[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 149 (Thursday, September 18, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H8402]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SUPPORTING EXPANSION OF ELIGIBILITY OF BENEFITS FOR FILIPINO VETERANS

  (Mr. ABERCROMBIE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Madam Speaker, I rise to urge the immediate support 
for the expansion of the eligibility of benefits for Filipino vets.
  On July 26, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt brought the Philippine 
Commonwealth Forces under the control of the United States during World 
War II. Yet when their service ended, they did not receive the same 
benefits or treatment as other American soldiers.
  Congress passed the Rescission Act in 1946, against General 
MacArthur's open objections. This even includes such things as burial 
benefits. No other group of veterans has been systematically denied 
these benefits. There will be only 20,000 left by 2010.
  There is some contention here that the Filipino veterans that fought 
with us as allies are not U.S. citizens. We are paying Sunni tribesmen 
who killed American soldiers bribe money today in Iraq, but the 
Filipino vets who saved American soldiers are left out of the benefits 
as allies of the United States.
  This is shameful and needs to be stopped immediately. Bring those 
benefits to these Filipino vets, who are the allies and comrades in 
arms of United States soldiers.

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