[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 18, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5922-S5924]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DENYING VETERANS BENEFITS IN FEDERAL CAPITAL OFFENSES
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, on behalf of our distinguished majority
leader, Senator Lott, I ask unanimous consent that the Veterans'
Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 923,
and I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate
consideration of S. 923.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk
will report.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 923) to deny veterans benefits to persons
convicted of Federal capital offenses.
The Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Amendment No. 414
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, there is an amendment at the desk, and I
ask for its consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the amendment.
The bill clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Specter] proposes an
amendment numbered 414.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading
of the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
On page 1, lines 4 and 5, strike ``or star''.
Mr. SPECTER. During the pendency of this bill, Mr. President, I ask
unanimous consent that 5 minutes be allotted to Senator Nickles for
debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, at this time I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a
sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The yeas and nays are ordered on final passage
of the bill.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, this bill would amend existing law to
deny benefits to veterans who have been convicted of a Federal capital
offense. Current law denies such benefits to veterans convicted of
Federal crimes, such as sabotage, treason, and sedition, but not
murder.
I offer this bill on behalf of myself and my distinguished colleague
from New Jersey, Senator Torricelli, and also Senator Byrd, Senator
Nickles, Senator Inhofe, Senator Feinstein, Senator Campbell, and the
distinguished Presiding Officer, Senator Santorum.
Mr. President, yesterday I was informed by staff in the Veterans'
Affairs Committee, which I chair, that there is a gap in the law which
allows Mr. Timothy McVeigh to be entitled to veterans benefits
notwithstanding his murder of 168 persons, and his conviction
[[Page S5923]]
for murder in the first degree in connection with his terrorist attack
on the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.
Frankly, I was surprised to learn of the current gap in the law which
would allow him to claim veterans benefits. Those guilty of offenses
such as sedition, treason, and espionage forfeit veterans benefits, but
those who are guilty of murder in the first degree do not.
The terrorist attack in Oklahoma City was the most heinous criminal
act in the history of the United States of America, to my knowledge. It
resulted in the murder of 168 persons, including many children. It also
resulted in the wounding and maiming of hundreds of others who were in
that building.
Yesterday, Senator Torricelli introduced legislation similar to mine.
We talked this morning, and we decided to join our efforts. Senator
Lott consented to have the matter placed on the calendar for quick
action. And we have had it now cleared by all Senators.
I think this is a piece of legislation which ought to be adopted
promptly. It would set a mark, saying that capital murderers, like
those who commit espionage and similar offenses, forfeit a variety of
veterans benefits. I cannot say exactly what benefits Mr. McVeigh might
be eligible for--there could be a variety of possibilities, including
education, employment or housing benefits. Certainly he would be
entitled to burial benefits, under current law. It surely would be
unseemly to have Timothy McVeigh buried in a veterans cemetery with
heroes who served the United States of America.
So I believe this is a fair piece of legislation. We ought to act on
it promptly.
I am pleased now to yield to my distinguished cosponsor, the Senator
from New Jersey.
Mr. TORRICELLI addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, I am very pleased today to join my
colleague from Pennsylvania, Senator Specter, in offering this
legislation, and very proud, as a Member of this institution, that
Senator Specter has taken the leadership in correcting what would
clearly be an inexplicable action upon the execution of Timothy
McVeigh.
Mr. President, in the United States today there are 114 national
cemeteries. They contain the bodies of 2.5 million brave Americans who
have fought for over 200 years to protect this country, its people, and
its ideals. Fifty-seven of those cemeteries remain open. And many
Americans living in the last years of their lives who fought bravely
for this country intend one day to be interred into that soil.
I do not know how the Members of this Senate, how this Government
could ever explain to those brave souls or their families who will
visit those national cemeteries through the years, generation after
succeeding generation, if by chance some of that soil, one of those
graves, next to someone they love and they admire and respect, were to
contain the body in a Federal grave of someone who committed a capital
offense against the U.S. Government.
Timothy McVeigh is responsible for the greatest loss of life in a
terrorist act of anyone in the long and proud history of these United
States. When he committed that act and took the lives of these brave
Americans, including officers and employees of the U.S. Government, he
forfeited, according to a jury of his peers, his life.
Today, by the actions of the U.S. Senate, he can also have forfeited
his right to be buried and have the honor of being in the sacred ground
of a national cemetery of the United States.
Mr. President, a person cannot both commit a capital offense and then
receive the high honor of the U.S. Government for having served this
country. They are in conflict. They cannot both occur.
I am very proud today once again to be joining with Senator Specter
in offering this legislation. I am very pleased to have received the
support of Senator Rockefeller and so many of our colleagues. I am very
proud today to be offering this legislation.
By our action today, we let every family of every brave American who
remains at rest in these national cemeteries to know these soils will
remain sacred, these cemeteries will remain only the home for the
brave. That is the exclusion we vote upon today.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. SPECTER addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. SPECTER. We are awaiting Senator Nickles.
We invite other Senators to make a statement, but in the interim I
suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, first, I wish to thank Senator Specter,
Senator Torricelli, and Senator Inhofe for bringing this bill to the
floor, and also Senator Lott for bringing it to the floor this quickly.
