[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 10 (Thursday, January 25, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S567]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S567]]
            RESTORING MILITARY RETIREES' CONCURRENT RECEIPT

 Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, last year I had the honor of 
celebrating the fifty-sixth anniversary of D-Day with thousands of U.S. 
Veterans in my hometown of New Orleans. Listening to these men account 
their travails along the Normandy shores and honoring the memories of 
their fallen comrades, I was stirred with a sense of awe for our 
country's greatest patriots, America's military veterans.
  I joined historian Stephen Ambrose at the opening of our National D-
Day museum, where we memorialized not only those fallen in World War 
II's European Theater, but in Pacific battles as well.
  As we recalled General Douglas MacArthur's fateful proclamation in 
1942, I shuddered with the irony of it all-- MacArthur, forced to 
retreat off Corregidor in the Philippines for Australia, vowed, I shall 
return. He did, and led our Nation to the most decisive victory in 
modern history. MacArthur's promise was heralded as a testament to 
America's convictions. Our troops fulfilled their duty to our country, 
defeating the Axis powers resoundingly. But our country never fully 
fulfilled its obligations to its troops. Promised compensation for 
service related disabilities, U.S. veterans have been denied critical 
benefits owed to them.
  For over one hundred years, the Pentagon has cut into military 
retirees' incomes, acquiring non-appropriated funds off the backs of 
disabled veterans. This so-called concurrent receipt issue derives from 
an fiscal year 1892 appropriations bill. That's right, 1892.
  In the aftermath of the Mexican War, Congress had hoped to prevent 
veterans from burdening America's budget by acquiring more than one 
pension payment. At this time, some veterans were receiving retired 
pay, disability pension, active duty pay, and a pension based on a 
disability from the Mexican War of 1846-1848. Congress decided to 
forbid such dual compensation for either past or current service and a 
disability pension. The fiscal year 1892 appropriations legislation for 
veterans' benefits included the first prohibition of concurrent 
receipt.
  Since its inception, Members of Congress have tried to overturn 
concurrent receipt prohibitions, but have failed. Indeed, in the last 
Congress, we began to make substantial ground in our effort. I 
supported an amendment to the Senate's Defense Authorization Bill to 
permit retired members of the Armed Forces who have a service-connected 
disability to receive military retirement pay concurrently with 
veteran's disability compensation. House conferees over this bill 
rejected the provision. Instead, Congress was only able to secure $100 
to $300 monthly special compensation for severely disabled retirees.
  I can only hope that this measure will be the first of several steps 
that the Federal government takes to meet its commitments to our 
disabled military retirees. U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines 
still put their lives and abilities on the line for our nation's 
defense. And yet, the government fails to meet its commitments in 
compensation. I predict that we will not overcome our services' 
recruiting and retention crises until we begin to restore such critical 
retiree benefits. In so doing, the United States will promote its 
national security and honor its guardians of liberty; our troops and 
our country deserve no less.

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