Salute to Veterans and the Armed Forces Act of 2003

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to highlight the inadequate treatment our troops and our veterans are receiving from this administration.

In all there are 1.4 million men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces. Tens of thousands of these soldiers are serving overseas, 130,000 troops in Iraq, 8,500 troops in Afghanistan, 37,000 in South Korea and the list goes on and on.

Throughout their deployment, the men and women who serve in the United States Armed Forces have done so with honor and distinction. However, the Republican Congress and this administration often have not lived up to their part of the bargain.

While the Congress has approved massive increases in funding for the Department of Defense, our soldiers are deployed to Iraq without life- saving protective body armor, and many humvees were also poorly equipped, leaving our soldiers vulnerable to rocket-propelled grenades and other explosive devices. It was not until our soldiers began writing home asking their families to send them ceramic tiles so that they could make their own protective armor that the Pentagon finally woke up and said they would provide each soldier with Kevlar bulletproof vests.

It should never have come to this. If we are going to send our troops into battle, we must ensure that they have all the equipment they need. Unfortunately, the Republicans' record is grossly inadequate when it comes to helping our soldiers when they return from the battlefield.

While they have taken the long overdue step of providing funding in the emergency supplemental appropriations bill to cover the costs our soldiers have traveling home on rest and recuperation, they still leave many military families vulnerable by only extending the higher rates of imminent danger pay and family separation allowance for 1 year, no matter how long they serve. While the Republicans heeded the demands of Democrats and ended the shameful practice of requiring wounded soldiers to pay subsistence charges for each day they were in the hospital recovering from a combat injury, they continued to refuse to provide other essential relief to our veterans.

The Republicans still refuse to end the disabled veterans tax which prevents thousands of disabled veterans from receiving full retirement and disabled benefits.

In short, the Republicans believe that by waving the United States flag and making a few cosmetic changes, they can dress up a second rate record on issues that are important to our veterans and our troops.

Mr. Speaker, we have to acknowledge the existence of a problem before we can fix it. One news organization reported earlier this week that soldiers are being housed in outdated barracks, some even without indoor toilets, and forced to wait days, weeks or even months for treatment of medical problems, including injuries suffered in Iraq. Yet this administration seems unable to acknowledge the existence of the problem.

Mr. Speaker, the clearest illustration of the Republicans' poor record on veterans issue is when we examine the inadequate funding the Republicans have provided for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Every veteran has earned the health care, educational, disability and other benefits he or she was promised when they signed up for military service. However, they are rarely receiving these benefits in a timely manner.

The statistics are dreadful. There are approximately 60,000 veterans waiting 6 months or more to see a doctor. Some veterans die from their conditions before they are able to see a doctor, and for the past 2 years, an average of 14,000 disabled veterans have been waiting more than 15 months for their so-called expedited disability claims to be finalized.

This log jam will only get worse as those troops currently serving overseas return home. Yet instead of providing the necessary funding to alleviate these backlogs and help those who need it most, the Republicans are passing massive tax cuts to benefit those who need it least.

Mr. Speaker, the Republican record on veterans issues is not one that I would be happy to call my own. I am certainly grateful that I do not have to defend it.

During the fiscal year 2004 budget debate, the Republicans attempted to cut funding over the next 10 years for medical care and other appropriated veterans programs by $14.2 billion below current service levels and cut funding for mandatory veterans programs by $14.2 billion over 10 years. Later, despite publicity promising to include $3.2 billion for veterans health care, Republicans have only appropriated $1.4 billion for veterans health care, leaving a shortfall of $1.8 billion and thousands of veterans without necessary health care.

The Republicans have prevented Members from voting their conscience on the disabled veterans tax which unfairly taxes disabled veterans, $1 in retirement benefits for every $1 they receive in disability benefits. The Republicans even propose to increase prescription drug copayments and impose enrollment fees on veterans seeking to access health care, and despite there being an estimated 299,321 veterans who are homeless on any given night, funding which helps provide housing and job training for veterans is woefully short.

This record is in no way to repay the sacrifice our veterans have made on behalf of us.

Mr. Speaker, the Democrats have another way. We have crafted a bill that will not only honor the men and women serving in the Armed Forces today but also provide the benefits that veterans have earned and deserve.

