[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 26272-26273]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



         VETERANS EDUCATION AND BENEFITS EXPANSION ACT OF 2001

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President. I rise to comment on important legislation 
passed by the Senate last evening, H.R. 1291, the Veterans Education 
and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001. This compromise agreement is the 
product of negotiations between the House and the Senate to craft an 
agreement between the Senate- and House-passed bills aimed at improving 
a wide array of benefits affecting veterans and their families. 
Included in this legislation is funding for improving educational 
benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill, enhancing veterans' 
compensation, and increasing home loan guarantees. This legislation 
also makes important investments in vocational training, education, and 
outreach programs to improve economic and educational opportunities for 
veterans who served our country. And, this legislation expands the 
definition of service-connected disability to include symptoms 
associated with ``Gulf War syndrome'' thereby enabling those veterans 
suffering from Gulf War-related symptoms to receive the compensation 
and care they deserve. Our nation's veterans have served our country 
with distinction and have sacrificed in the defense of our country. 
These veterans deserve benefits commensurate to their service to our 
country. In many ways, this legislation recognizes the sacrifices and 
commitment of our nation's veterans, and rightfully rewards their 
service and valor.
  I wanted to take some time to talk about a very important aspect of 
this legislation--Section 502--which is a provision pertaining to 
providing VA grave markers for deceased veterans. On December 7, 2001, 
the Senate unanimously passed S. 1088, the Veterans' Benefits 
Improvement Act of 2001. This legislation included a provision which is 
based on legislation that I introduced this year and in the 106th 
Congress. It has the support of every major veterans group and a wide 
array of organizations including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the 
American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of 
America, the Air Force Sergeants Association, and the National Funeral 
Directors Association. It also has strong bipartisan support and enjoys 
the support of 21 of my Senate colleagues who cosponsored this 
legislation. The cosponsors include Senators Bingaman, Byrd, Conrad, 
Craig, DeWine, Dorgan, Feingold, Johnson, Kennedy, Kerry, Kohl, Leahy, 
Levin, Lieberman, Lincoln, Miller, Santorum, Sessions, Stabenow, 
Stevens, and Voinovich.
  Section 402 of S. 1088 would authorize the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to furnish a grave marker for the grave of a deceased veteran, 
irrespective of whether the grave has already been marked privately by 
the family. Current law--which dates back to the Civil War--does not 
allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide such a marker to 
already-marked graves. This arcane provision of federal law effectively 
precludes an estimated 25,000 families each year from appropriately 
commemorating their loved one's service to our country. Sadly, this 
number will only increase as our nation's veteran population ages. 
Indeed, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, some 1,500 
American World War II veterans will pass away each day. With our aging 
population of veterans and with our nation's armed forces currently in 
harm's way in the war against terrorism, it is critically important to 
act promptly to secure this final tribute to suitably recognize the 
service of past and future veterans.
  This archaic law was originally intended to ensure that our fallen 
soldiers were not buried in unmarked graves. Of course, in today's age 
rarely, if ever, does a grave go unmarked. Prior to 1990, the surviving 
family of a deceased veteran could receive from the VA, after burial or 
cremation, partial reimbursement for a private headstone, a VA 
headstone, or a VA grave marker. The choice was solely up to the 
deceased veteran's family. However, budgetary tightening measures 
enacted in 1990 eliminated the reimbursement component and prevented 
the VA from providing an official headstone or grave marker when the 
family had already done so privately. This change in law precludes 
veterans' families from receiving an official VA grave marker if the 
family has already made private funeral arrangements.
  Suffice it to say, this provision of law is a major source of 
frustration for veterans families as they seek to honor their deceased 
loved one's service to our nation. At the time of a veteran's death, 
grief stricken family members invariably concern themselves with making 
necessary funeral arrangements and providing comfort and support to 
loved ones, not investigating the complexities of VA regulations. 
Nonetheless, for veterans' families that make private funeral 
arrangements prior to contacting the VA--such as purchasing a private 
headstone or marker--these families unwittingly forfeit their right to 
receive an official marker to honor their loved one's military service. 
This inequity in current law is unfair to those veterans who have 
served our country. Indeed, the denial of this benefit to veterans' 
families is one of the major sources, if not the major source, of 
complaints lodged with the VA.
  One of the countless families negatively effected by this provision 
of federal law is the Guzzo family of West Hartford, Connecticut. Back 
in the summer of 1998, I was approached by a young man named Tom Guzzo 
whose father Agostino Guzzo had recently passed away. While Agostino's 
service in the Army in the Philippines during World War II entitled him 
to full military honors from the VA, he was not eligible for an 
official VA marker because the family had already purchased a private 
marker.
  I became involved in this matter to correct what I believed to be a 
bureaucratic error, and I wrote to the then-Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to resolve this matter. However, when the Secretary informed me 
that he was unable to furnish a VA grave marker to the Guzzos because 
of federal law, I introduced legislation to correct this inequity. Last 
year, the VA headstone and grave markers legislation that I authored 
unanimously passed the Senate as an amendment to the FY 2001 Department 
of Defense Authorization bill. However, the House-passed version

[[Page 26273]]

of the Department of Defense Authorization bill did not include a 
comparable VA grave marker provision, and regrettably this measure was 
stripped in conference committee. Last week, once again, the Senate 
passed a provision based on legislation that I introduced in the Senate 
that would authorize the Secretary of the VA to furnish grave markers 
to deceased veterans, regardless of whether the grave is privately 
marked. And, once again, the House failed to adopt this reasonable 
provision, and this important measure was the subject of negotiations 
between the House and Senate to resolve this matter.
  The legislation before us today allows grave markers for veterans who 
pass away after the date of enactment. This is good news for veterans 
today. However, I continue to be concerned about the more than 5 
million veterans who passed away over the past decade and whose 
families have tried in vain to obtain an official commemoration from 
the VA. My legislation was retroactive and would have assisted all 
affected veterans families back to 1990--when the aforementioned change 
in federal law occurred. As part of the compromise agreement between 
the Senate, House, and the Administration, this legislation would allow 
for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ``implement this provision in 
a flexible manner in light of requests for grave markers pre-dating 
this provision.'' While I am pleased that this compromise will allow 
for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to help the Guzzo family and may 
help other families who have struggled to receive official recognition 
for their deceased loved one's service through administrative means, 
this problem should have been addressed by a change in law--not through 
an ad-hoc, case-by-case, administrative procedure. Nonetheless, while 
this is not by any means a perfect agreement, it will allow deceased 
veterans' families to obtain this official grave marker in the future.
  I would like to take a moment to thank and recognize the tremendous 
leadership of Chairman Rockefeller with regard to this issue and to 
veterans issues in general. Chairman Rockefeller and his talented 
staff, in particular, were extremely helpful in working with me to 
ensure that the service of our Nation's veterans are suitably 
recognized. I would also like to commend Congresswoman Nancy Johnson 
and her efforts to reach a workable compromise with respect to this 
issue. Finally, I would like to commend and recognize the hard work and 
vigilance of the Guzzo family, particularly Tom Guzzo, in ensuring that 
Agostino Guzzo's service to our Nation--and the military service of 
countless other veterans--can from now on be recognized by the U.S. 
Government with this final, modest gesture from a grateful Nation.

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