[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 113 (Wednesday, August 4, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S10233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BIDEN:
  S. 1489. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for 
the payment to States of pilot allowances for certain veterans eligible 
for burial in a national cemetery who are buried in cemeteries of such 
States.


                    veterans' plot allowance equity

 Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation 
which provides equity for a group of veterans at their final moment: 
those veterans who are buried in State-owned veterans' cemeteries.
  For a number of years, the amount of space in national veterans' 
cemeteries has been rapidly declining. With the strong encouragement of 
the Federal government, the States have undertaken to develop their own 
veterans' cemeteries. When certain categories of veterans are buried 
without charge in these State veterans' cemeteries, the Federal 
government pays the State a $150 ``plot allowance'' for the burial 
space. However, only limited categories of veterans are covered by this 
payment: those who were discharged for disability or who were receiving 
disability-related compensation; those who died in a veterans hospital; 
and those indigent veterans whose bodies were unclaimed after death.
  For the many other veterans who don't fall into one of these few 
categories, the federal government will pay nothing for their burial 
space if they are buried in a State veterans' cemetery. By contrast, if 
any of these veterans were buried in a national veterans' cemetery, for 
which they are eligible, the federal government picks up the cost of 
the burial space. This disparity seems inexplicable, a final insult to 
the dedicated service of men and women who unselfishly served their 
country.
  My bill removes this inequity by stating that, for any veteran who is 
eligible for burial in a national veterans' cemetery but who is 
interred in a State veterans' cemetery, the federal government will pay 
the State a $150 plot allowance for the burial space. That's it. No 
ifs, ands, or buts. No exceptions.
  The government promised these veterans that they would be taken care 
of in their final passage, and it must live up to this vow. Regardless 
of whether veterans are buried in a State cemetery or in a national 
cemetery, their service in the armed forces benefitted all of us, and 
we should stop quibbling about whether the location of the grave has 
anything to do with the dignity and selflessness of the service to the 
country.
  Mr. President, I urge my fellow Senators to support this bill in the 
name of fairness and in recognition of the service to the country of 
all our veterans in their final hour.
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