[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 79 (Friday, June 8, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S6004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                THE RETIRED PAY RESTORATION ACT OF 2001

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I would like to proceed in morning business 
to talk about some legislation that I sponsored. It is called the 
Retired Pay Restoration Act or 2001.
  I introduced this bill last Congress. Out of the 100 percent of the 
things we needed to do on behalf of veterans, we maybe did 1 or 2 
percent. There is still 98 percent to do.
  This legislation addresses a 110-year injustice against over 560,000 
of our Nation's veterans. We now have 64 cosponsors to S. 170. It 
clearly illustrates bipartisan support for this legislation.
  My disappointment, though, is that this legislation passed was part 
of the budget. It was stripped out of the so-called ``conference'' that 
took place on this bill. That is unfair.
  Every day in America--today, tomorrow, and the next day--1,000 World 
War II veterans die. This legislation is meant to help them.
  What does this legislation do? We in Congress have repeatedly forced 
the bravest men and women in our Nation--retired career veterans--to 
forego receipt of a portion of their retired pay if they happen to also 
receive disability pay from an injury that occurred in the line of 
duty.
  If you are an old veteran and you have a service-connected disability 
and you retired from the military, you cannot draw your disability 
pension. Is that fair? No, it is not fair. S. 170 will permit retired 
members of the Armed Services who also have a service-connected 
disability to receive military retirement pay and also the disability 
compensation. That seems fair to me.
  Also, if a veteran who had a service-connected disability retired 
from some other aspect of the Federal Government--from the Congress, 
from the Department of Energy, or from the Interior Department--they 
could draw both pensions. But if you retire from the military, you 
can't. That doesn't seem fair to me.
  We are currently losing, as I have indicated, over 1,000 World War II 
veterans every day. Every day we delay acting on this legislation means 
that we have denied fundamental fairness to thousands and thousands of 
our gallant armed service men and women. They will never have the 
ability to enjoy their well-deserved pensions. They earned them. If 
they spent 20 or more years in the military and were shot, or in some 
way hurt as a result of the service-connected disability, they earned 
that. That is an understatement.
  As to the budget which we have heard so much about, the 
``budgeteers'' should be ashamed of themselves. They took this out of 
the budget. It was passed on the floor, and they stripped it from the 
budget.
  I want everyone to know that we have 64 cosponsors. It is bipartisan. 
I am going to look for ways of having this legislation adopted by the 
Congress and sent to the President.
  Everyone should be alerted--Senator Levin, Senator Warner--that I am 
going to do everything I can to make sure it is on the Defense 
authorization bill. I am going to do everything I can--I say to Senator 
Inouye and Senator Stevens--to make sure it is on the military 
appropriations bill. It is just unfair.
  This legislation should be passed. Every day 1,000 people are denied 
basic fairness in this country.
  Today we have about 1.5 million of our finest serving in the defense 
of this Nation. The United States military is unmatched in power, 
training, and ability. This great Nation is recognized as the world's 
only superpower--a status which is largely due to the sacrifices that 
veterans made during the last century. But rather than honoring their 
commitment and bravery, the Federal Government has instead chosen to 
perpetuate a 110-year-old injustice.
  Quite simply, that is disgraceful. It is an injustice. It has existed 
for far too long. We must correct it. I am going to do everything I can 
to make sure that this passes in some form and is sent to the President 
to be signed.

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