[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2293]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  KEEPING THE PROMISE TO OUR VETERANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call the attention of the 
House to five bills I have introduced to address some major concerns of 
our Nation's service members, military retirees and veterans.
  The first is H.R. 363, the Military Survivor's Equity Act. It is hard 
to believe that we continue to condone a system that penalizes the 
aging widows of our Nation's veterans, but that is exactly what the 
Military Survivors Benefits Plan does. When a member of the military 
retires, he or she may join the Survivors Benefits Plan, known as the 
SBP. After paying a premium for many, many years, the retiree expects 
that his or her spouse will receive 55 percent of the retired military 
pay.
  Most of the survivors who receive SBP benefits are military widows. 
You may not realize that when these widows who are receiving SBP 
benefits turn 62, a Social Security offset causes their benefits to be 
reduced from 55 percent to 35 percent of their husband's military 
retiree pay. This occurs even when the Social Security comes from the 
wife's employment.
  What does this reduction mean to our Nation's military widows? I have 
received many letters on this subject. Let me just read from one. I am 
quoting:
  ``My husband, who served in the Army for 20 years, was on Social 
Security disability because of heart problems and could no longer work. 
He died in July, 1995. I was then 61 years old. I received Social 
Security income plus my SBP. With both of these incomes, I was doing 
fine paying my monthly bills and having enough left for groceries. When 
I turned 62, I was notified that my SBP was reduced from $476 to $302. 
What a shock. This was my grocery money that they took away from me.''
  It is time to change this misleading, unfair law. We must provide 
some equity to the surviving spouses of our military retirees. My bill 
would fix this problem by eliminating the callous and absurd reduction 
in benefits and give what is expected and what is deserved: 55 percent 
of the military retired pay. To put it simply, no offset. A simple 
solution to a difficult problem, an equitable solution to a mean-
spirited practice.
  The second bill is H.R. 364, the Veterans' Training and Employment 
Bill of Rights Act. This would ensure that service-disabled veterans 
and veterans who serve in combat areas will be first in line for 
federally funded training-related services and programs. Under current 
law, veterans are often underserved by national programs such as the 
Job Training Partnership Act because it sometimes mistakenly assumes 
that the veterans receive the same services from the VA Department. My 
bill would reinforce our commitment to provide special training 
assistance for veterans and make it clear that eligible veterans have 
earned a place at the front of the line.
  The bill would also establish the first effective appeals process for 
veterans who believe their rights have been violated under veterans' 
employment-related programs. The Secretary of Labor would be required 
to help veterans who believe that Federal contractors have not met 
their obligation to hire veterans and to help veterans who believe they 
were not given preference for enrollment in Federal training programs. 
This bill would provide the teeth that have been missing from some 
veterans' training programs and would go a long way toward ensuring 
that veterans' rights are respected.
  A third bill is H.R. 366, the Veterans' Entrepreneurship Promotion 
Act.

                              {time}  1530

  Many veterans have told me that they would like to own a small 
business, and our national economy would certainly be strengthened if 
more veterans were able to establish their own companies. This bill is 
designed to do just that, by establishing a program to help disabled 
and other eligible veteran-owned small businesses compete for Federal 
contracts. Also included is a program of training, counseling and 
management assistance for veterans interested in starting a small 
business. Veterans who want to pursue self-employment should be 
supported and encouraged.
  H.R. 365 is the Let Our Military Buy a Home Act. Under this plan, the 
Department of Defense, in cooperation with Veterans Affairs, would be 
permitted to test a program designed to relieve the military housing 
crisis. Military personnel stationed in areas where the supply of 
suitable military housing is adequate, as in my hometown of San Diego, 
could purchase homes for themselves and their families at reduced 
interest rates. This practice would reduce the cost of building on-base 
housing and would expand opportunities for service members to own their 
own homes.
  Initially introduced in the 104th Congress by our good friend and 
former colleague, the honorable and legendary G.V. Sonny Montgomery, 
and included in Public Law 104-106, this program was inexplicably not 
implemented by the Department of Defense. Sonny's idea is a good one 
and I encourage you to join in pursuing this creative approach to 
dealing with the military housing program.
  Finally, a bill to Extend Commissary and Exchange Store Privileges, 
H.R. 362. This legislation would allow veterans with service-connected 
disability to use commissary and exchange stores on the same basis as 
the members of the Armed Forces entitled to retired pay. I believe that 
these veterans have earned the right to commissary privileges.

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