H.R. 2569, the Democratic bill, would increase funding for VA health care by $10 billion over the next 10 years, expand access to health care for the National Guard and Reserves. It would completely and immediately end the disabled veterans tax. It would pay our veterans $500 a month when his or her disability claim has been left pending for longer than 6 months. For our troops currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, our bill would give a $1,000 bonus for those soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Lastly, the Democrats would extend the child tax credit to the hundreds of thousands of military families left behind by the Bush tax cut.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2569 is a comprehensive bill that not only acknowledges the sacrifice our men and women in uniform make but also ensures that they are properly taken care of after they stop wearing the uniform.

This recognition is long overdue. Democrats are committed to doing all that we can to pass H.R. 2569. We will continue to put a spotlight on the enormous gap between Republican words and deeds on veterans and troop-support issues. Our troops and our veterans deserve no less.

Mr. Speaker, I know that it is not popular with this administration to talk about these issues. As a matter of fact, I am fully aware that the President of the United States basically tried to intimidate the news media by saying to them you are not reporting enough good news. And to prove that he was prepared to deal with them if they do not do it his way, he started to exclude the national media and go around them and deal with the regional media in order to teach them a lesson.

Well, Mr. Speaker, this President and this administration may not like the fact that some of us talk about what is really happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. He may not like the fact that the

news media is reporting the deaths of our soldiers, not only those deaths that are taking place in Iraq, but those deaths that are taking place in Afghanistan. And while there are those who do not want to have us talk about the fact that 15 of our soldiers were killed this past weekend, and in excess of 20 of them were wounded, and each day we continue to lose soldiers, one, two, three a day, they are being attacked and they are being picked off. Of course we are raising a lot of questions about the postwar planning, or lack thereof. We are asking this administration what were you thinking about.

Our soldiers are now in a situation that they have not been trained for. They do not know anything about Shiites and Sunnis. They do not understand the ethnic warfare between Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. They do not know the language; they do not understand the cultures. They were not trained to be involved in guerrilla warfare. We have to continue to talk about this because we have to force the protection that is needed.

I am not going to talk about Afghanistan; they just killed two of our CIA agents there. The poppy fields are flowing; the warlords are in control. Mr. Karzai, who we hand picked and sat down in Kabul, is not running anything. It is a joke, and we are paying a terrible price for the way we have not done our homework and done our planning in these two places alone.

Hopefully, even those wounded will return home. Hopefully, this administration will get its act together and they will provide the protection and do the strategic planning; they will do what they did not do, even when the President posted the sign ``Mission Accomplished.''

It is time for the untruths and the distortions to stop. I was shocked when the President, whom we saw under the banner of mission impossible when asked by the press denied that the White House had anything to do with it. Certainly the White House planned the entire event, but that is typical of the kind of untruths and misinformation coming out of this administration.

What is going to happen to those soldiers returning home, those soldiers who are wounded, those soldiers who have been separated from their families, those soldiers and reservists who will return without employment? Some will not even have homes to live in. We are talking about not only what is going on in Afghanistan and Iraq at this time, but we want to let you know, and hopefully they will be veterans returning to their respective towns and their cities, what will be there for them? Will they, too, have to wait in long lines to get the health care that they need? Many of them will need follow-up health care as a result of the wounds that they are receiving now in Iraq. What is going to happen to them when they discover that they will not get the retirement benefits they thought were coming to them because of the way this administration refused to fund it?

Well, we raise these questions no matter how unpopular they are. It is our duty and our responsibility as representatives elected to represent all of the people to be in the forefront of the issues for our veterans. If we cannot stand up for our veterans, we cannot stand up for anybody or anything.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. Majette) as she continues our discussion in support of our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for taking time from her schedule and being here at this hour to talk about her commitment for our veterans and the way that all Americans should feel about our veterans. Certainly the manner in which she has spoken really should give those on the opposite side of the aisle cause to revisit the way in which they can represent our veterans.

