Committee on Governmental Affairs.

                   ``A Concurrent Resolution No. 842

       ``Whereas, the Highway Trust Fund, the Aviation Trust Fund, 
     the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, and the Harbor Maintenance 
     Trust Fund are wholly user financed and do not contribute one 
     dime to the federal deficit; and
       ``Whereas, currently a thirty-three billion dollar cash 
     balance, including eighteen and one-half billion dollars of 
     which is unobligated balance, is languishing in these trust 
     fund accounts through an accounting measure designed to mask 
     the actual size of the federal deficit and federal spending 
     in other areas; and
       ``Whereas, every time a motorist puts gas into the tank of 
     a motor vehicle or a traveler buys an airline ticket user 
     fees are paid into the Highway and Aviation Trust Funds; and
       ``Whereas, Congress imposed these fees and other taxes with 
     the assurance to the American public that they would be spent 
     on infrastructure improvements; and
       ``Whereas, economists agree that investment in 
     infrastructure helps productivity, creates jobs, and is 
     essential for economic growth; and
       ``Whereas, infrastructure spending is the one area that has 
     widespread public support and actually provides a return on 
     taxpayer investment; and
       ``Whereas, by combining these trust funds with the federal 
     General Fund Budget, these trust fund balances have accrued 
     at the expense of billions of dollars in productivity and 
     safety; and
       ``Whereas, House Resolution 842, known as the ``Truth in 
     Budgeting Act,'' will remove these trust funds from the 
     General Fund Budget and, by doing so, will restore integrity 
     to the trust funds which are user financed, self-supporting, 
     and directed to specific needs and will restore integrity to 
     the General Fund Budget: Therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Legislature of Louisiana memorializes 
     the Congress of the United 

[[Page S11201]]
     States to approve House Resolution 842, and be it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution shall be 
     transmitted to the secretary of the United States Senate and 
     the clerk of the United States House of Representatives and 
     to each member of the Louisiana Congressional delegation.''
                                                                    ____

       POM-267. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Nevada; to the Committee on Appropriations.

                       ``Joint Resolution No. 41

       ``Whereas, the Conservation Biology of Rangelands Research 
     Unit of the Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Reno, 
     Nevada, was not included in the federal administration's 
     budget for fiscal year 1995-1996, beginning on October 1, 
     1995; and
       ``Whereas, the closing of this Unit will have severe 
     impacts on the management and restoration of rangelands in 
     Nevada and adjacent intermountain states; and
       ``Whereas, this Unit has been consistently rated as one of 
     the most productive in the nation per dollar spent per 
     scientist, which is attributed to the frugal, appropriate and 
     productive use of federal money; and
       ``Whereas, Nevada receives less than 1 percent of the 
     federal money expended for agricultural research in the 
     western states; and
       ``Whereas, the Conservation Biology of Rangelands Research 
     Unit's research on both preventing wildfires and restoring 
     burned vegetation is essential to this state because 
     wildfires cost the residents of the State of Nevada millions 
     of dollars annually for suppression, and for loss of 
     livestock, wildlife, habitat, watershed cover, private 
     property and on occasion the loss of human lives; and
       ``Whereas, the Unit's research on the replacement of, and 
     biological suppression of, cheatgrass has great ecological 
     and economic significance to Nevada because cheatgrass has 
     increased in dominance from less than 1 percent to nearly 25 
     percent on 19,000,000 acres of sagebrush rangelands during 
     the last 30 years, with the invasion greatly increasing the 
     chances of ignition, rate of spread and the length of the 
     wildfire season; and
       ``Whereas, this unit is the only research organization 
     conducting weed control experiments in Nevada, with a major 
     role in weed control of tall whitetop (Lepidium latifolium), 
     potentially the most biologically and economically devasting 
     weed ever to invade Nevada's meadows and croplands; and
       ``Whereas, the Unit's research on adapted plant material, 
     seedbed preparation and seeding technology for arid and 
     disturbed lands is important to Nevada because mining 
     reclamation is critical to the mining industry, which in turn 
     is critical to the economy of Nevada; and
       ``Whereas, the Unit's research in general is critically 
     important to Nevada because it provides a communications link 
     between the users of Nevada's wildlands and the concerned 
     environmental, scientific community and because maintenance 
     of biological diversity is a major scientific and 
     environmental issue in Nevada; and
       ``Whereas, without the Conservation Biology of Rangelands 
     Research Unit, Nevada would become the only significant 
     agricultural state that does not have an Agricultural 
     Research Service research unit; and
       ``Whereas, there are no existing research units capable of 
     filling the loss created by closing the Nevada unit: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       ``Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of 
     Nevada, jointly, That the members of the 68th session of the 
     Nevada Legislature urge the Secretary of Agriculture to 
     maintain funding in the fiscal year beginning on October 1, 
     1995, for the Conservation Biology of Rangelands Research 
     Unit of the Agricultural Research Service, USDA, in the State 
     of Nevada; and be it further
       ``Resolved, That Congress is hereby urged to appropriate 
     money for the fiscal year beginning on October 1, 1995, for 
     the Conservation Biology of Rangelands Research Unit of the 
     Agricultural Research Service, USDA, in the State of Nevada; 
     and be it further
       ``Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly prepare 
     and transmit a copy of this resolution to the Vice President 
     of the United States as presiding officer of the Senate, the 
     Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of 
     Agriculture, the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on 
     Appropriations, the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural 
     Development and Related Agencies of the Senate Committee on 
     Appropriations, the House Appropriations Committee and the 
     House Subcommittee on Agricultural Appropriations and each 
     member of the Nevada Congressional Delegation; and be it 
     further
       ``Resolved, That this resolution becomes effective upon 
     passage and approval.''
                                                                    ____

       POM-268. A resolution adopted by the Greater Homestead/
     Florida City Chamber of Commerce of the City of Homestead, 
     Florida relative to Homestead Air Reserve Base; to the 
     Committee on Armed Services.
       POM-269. A resolution adopted by the City and County of 
     Denver, Colorado relative to securities; to the Committee on 
     Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
     

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