[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26005]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           DEATH GRATUITY TAX

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate what 
the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) from the Democratic 
side and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi) from the Republican 
side are doing. I want to explain as to some of the speeches I have 
heard tonight. This is an effort; I go back myself. I hate to talk 
about myself, but for 2 years I have been trying to get this death 
gratuity tax removed. In fairness to the leadership, both Democrat and 
Republican, we have passed to the Senate, five times over 2 years, a 
bill, a larger bill than this bill, that would have removed the death 
gratuity and also some of the other issues that would have been fair to 
our military as it relates to tax fairness that the gentleman from 
Texas, my friend, mentioned. I do not know about the recent bill, but 
the bills that we passed in the last five times in the last 2 years 
would have accomplished some of these considerations for our men and 
women in uniform.
  I just want to mention very quickly that this year, and I want to 
thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), my bill dealt 
with removing the death gratuity 2 years ago; but it was $6,000. That 
was the cap on the death gratuity amount. I am glad that the McGovern 
bill and the Renzi bill both move it up to $12,000. It is what it 
should be. But for me, when I started this effort 2 years ago, I say to 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), it dealt with eliminating the 
death gratuity tax.
  So again I want to say that I am pleased tonight that we are all, 
both Republican and Democrat, believing that the military tax fairness 
bill that has been sent over a few months ago has not been taken up by 
the Senate side, and I do not know the status on this side of a second 
bill.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, first I want to commend the gentleman. He 
has been courageous in standing up for military families and veterans, 
one of only two Republicans to sign the discharge petition on 
concurrent receipt.
  The gentleman was mistaken in that the Senate has taken no action on 
the Armed Forces Tax Fairness Act. They passed that unanimously 97 to 0 
in March, 7 months ago. It has been sitting here at the Speaker's desk, 
and if the House Republican leadership would bring it to the floor 
tomorrow, we could pass it unanimously. Apparently, what they object to 
in passing the bill is closing the Benedict Arnold tax loophole.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank 
the gentleman for correcting me. I was mistaken about the Senate's 
action and I stand corrected. I will say, and then I will yield back 
the balance of my time, because I think even though we all have our 
reasons for feeling that some action has not been taken and possibly, I 
will say this, that I believe that we all, in a bipartisan way, support 
our men and women in uniform, we support their families, and we want to 
make sure that those who have given their lives for this country that 
the families are adequately compensated; not that there is enough, 
quite frankly, to pay those who have given their lives for this 
country.

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