I would like to take a moment and reiterate, H.R. 2569, the Democratic bill, would increase funding for VA health care by $10 billion over the next 10 years, expand access to health care for the National Guard and Reserves. It would completely and immediately end the disabled veterans tax; it would pay a veteran $500 a month when his or her disability claim has been left pending for longer than 6 months. For our troops currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, our bill would give a $1,000 bonus for those soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Lastly, the Democrats would extend the child tax credit to the hundreds of thousands of military families left behind by the Bush tax cut. I repeat that because I think it is important for the American people to know there is an alternative. No one can say that they did not have something that they could vote for to correct the inadequacies of the funding for our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, this past weekend when 15 soldiers were killed and over 20 were wounded, I watched as Mr. Rumsfeld and others attempted to respond to the press's questions about what had happened and what did they plan to do. I

sat in horror as I watched Mr. Rumsfeld say, I am sorry about what happened; I think this is a critical time for our American families who have soldiers who have been killed, but this is war and we should expect that people are going to lose their lives in war. We are going to be in Iraq for a long time, and I am paraphrasing what he said, and we are not going to cut and run. These are the words that Mr. Rumsfeld and the President of the United States were using: we are not going to cut and run.

Mr. Speaker, it is easy to talk about making sacrifices when it is somebody else's child. I guess it is pretty easy to talk about we should expect that people are going to die. I am never comfortable with that kind of talk. I am never comfortable with the fact that any leader would try and sanitize the trauma of the death of our soldiers and speak about it in such a way.

Mr. Speaker, we are aware that we do not see our soldiers' bodies being brought home. There are those who are saying that we do not see the bodies coming in because there is a plot and a plan by this administration to keep it out of public view, to not have the body bags returning in a way that Americans will focus on it.

Mr. Speaker, I am here to say that this administration can attempt to hide or to deny, to not allow the ceremonies to take place in honor of our soldiers as we have done in the past, but that is only going to anger the American public. Americans will not take kindly to dismissing the deaths of our soldiers. They will not take kindly to any attempts to change the protocol that we had gotten used to when we could, for a moment, stop and focus on the fact that lives had been lost and provide a ceremony in honor of them for all of the American public to see.

Mr. Speaker, while I am here talking about veterans, and I am trying to make the connection between how we can do better by those in Iraq than we are doing by those who have already served long before them, whether it was in the Vietnam War, whether it was in Desert Storm, whether it was in World War II, I am anxious to send a message this evening, and that message is that the people of this country want to see this administration and the Members of this Congress do better by our soldiers and our veterans. I am hopeful that we will not have to see our American people become so angry that they embarrass this administration and this President by demanding that we get the truth, that we understand exactly what is happening, that our soldiers are taken care of, that they are brought back in the traditional ceremonies that we have gotten used to. I want Mr. Rumsfeld and the President of the United States to look the press in the eye and show that they are truly sorry for the deaths that are being caused. I do not wish our leaders, whether it is the President or Mr. Rumsfeld, to just say in so many words: Get used to it. The sacrifices have to be made, that this is what war is all about and this is what we are going to be experiencing for some time to come.

Again, these are not the kind of words that people want to hear. This is not the kind of truth that the administration would like to confront. But as a Member of Congress, elected by the people to represent, I take this time leading up to Veterans Day to not only talk about our soldiers in Iraq but to say over and over again, we can do better by our veterans. We must do better by our veterans. Again, as it was said by the gentlewoman from Georgia, on Veterans Day, Members of Congress and leaders all across this country will be going to ceremonies. They will be at the veterans hospitals. They will be at the various VFW posts. They will be in places where veterans are. And they will talk about how they honor the sacrifices that our veterans have made. But what they will not talk about is what are we going to do to get the homeless veterans off the street? What are we going to do to create more cemetery space for our veterans? What are we going to do to reduce the long waiting times and the long waiting periods that our veterans are experiencing at our VA hospitals?

But, Mr. Speaker, I am hopeful because of the Democrats, because of our bill, because we are saying what is possible, and we have laid it out in a very clear and concise way, that the veterans themselves in the middle of these ceremonies will look the Members of Congress and others in the eye and instead of allowing them to get away with the ceremonial side of this, will ask about the substantive side of the public policy issues and say: What are you doing to protect us or to provide services for us, to make sure that you respect the investments that we have made.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the subject of my Special Order tonight.