I think it is somewhat of a tragedy. I read in today's paper that an
official of the Department of Veterans Affairs said that Tim McVeigh
would be eligible to be buried in a national cemetery. I think that
would be a desecration of our national cemeteries. I think it would be
an affront to all the veterans who are buried in a national cemetery
and to their families. And so I want to compliment my colleagues for
bringing this to the floor so quickly.
In looking at the statutes, there is a forfeiture of veterans
benefits for a lot of crimes: mutiny, sedition, harboring and
concealing persons who have committed espionage crimes, gathering
classified information for a foreign government, treason, rebellion,
insurrection, and advocating the overthrow of the Government. But there
is not for a Federal capital offense.
Mr. McVeigh was found guilty by a jury, with a unanimous verdict of
murdering--actually, I think the verdict was murdering eight Federal
agents, Federal officers. He is responsible for the murdering or the
deaths of 168 individuals, including 19 children. He planned this
terrorist attack. It was not done at the spur of the moment. He planned
it for months, maybe for years. He was found guilty. The jury has made,
in my opinion, the appropriate sentence, a sentence that is appropriate
for a crime of this magnitude--the death sentence.
Certainly it would be a dishonor to our national cemeteries and the
veterans if he was accorded veterans benefits, both financial benefits
as well as burial rights in our national cemetery. I think it would
desecrate the cemetery. I think that is certainly sacred ground,
hallowed ground, honoring our national veterans, individuals that gave
their lives in service to their country, individuals who served our
country and were willing to give their lives.
To have Mr. McVeigh buried alongside our national heroes I think
would be a serious, serious mistake and a real denigration to our
national heroes.
So, Mr. President, I am happy to cosponsor this legislation. I am
happy with the leadership of the Senate and the leadership of the
Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Specter, and Mr. Torricelli, for
bringing this to the floor of the Senate. And I am hopeful that it will
receive a unanimous vote in this Senate and also be adopted by our
colleagues in the House.
I yield the floor.
Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, today I support a bill to correct a
serious problem made apparent by the recent conviction of Timothy
McVeigh for his cowardly act of terrorism. I was in the process of
drafting a bill on this issue, but in light of the scope of the bill
proposed by the Veteran's Committee chairman, I am pleased to join as a
cosponsor of this legislation to accomplish my goals.
Our Nation remains outraged at that terrorist act and the individual
who was convicted of committing it. We now are further outraged at the
thought of that person being eligible for burial in a military cemetery
beside our fallen brothers and sisters.
As you well know, Mr. President, these military burials function to
honor the brave men and women who have placed themselves in harm's way
in order to defend our freedom and the system of government that has
protected us for more than 200 years. As a
[[Page S5924]]
Korean war veteran and a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, I
am personally aware of the sacrifices made by our men and women in
uniform to serve and protect these freedoms.
When anyone seeks to destroy our system of government by acts of
terrorism, it is certainly a slap in the face to those who have served
to protect freedom. Allowing that individual to be buried alongside
truly honorable veterans is not only an injustice, it is disrespectful
of the memory of those buried in our military cemeteries and to their
families who sacrificed as well.
This bill, introduced by Senator Specter, expands the criteria by
which a veteran should be denied benefits and although I had planned to
introduce such a bill, I am pleased to cosponsor S. 923 to be
absolutely certain that any individual convicted of a crime as heinous
as the Oklahoma City bombing will never be buried among our Nation's
heroes.
I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the amendment?
Without objection, the amendment is agreed to.
The amendment (No. 414) was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the engrossment and third
reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, and was
read the third time.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hagel). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I believe we are already for a vote on
this bill.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the measure? If
not, the question is, Shall the bill pass?
The yeas and nays have been ordered, and the clerk will call the
roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from South Dakota [Mr. Daschle]
and the Senator from South Dakota [Mr. Johnson] are necessarily absent.
I further announce that the Senator from South Dakota [Mr. Johnson]
is absent attending a funeral.
I further announce that the Senator from South Dakota [Mr. Daschle]
is absent due to a death in the family.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 98, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 106 Leg.]
YEAS--98
Abraham
Akaka
Allard
Ashcroft
Baucus
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Breaux
Brownback
Bryan
Bumpers
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Chafee
Cleland
Coats
Cochran
Collins
Conrad
Coverdell
Craig
D'Amato
DeWine
Dodd
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Enzi
Faircloth
Feingold
Feinstein
Ford
Frist
Glenn
Gorton
Graham
Gramm
Grams
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Helms
Hollings
Hutchinson
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Jeffords
Kempthorne
Kennedy
Kerrey
Kerry
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lott
Lugar
Mack
McCain
McConnell
Mikulski
Moseley-Braun
Moynihan
Murkowski
Murray
Nickles
Reed
Reid
Robb
Roberts
Rockefeller
Roth
Santorum
Sarbanes
Sessions
Shelby
Smith (NH)
Smith (OR)
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Torricelli
Warner
Wellstone
Wyden
NOT VOTING--2
Daschle
Johnson
The bill (S. 923), as amended, was passed, as follows:
S. 923
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DENIAL OF VETERANS BENEFITS.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person who is
convicted of a Federal capital offense is ineligible for
benefits provided to veterans of the Armed Forces of the
United States pursuant to title 38, United States Code.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. STEVENS. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. GRASSLEY addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa is recognized.
____________________