[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 24, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9388-S9389]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--S. 1315

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Chair lay 
before the Senate a message from the House on S. 1315, the Veterans 
Benefits Enhancement Act; that the Senate disagree with the House 
amendment, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes 
of the two Houses, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on 
the part of the Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. BURR. Reserving the right to object, I ask my distinguished 
friend, the chairman, a question. It is my understanding that included 
in the fiscal year 2009 VA appropriations conference agreement is 
language denying the use of appropriated dollars putting into effect a 
repeal of the Hartness v. Nicholson decision. That is an agreement that 
has already been made.
  As the chairman knows, this is the offset that is used in S. 1315 in 
order to fund all the entitlement spending in the bill for Filipino 
veterans. My question to him is, what is the point in us going to 
conference on a bill if the only available offsets have been pulled off 
the table from the standpoint of us using them in S. 1315?
  Mr. AKAKA. As my friend and colleague knows, the appropriations 
measure is not yet law. And even if it were, there are various options 
available to the Veterans' Affairs Committee. So I urge my colleague to 
join me in seeking a conference on S. 1315. Together we can decide how 
our committee and the authorizing committee in the House can deal with 
the concern about the Hartness case.
  Mr. BURR. Continuing my reservation of objection, it seems to me that 
any conference wouldn't move because it would not meet pay-go. The pay-
go compliance doesn't exist. It doesn't make sense to proceed to a 
conference. The chairman and I had a lengthy debate as it related to 
this benefit. It disturbs me that we are on the floor of the Senate 
once again talking about the benefit at a time when we are talking 
about a financial crisis. It is also my understanding that the House 
continuing resolution will have $200 million that goes to the benefits 
of Filipino veterans with money that has been pulled from somewhere yet 
unknown.
  So with all the respect that I have for the chairman, I object at 
this time

[[Page S9389]]

to moving to conference for the simple reason that this issue will be 
resolved a different way, but, more importantly, pertinent to S. 1315 
the mechanism is already in place that takes away the funds that are 
used to fund this expansion in S. 1315.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Hawaii.
  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I am disappointed and somewhat surprised 
that objection has been made on this motion. I must tell my colleagues 
that I have deep respect for my friend and colleague and my ranking 
member. I respectfully say that this objection is one that disappoints 
me, but it has been made to this motion. The intent of the motion is to 
create a mechanism by which there might be further action on this very 
important veterans legislation before the Congress goes into recess.
  Last week, when I sought a UC with reference to this legislation, I 
did so by seeking to utilize an unrelated House bill as a vehicle to 
create a conference. In objecting to that approach, the Senator from 
Idaho said my approach was a tactic he hoped we would not use to 
address this important issue. He objected. While I did not agree that 
this tactic was inappropriate, given the lack of action in the House on 
S. 1315 at the time, I recognized the merits of the Senator's position.
  Now, however, the motion is to use the same bill, S. 1315, as passed 
by both Houses. That is, in fact, the normal process, the regular order 
for resolving differences between the Houses. I addressed the Senator's 
concerns and am disappointed to see his Republican colleague objecting. 
I wish to remind my colleagues this bill passed the Senate by a vote of 
96 to 1. Surely there must be some willingness to stand by the Senate 
position, to validate the Senate's action.
  As I noted last week, this bill would improve benefits and services 
for veterans, both young and old. There are many provisions that 
address a broad range of veterans benefits. This bill deserves to be 
resolved and brought to a final vote. I realize there is some 
opposition to the provision which allows this legislation to meet pay-
go requirements through the legislative reversal of a case known as 
Hartness.
  According to the one veterans organization that has expressed its 
opposition, the concern is not over the merits of the court decision. 
They simply oppose this effort to correct a mistake. The court's 
decision resulted in veterans receiving an extra pension benefit based 
solely on their age. This is not what Congress intended. I have not 
seen any analysis of the legislative history that supports that result.
  The purpose of the provision in S. 1315 is simply to restore the law 
to what it was supposed to be. Those who have characterized it as an 
attempt to withdraw benefits from deserving veterans and grant them to 
undeserving veterans are simply not fairly describing the legislation. 
The Hartness decision is wrong and should be overturned. How the 
savings of that action are treated is a fair subject for debate, and I 
believe we should have that discussion in the context of a conference 
between the two Veterans' Affairs Committees. I again ask, as I did 
last week, that the Senator, or Senators, who object to this request to 
set up a conference with the House advise me of the concerns and see if 
it might be possible to find a way forward. I am very committed to this 
legislation and would like to see if we can reach final action before 
we recess. If we are not able to do so, I intend to renew my efforts in 
the next Congress.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I thank my friend, the chairman of the 
Veterans' Affairs Committee. Let me add for purposes of my colleagues 
that all the benefits incorporated in S. 1315 that do not have 
mandatory spending implications have been negotiated between the House 
and the Senate and are part of another benefits package that I hope 
will move through the Congress. If there were a conference on S. 1315, 
the conference would be about only mandatory spending provisions, 
including mandatory spending for Filipino veterans. The chairman and I 
have debated this in public, and we are on two different ends. We have 
done that with civility and I have tried to do it and he has tried to 
do it with passion and with facts.
  At the end of the day, I will lose. There will be a special pension 
that is created out of the continuing resolution. It will be funded 
with money that is pulled out of the sky, which we do regularly in 
Washington.
  The House has spoken about the Hartness decision and the fact that 
they did not want to use that money. I think my chairman will get the 
benefit he is looking for in the continuing resolution. But for the 
purposes of those things that affect our veterans that do not require 
an offset, we did not wait to see the outcome of this bill. We have sat 
down and negotiated with the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, 
Republican and Democrat. We have put those additional benefits for our 
veterans into a benefits package that I feel certain will pass by 
unanimous consent.
  So there is still a disagreement the chairman and I have relative to 
this new special pension. But at the end of the day, there will be one, 
assuming there is a continuing resolution, that is passed. It will not 
be funded out of the Hartness, which is the preference of the House. As 
a matter of fact, it will not be funded at all. We will pull it out of 
where we typically pull money, and that is the pockets of future 
generations of American people.
  I thank the Presiding Officer and yield the floor.

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