Mr. Speaker, tonight I rise with fellow Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other Members of Congress to salute this Nation's veterans in commemoration of Veterans' Day next Tuesday. Mr. Speaker, it is a very special day for so many of our men and women who have given their blood, their sweat, and their tears to defend the lives that we live in this country. Many of them have given their lives standing up for what America is all about.

And so it gives me great honor to yield 20 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the great State of Missouri and the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Ike Skelton, for his remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment to thank the gentleman from Missouri for his service and the position that he holds. We in the Congress, of course, look up to him as our ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee for his advice on our veterans and on military matters, and I appreciate his service.

Mr. Speaker, given that our country is currently engaged in a war in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus feel compelled to pay homage to our soldiers at home and abroad.

Our brave men and women continue to risk their lives in order that others may enjoy freedom. In fact, we have come to the House floor on numerous occasions to express our appreciation for the dedication, courage, and sacrifice of our Armed Forces. Tonight Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus again stands before this House to honor those currently serving in the over 100 nations around the globe where the United States military has operations, and we especially pause to remember those who laid the foundation for our freedom.

Mr. Speaker, the United States military is among the most diverse institutions in our country; and it is this diversity in gender, ethnicity, skill, and talent that contributes most to our military's awesome strength. Throughout history, heroic citizens of our great Nation have transcended individual prejudice and intolerance to unite in the pursuit of liberty and in their valiant protection of our borders.

However, many of these same individuals have too often been unrecognized and forgotten once the final shot has been fired and the last drop of blood has been shed. So as my favorite theologian Charles Swindoll, who has penned these words that are imbedded in the DNA of every cell of my brain, Swindoll says ``The greatest deeds often performed are those that are performed by those who are unknown, unseen, unappreciated, and unapplauded.'' And we want to make sure that our veterans do not fall into any of those categories.

And it was the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), my good friend, the ranking Democrat on our House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, who penned these words, and they are just so brilliant, I just wanted to repeat the gentleman from Illinois' (Mr. Evans) words. He said, ``50 million have held the venerable title of veteran. More than 1 million have died while wearing the uniform. It is this generation's responsibility, and that of every subsequent generation, to make sure the numbers have faces, lives that connect to them. We are losing 1,500 veterans a day. Each death represents a life, another rich, colorful, dynamic, dramatic, brutal, or heartening story. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans) goes on to say: ``The only way this and future generations can hold dear to what our veterans have done, can understand the sacrifice, is to record and share their stories and to continue the traditions of honoring their service such as those observed on November 11. We must not lose their deeds to time or neglect. The greatest gift in return for what these extraordinary individuals have given us is to make certain their lives and experiences are perpetuated, to recount their sacrifices to every generation.'' Finally, he goes on to say: ``War may begin over real estate, mineral rights, religion, or boundaries, but ultimately it is about people and lives. It is about one man or woman seeking to make certain that the next one can live freely and have a say in his or her own destiny. It is about sacrifices to ensure our Nation and world in which the rights of the individual are acknowledged, respected, and cherished.''

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the wonderful gentlewoman from the great State of California (Ms. Lee), the daughter of a veteran.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for her comments, and I just want to talk to her for just a moment.

She said something that really touched me, and I think that many people who have moved throughout our neighborhoods know this, but there are so many veterans who are homeless, and it is so painful. When I go to our drug treatment centers, it is not unusual for me to just sit down and talk to the people there and just find out a little bit about their history. And I notice that it is interesting that when people who are a little bit older, I would say maybe one out of every six or seven that I talk to is a veteran, and a lot of them are, of course, complaining about various things, but the fact is a lot of them link a lot of their problems to their service.

When a person serves, when they volunteer and they go in or they are drafted or whatever the case may have been, they go in to serve their country. But I also think our country, and I think this is what the gentlewoman was talking about too, has a duty to take care of them when they get back, because after all, I mean it is very nice for us to stand here and say all those wonderful things about our soldiers with the ongoing conflict we have certainly in Iraq, but the fact is there is that duty, and just as we lift them up and applaud them as they go off to war and just as we pray for them and we hold them in high esteem when they go off to fight our battles and defend our freedom, when they come back, they should come back to a situation that makes them whole. Just this evening, as a matter of fact, on one of the national news shows, there was a just a very painful story of a young man who just came back from Iraq, and I know he is not a veteran yet, but when he got back, his bills had amounted up to so much between him and his family. He was a National Guardsman, and they had some kind of a furniture repair business or something of that nature, but in the course of his being gone for the period he was gone, his income from the business went down 80 percent, and now he finds himself in a position where his wife and he have decided for whatever reasons to go their separate ways.

