[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 158 (Tuesday, November 4, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H10315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          KEEPING OUR PROMISES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to remind my 
colleagues that next Tuesday we will honor our veterans and the 
sacrifices that they made for our great country.
  On Veterans' Day, we will each be back in our districts attending 
memorial events and letting our constituents know of our admiration for 
our veterans and our support for American troops currently in battle in 
Iraq and Afghanistan.
  What we will not be telling our constituents, however, is that 
Congress has a history of breaking its promises to these men and women 
who have fought bravely to defend the values and ideals that this 
country was founded upon.
  When the men and women of our Armed Forces signed up for military 
duty, the local military recruiting officer told them that, for their 
service, they would get health care at VA hospitals. What they did not 
tell them was that they may have to wait up to 6 months for an 
appointment.
  We civilians find it tough enough to get a doctor's appointment 
through our HMOs. Yet 60,000 veterans have had to wait 6 months or more 
to get in at a VA hospital. Even worse, 14,000 of America's veterans 
who are entitled to expedited claims have waited more than 15 months to 
be seen. To me, there is nothing expedited about a 15-month wait.
  This is not the deal we struck with our veterans. They deserve 
better. We promised members of the military that we will take care of 
them if they sustained a service-connected disability. We also promised 
them retirement if they served their country for 20 years. Yet for 
those veterans who are both retired and disabled, we deduct their 
disability pay, dollar for dollar, from their retirement pay. What it 
amounts to is a disability tax on our veterans' pensions.
  Can my colleagues imagine a private sector corporation treating its 
employees this way? Can my colleagues imagine a retiree pension being 
reduced by the amount of workman's compensation an employee receives? 
We all know that would never fly in the private sector, but this is how 
the U.S. Government treats its veterans who have risked their lives and 
safety defending our country.
  Currently, 560,000 disabled military retirees across the Nation are 
affected by this disability tax; 65,200 of them are from Texas and 264 
reside in the district I represent. These military retirees in my own 
district lose an average of $5,310 each in much-needed veterans 
benefits each year. They fought bravely for our country and earned 
every penny of these benefits, and we should not be wasting time on 
half-a-loaf compromises or deals that make veterans wait years for 
these benefits.
  No, our action on concurrent receipt should be driven by the 
commitment that we made to our veterans who have, without a doubt, 
upheld their end of the bargain. The sad fact is, this country is not 
treating our future veterans, the men and women currently serving in 
Iraq and Afghanistan, any better.
  I have no doubt they all appreciate the opportunity to come home for 
2 weeks for much deserved rest and relaxation, but I find it 
unconscionable that we give them a free ride back to a port of entry in 
the U.S. and then leave them there to pay their own way home. Do we 
really think an enlisted Army private has the financial resources to 
pay for a short-notice flight from BWI, Baltimore Airport, to his home 
or her home? I can guarantee my colleagues we did not ask our men and 
women in uniform to pay their own way for any leg of their trip to 
Iraq. We should not be forcing them to pay for any of their trip back 
home.
  This past weekend, the harsh realties of war hit us in Houston 
particularly hard as we learned that one of our own was aboard the 
Chinook helicopter bringing 16 of our servicemembers home. Sergeant 
Keelan Moss graduated only 5 years ago from Eisenhower High School in 
the Aldine Independent School District. A young man of only 23 years 
old, he made the ultimate sacrifice for his country and will be forever 
remembered as an American hero. The loss of his life is a grim reminder 
of the constant dangers faced by our men and women in uniform.
  And while we may often think of our military as a symbol of American 
strength and pride, we must also remember that it is comprised of 
individual Americans who are consistently putting their lives on the 
line, day in and day out, to defend our great Nation.
  For their selfless patriotism, we owe it to our military members, 
both past and present, to keep the promises we made to them. As we send 
them in harm's way to defend us, that is the least we can do.

                          ____________________