[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 137 (Monday, October 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    COMPENSATION OF RETIRED MILITARY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. PATRICK J. KENNEDY

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 5, 1998

  Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to submit the 
following for inclusion in the Record on behalf of the veterans of 
Rhode Island.

 [From the State of Rhode Island in General Assembly, January Session, 
                               A.D. 1998]

  Joint Resolution Memorializing Congress To Amend Title Ten, United 
     States Code, Relating to the Compensation of Retired Military

       Introduced by: Representative Pires.
       Date introduced: March 25, 1998.
       Referred to: Committee on Finance.
       Whereas, American servicemen and women have dedicated their 
     careers to protect the rights we all enjoy; and
       Whereas, Career military personnel endured hardships, 
     privation, the threat of death, disability and long 
     separations from their families in service to our country; 
     and
       Whereas, Integral to the success of our military forces are 
     those soldiers and sailors who have made a career of 
     defending our great nation in peace and war from the 
     revolutionary war to present day; and
       Whereas, There exists a gross inequity in the federal 
     statutes that denies disabled career military equal rights to 
     receive Veterans Administration disability compensation 
     concurrent with receipt of earned military retired pay; and
       Whereas, Legislation has been introduced in the United 
     States Congress to remedy this inequity applicable to career 
     military dating back to the nineteenth century; and
       Whereas, The injustice concerns those veterans who are both 
     retired with a minimum of 20 years, are denied concurrent 
     receipt of hard earned military longevity retirement pay and 
     Veterans Administration awards for service connected with 
     disability; and
       Whereas, Career military earn retirement benefits based on 
     longevity of twenty years for honorable and faithful service 
     and rank at time of retirement; and
       Whereas, Veterans administered compensations serve a 
     different purpose from longevity retired pay and are intended 
     to compensate for pain, suffering, disfigurement, chemicals, 
     wound injuries and a loss of earning ability and have a 
     minimum requirement of 90 days of active duty; and
       Whereas, The prevailing idea that military retirement pay 
     is ``free'' is false. There is a contribution to retirement 
     pay, which is calculated to reduce military base pay and 
     retirement pay by approximately seven percent when pay and 
     allowances are computed and approved by Congress; and
       Whereas, Traditionally, a career military person receives a 
     lower pay and retirement than his or her civilian counterpart 
     and has invested a life of hardships and long hours without 
     the benefit of overtime pay and lack of freedom of expression 
     through the unions; and
       Whereas, The Veterans Administration awards dependents 
     allowances to disabled veterans with a thirty percent (30%) 
     disability or more for each dependent, which allowances are 
     increased with the amount of disability; and
       Whereas, The Department of Defense deducts the entire 
     amounts of dependents allowance, essentially leaving the 
     disabled military retiree with no dependents allowance and 
     that extends the discrimination to the families of military 
     longevity retirees; and
       Whereas, It is unfair to require disabled military retirees 
     to fund their own Veterans Administration compensation by 
     deductions on a dollar for dollar basis in the Department of 
     Defense; and
       Whereas, No such deduction applies to similarly situated 
     federal civil service or Congressional retirement benefits to 
     receive Veterans Administration compensation; and
       Whereas, A statutory change is necessary to correct this 
     injustice and discrimination in order to insure that 
     America's commitment to national and international goals be 
     matched by the same allegiance to those who sacrificed on 
     behalf of those goals; now therefore be it
       Resolved, That the General Assembly of the Sate of Rhode 
     Island and Providence Plantations hereby urges the United 
     States Congress to amend title ten, United States Code 
     relating to the compensation of retired military, permitting 
     concurrent receipt of military retired pay and Veterans 
     Administration compensation, including dependents allowances; 
     and be it further
       Resolved, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is 
     authorized and directed to transmit a duly certified copy of 
     this resolution to the President of the United States, 
     Secretary of Defense, Senate Majority and Minority Leaders of 
     the U.S. Congress, Speaker of the House, Committee Chairman 
     of the Senate Armed Forces Committee and Veterans Affairs 
     Committee, House Committee Chairman, National Security and 
     Veterans Affairs Committee, and each member of the Rhode 
     Island Delegation to Congress.

     

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