But the thing that really touched me was he had apparently an opportunity to now get out of the military, but he said he wanted to stay. He said that he was an Honor Guard, one of the men who go to the funerals and fold up the flag and deliver it to the family. He said that he wanted to stay because he felt that that was so important.

When I heard that, I said to myself, we really ought to make sure that we do right by our veterans. It is not enough for us to come and applaud them. It is not enough for us to come and thank them. We have really got to support them.

When the gentlewoman talks about disabilities, I want her to go back a moment and talk about concurrent receipt. It seems to be just an unfair situation, when you are injured and you go leave the military on a disability and then your disability payments are then deducted from the funds that you are supposed to be getting. Can the gentlewoman explain that to us?

Basically what is happening is they are taking away money.

I agree. I get letters all the time from our veterans on that issue of concurrent receipt. As a matter of fact, I just got something today where a gentleman from Oklahoma was just very upset. He said, ``I wish you all would address that, because it is just so unfair to me.'' He is extremely angry.

I want to thank the gentlewoman for her support. I really appreciate it.

Mr. Speaker, as I conclude, I just want to go on and say that although the U.S. military has traditionally been, as my colleague has said, a diverse institution, it has not always been an integrated institution. From Crispus Attucks, who suffered the first shot during the Revolutionary War, to the Tuskegee Airmen, who never lost a single bomber under their escort during World War II, African Americans have answered the call to service whenever our country was in need. Yet these same soldiers have not always been treated fairly by their country.

Even today, our veterans, all of our veterans, are not treated, as the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) has said, with dignity and the honor that they deserve. How else can we explain the things that the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) just talked about, cutting the veterans budget in this year's budget resolution? How else can we explain proposing to close veterans hospitals around the country when they are in dire need of care? We must change this course and honor our veterans in word and in deed.

So, Mr. Speaker, I stand on the floor of the House tonight feeling a sense of pride; pride for the ultimate sacrifice that our men and women have made throughout our history, so that I and my colleagues might stand on this floor tonight.

I want to just yield back to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) with regard to some issues that she wants to discuss.

It is very interesting, in my district we just had an opportunity for some African American students to talk to the superintendent of schools. This is one of the best school systems in the country, Howard County, outside of Baltimore. The African American students were talking to the school board, talking about the difference in the disparity between their achievement and those of white children.

One of the things that they said that just was so profound is they said it is so important that we know our history. I chimed in and said, ``It is not just important that you know it. That is not enough. It is very important that all of your classmates know it too, because then I think the world can appreciate all that has been contributed, not only by African Americans, but by this whole melting pot in making this country what it is.''

I cannot forget as you were talking, Jessie Jackson, Sr., talking about when he came back from war. He had to sit in the back of the train, and a lot of the white German prisoners were allowed to sit in the front of the train.

The reason I understand why you raised these issues is we want to make sure on the one hand that we honor our veterans, but we realize that honoring our veterans is giving the total story, or, as somebody used to say in one of the movies, ``giving the rest of the picture.''

As we conclude, I think when one looks at the stories that the gentlewoman told about when she was a little girl and would see what the veterans would return to, and the water fountain that said ``Whites Only,'' the fact is that so many of these soldiers, think about the Buffalo Soldiers and many others. Although they knew that this country was not necessarily treating them fairly, they still stood up. As a matter of fact, many of them were beating down the doors trying to stand up for this country.

Not only do we pause here tonight to thank the living veterans, but we thank those and their spirits who may have gone on who were fighting for a country that they knew was not necessarily treating them right, but they were always fighting for their future. They were fighting for generations yet unborn.

