[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 156 (Friday, October 31, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13707-S13708]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE VETERANS BENEFITS ENHANCEMENTS ACT OF 2003

  Mr. SPECTER. I have sought recognition today to explain briefly the 
provisions of S. 1132, the proposed Veterans Benefits Enhancements Act 
of 2003. This legislation, which was approved by the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs on September 30, 2003, incorporates provisions drawn 
from 13 different bills that were considered by the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs over the course of the first session. S. 1132, as so 
amended, is a lengthy bill--almost 50 pages--and so I will not endeavor 
in this statement to explain in detail each and every provision of the 
bill. Rather, I will discuss the highlights in this statement, and 
refer my colleagues to the committee report that accompanied approval 
of the bill for a more extended explanation of the bill.
  The starting point for S. 1132, as reported, was S. 1132, the 
proposed ``Veterans' Survivors Benefits Enhancements Act of 2003,'' 
which I introduced on May 22, 2003. That bill, as its title indicates, 
focused on the needs of the surviving families of veterans who were 
gravely injured or killed in war. It contained provisions to increase 
widows' and orphans' educational assistance benefits, and to increase 
dependency and indemnity compensation (so-called ``DIC'') benefits--
benefits provided to the widows and surviving children of service 
members whose deaths are service related--in cases where the widow has 
at home at least one dependent child. The bill, as introduced, would 
have also extended eligibility for burial in a VA national cemetery to 
all surviving spouses of veterans, including a group now denied 
eligibility--service members' widows who are remarried at the time of 
their deaths. And finally, S. 1132, as introduced, would have extended 
benefits now provided to spina bifida-afflicted children of Vietnam 
veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange to the children of veterans 
who served in another area where Agent Orange was widely used in 1967-
1969, the Korean demilitarized zone, and who are afflicted with the 
same birth defect.
  I am pleased that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs approved all but 
one of these provisions; one provision--the proposed increase in DIC 
benefits for widows with dependent children--was, unfortunately, too 
costly to proceed with at this time. I am pleased, as well that at mark 
up, the committee's members approved the addition of a number of other 
measures which were drawn from other bills that had been referred to 
the committee for consideration. Among those provisions are the 
following:
  Provisions derived from bills introduced by Senators Murray (S. 517), 
Craig (S. 1239), and Graham of Florida (S. 1281) to improve medical 
care and compensation benefits afforded to former prisoners of war;
  Provisions derived from administration-requested legislation (S. 
1213) to increase benefits afforded to Filipinos who fought alongside 
U.S. troops in World War II;
  Provisions derived from administration-requested legislation (S. 
1133) to improve the VA's educational assistance, life insurance, and 
State cemetery grant programs; and
  Provisions derived from a bill introduced by Committee Ranking 
Member,

[[Page S13708]]

Bob Graham, (S. 1281) to authorize further funding and oversight of the 
Department of Defense and Institute of Medicine activities to identify 
the causes of, and treatments for, injuries related to exposures to 
Agent Orange, radiation, and other environmental dangers by service 
members.
  The bill also contains various measures to assure that, despite the 
enactment of the significant improvements contained within the bill, 
the bill will nonetheless be in compliance with Budget Enforcement Act 
strictures against the enactment of ``mandatory account'' spending 
measures without accompanying ``pay-go'' offsets.
  S. 1132, as amended, is good legislation that is supported, on a 
bipartisan basis, by all of the members of the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs. Further, its key provisions are supported by VA Secretary 
Anthony J. Principi and by the major veterans' service organizations. I 
ask that the Senate approve it.

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