[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 86 (Thursday, June 19, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1274-E1275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  WE MUST BE FAIR TO OUR DISABLED VETERANS WHO WORK FOR OUR UNIFORMED 
                                SERVICES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RONALD V. DELLUMS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 19, 1997

  Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to state the reasons why I am a 
cosponsor of H.R. 303, a bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to 
permit retired members of the Armed Forces who have service-connected 
disabilities to receive compensation from the Department of Veterans 
Affairs concurrently with retired pay, without deduction from either. 
The bill efficiently states that it will permit certain veterans with 
service-connected disabilities who are retired members of the uniformed 
services to receive compensation concurrently with retired pay, without 
deduction from either.
  I believe that additionally we need to articulate why this bill was 
introduced and why we need to support it. Recent military engagements 
and conflicts have highlighted again the contributions of this Nation's 
military and retired veterans. Integral to the success of our military 
forces are the servicemen and servicewomen who have made a career of 
defending their country, who in peace time may be called to places 
remote from their families and loved ones, and who in war or peace 
keeping actions, face the prospect of death or disabling injury as a 
constant possibility.
  Present law, enacted in the nineteenth century, forbids veterans who 
are both retired and disabled from receiving concurrent receipt of full 
retirement pay and disability compensation pay. This law rules that the 
veteran may receive one or the other or must waive an amount of 
retirement pay equal to the amount of disability compensation pay. It 
should be noted that no such deduction applies to the Federal civil 
service so that a disabled veteran who has held a nonmilitary Federal 
job for the requisite period receives full longevity retirement pay 
undiminished by the subtraction of disability pay.
  H.R. 303 urges Congress to make the necessary statutory change to 
correct this injustice and discrimination so that America's occasional 
commitment to war in pursuit of national and international goals may be 
matched by an allegiance to those who made sacrifices on behalf of 
those goals.

[[Page E1275]]



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