Let me say that when one thinks about somebody putting their life on the line and knowing that they would return to a situation in this country where they were not treated fairly, but puts their life on the line today so that, not only their offspring, but even the offspring of those that might not have treated them right could have freedom and could have opportunity and could have convenience, that is a powerful statement. It really is.

So we come here not only to honor the veterans who can hear us tonight, but we come here also to honor those who have gone on and who dreamed a dream that the world would be better that they were fighting for.

So many people here hear the Congressional Black Caucus stand up over and over again and talk about the war and talk about our objections to the war; but one thing they always hear from us over and over again is that we support our troops, that we support our men and women who are out there fighting. But we have come here tonight to say not only do we support our troops, but we also support our veterans with everything we have got. I used to say we support them 100 percent. I change that to 1 million percent.

So, Mr. Speaker, again as I have said before, there are so many deeds that go unnoticed, and the ones who perform them are often unseen, unnoticed, unappreciated, and unapplauded. Tonight we in the Congressional Black Caucus take a moment to salute those who have given so much so that we might live the lives that we live.

Madam Speaker, I rise this afternoon to talk about an issue of fundamental unfairness which burdens many of our veterans: concurrent receipt. I organized this Special Order to focus attention on the unfairness of the concurrent receipt law and to give Members the opportunity to demand that the Republican leadership bring to the floor H.R. 303, the bill that would end concurrent receipt.

Madam Speaker, today we will hear Democratic Members from districts throughout the Nation call for an end of concurrent receipt. Concurrent receipt is a Civil War-era law that prevents disabled veterans from receiving both military retirement and veterans disability benefits. Under the law, for every dollar that a veteran receives in disability pay, $1 is taken away from their retirement pay. The effect of the concurrent receipt law is to tax a veteran for being injured while serving in the military. This is an extremely unfair burden that we place on our wounded veterans.

Madam Speaker, America's veterans have made huge sacrifices in order to protect our freedoms. We should not repay their sacrifice by denying them the benefits they have earned and deserve. Congress must repeal the concurrent receipt law.

Over the past several years, there has been a strong bipartisan effort to repeal this law. In this Congress, the bill to repeal concurrent receipt, H.R. 303, has 370 cosponsors. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), a longtime Republican Member, is a sponsor of H.R. 303. Madam Speaker, 370 cosponsors is an extraordinary number of cosponsors for any bill. As all of us know, there are few bills introduced in this body that have 370 cosponsors. There are even fewer bills that do not come to the floor for action by Members of the House.

Yet despite this tremendous bipartisan support, the House Republican leadership, as well as the White House, has refused to support this bill. In fact, the Secretary of Defense has said that he would recommend that the President veto any legislation that includes language which would eliminate concurrent receipt. The House Republican leadership continues to ignore the will of the Members, and our constituents, and refuses even to allow H.R. 303 to come to the floor for action.

The opponents of this bill say that it will cost too much money. They cite a study from the Congressional Budget Office which estimates that it would cost the Federal Government $3 billion in fiscal year 2004 to cover the 400,000 eligible veterans. It is incredible that the opponents would offer such a poor excuse for why they refuse even to bring this bill to the floor.

Give me a break.

Mr. Speaker and Members, the Bush administration has spent almost $80 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan and is seeking a supplemental appropriation of $87 billion for the war in Iraq and Iraqi reconstruction. Yet, the administration will not seek the resources required to protect the retirement pay of veterans who had the misfortune of becoming disabled while serving their country. What a cruel, sick joke. These veterans earn their retirement pay, and they deserve both a full retirement benefit and their disability compensation.

We must not walk away from our obligations. How can we put a price on the service that these men and women gave to our country? How can we put a price on going through life without a limb or without the ability to see or hear? They did their job with bravery and dedication. Now, we must do ours. The Federal Government should provide full benefits to veterans who protected our people. Simple fairness and decency requires it.

Because of the opposition of the Republican leadership to this bill, Democrats have had to file a discharge petition in an attempt to bring H.R. 303 to the floor and force consideration of this bill. A successful discharge petition requires 218 signatures. To date, however, even though H.R. 303 has 370 cosponsors, there are only 203 signatures on the discharge petition.

Nearly every Democrat has signed the discharge petition, but only two Republicans have signed. Because of the opposition of the Republican leadership, not even Congressman Bilirakis, the sponsor of H.R. 303, has signed the discharge petition.

Mr. Speaker, it is shameful that the Republican leadership has strong-armed their Members into not supporting the discharge petition on H.R. 303 and prevented the Congress from providing this essential relief to our veterans.

The Republican leadership's unfair and outrageous refusal to bring H.R. 303 to the floor for action is harming our veterans and keeping many veterans from obtaining a decent quality of life. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of thousands of veterans suffering under the concurrent receipt law. Because the United States military is committed to missions throughout the world that will result in additional veterans becoming disabled, the number of veterans who will be subjected to this tax will only grow.

Unfortunately, this is only one of the many policies that this administration and the Republican party have adopted which harms our veterans. For example, although it is not uncommon for a

veteran to wait 6 months or more to see a doctor, the Republicans' budget did not provide enough funding to shorten these waiting periods.

Mr. Speaker, it is disappointing to see the President constantly using our veterans for photo-ops, but when it comes to providing the necessary funding to give our veterans a good quality of life, the Republicans are nowhere to be found.

We, Democrats, have another way. We appreciate the sacrifice that all veterans have made and believe that the government must provide the necessary funding for veterans to receive the medical, educational, and other benefits they need and deserve. We particularly appreciate the men and women who were injured while serving their country and believe we should provide them with their full retirement benefits, as well as their full disability compensation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge this body to pass H.R. 303 and help our disabled veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I yield time to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sandlin).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ruppersberger).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time left on the hour.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Marshall), who has truly been a leader on this issue all over the country, and he is the Member who filed the discharge petition.

Mr. Speaker, I certainly thank the gentlewoman from Georgia.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank not only the gentleman from Georgia but all of my colleagues who spoke this evening. We are spending so much time

on this issue because our veterans should be special and should be very important to all of the Members of Congress and to public policymakers in general.

Our veterans have been so loyal, not just to our country because of their service but they are always loyal to the Commander in Chief. They have allowed themselves to be misused, to be ignored, and to be marginalized too much, and particularly by this administration. We find ourselves fighting and the veterans are scratching and clawing trying to just get the kind of benefits that they deserve.

They are in these veterans hospitals across the Nation waiting in line for service, cannot get appointments. We do not have enough beds for them in nursing care homes. And now we hear about this particular issue on the floor tonight, and it seems to me that the President of the United States would put an end to this. This is a Commander in Chief that is now saying that he needs $87 billion more to continue the war in Iraq? We are going to have more veterans who will be disabled, who will come home, who will have to suffer this great injustice.

This is the President who has already spent $79 billion and who is coming back for more. And this is the President, along with others in the administration, who is talking about we all have to make sacrifices. Our soldiers are dying, our soldiers are being crippled and disabled. They are losing their limbs. How long do we have to beg? How long do we have to plead with this President?

I am here tonight, along with my colleagues, to ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to please sign that discharge petition. Please send a message to the veterans that during this time when we are at war, at a time when many of those who watch us on television who are fighting in Iraq, who may be the victim of some sniper's bullet any time, any day, let them know that should something happen, should they be crippled, should they lose a limb that they can depend on their government to see to it that they get both their retirement and the disability benefits that they deserve. I do not think that is too much to ask, Mr. Speaker.

I certainly feel a little bit ashamed this evening that we have to carry this debate this far. I served on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs when I first came to the Congress of the United States. I interacted with all of the service organizations. I made a lot of friends, and I discovered at that time that there are many in the Congress who will wave the red, white, and blue flag and they will talk the talk; but they will not walk the walk. They will not stand up and ask for the dollars. They will not defend the services. They will not even take the time to help the veterans fight through the bureaucracy of veterans affairs to get the benefits that are coming to them.

My office makes this its number one priority. Not only do we work for the veterans, we have had to organize a whole chapter of the Vietnam- era veterans in my district because they were being ignored and they were not being serviced. We think that that is the least that a Member of Congress can do, to service the veterans, to fight for them, to make sure that they get justice. And on this issue, this should be the highest priority of our veterans agenda.

Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the gentleman from Maryland, our chairman, for once again organizing this very important special order tonight recognizing the service of Americans veterans. Once again, let me just commend the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) for his leadership and for ensuring that our country understands and recognizes that the Congressional Black Caucus stands tall here in this Congress on each and every issue with which our country is faced.

Yes, I am a very proud daughter of a veteran, and I represent a State which boasts the highest veteran population, ensuring that veterans receive their benefits of course, and recognition for their contributions is, therefore, a major priority for me. We owe every veteran around this country an enormous debt of gratitude. And we here in Congress really do have the opportunity and the obligation to honor that

debt by providing veterans with the benefits that they were guaranteed, including adequate benefits for veterans, surviving spouses and families, burial rights, health care, disabled tax credits, and home loan assistance. This issue, as my colleagues know, is not a partisan issue but a fundamental issue of fairness.

In July, during consideration of the fiscal year 2004 VA-HUD appropriations bill, my colleagues on both sides of the aisle were really, quite frankly, embarrassed by the Republicans' leadership attempt to shortchange to the tune of $1.4 billion those who sacrificed the most for our Nation. So yesterday this body unanimously voted to increase a host of veterans' benefits. But it has yet to deal with the most pressing veterans' issues like concurrent receipt legislation which would extend full retirement and health care benefits and end the practice of unjustly subtracting disability payments from veterans' pensions, creating, in effect, a special disabled veterans' tax. So that is why we have filed a discharge petition to bring H.R. 2569, the Salute to Veterans and the Armed Forces Act of 2003, to the floor. And tonight I call upon my Republican colleagues to join us in eliminating this unfair and very outrageous tax on our Nation's veterans.

Mr. Speaker, on November 11 we will remember our veterans, as we should really do each and every day. Injustice in housing must end. It is shameful that veterans are twice as likely to become homeless as nonveterans, and female veterans are about four times as likely to become homeless as their counterparts. It is also shameful that despite the fact that 76 percent of these veterans are on the street in large part due to alcohol, drug, or mental health problems, or a combination, quite frankly, of all three, that we here in Congress fail to provide the necessary resources to help them get back on their feet.

Looking back on the plight of so many of our Nation's homeless veterans, I cannot help but think and remember that so many are the victims of the 1980's and ``Reaganomics'' and today's struggling economy, and I am outraged that we are allowing their numbers to grow.

Finally, when we talk about the veterans and the failures of this country to fulfill its promises to them, we must also discuss and recognize the racial disparities and discriminations that affect every aspect of American society including, yes, veterans. People of color have served this country in numbers far out of proportion to their percentages within population.

How is this the case? The harsh truth is that economic forces oftentimes compel minorities to assume the risks of service, yet historically they have not received its rewards in equal measure. The truth is African American veterans were denied employment opportunities, education, housing, and, of course, jobs returning to America after fighting for America. I remember this very well. They are truly heroes. They are real patriots.

The creation of the Bureau of Colored Troops during the Civil War, the famous Buffalo Soldiers of the Indian Campaigns, the 92nd Division and the 761st Tank Battalion and African American women, who served in the Women's Army Corps and the Waves during World War II, and the 24th Regiment of the Korean War are only a few examples of the famous and forgotten African Americans who defended this Nation.

In many ways our military has become the most integrated institution in this country. Despite its advancements, however, in the treatment of blacks and minorities in the military, there remains issues that really do need to be addressed, legacies of biased drafting procedures, advancement, honors, distribution of benefits, and really back to it, the treatment upon coming back home after returning from active duty.

We must honor the legacy of all veterans as members of the Congressional Black Caucus tonight are doing. We choose to highlight the service of African American and other minority veterans. We respect their service and their role really as leaders. And I would like to just thank all of those who have contributed to American history for their service and for their sacrifice. This Congress must step up to the plate and put our money where our mouth is in a very real way, and that is to support our veterans.

In a note from the Veterans for Peace organization, I was reminded that Veterans Day was once called Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of World War I, of course, the ``War to end all Wars.'' Tragically, that war has been followed by many others. Let us honor our veterans by working each and every day for freedom, for peace, and for justice.

Once again, I want to thank the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus for his unbelievable leadership, focus, and for his commitment to honor in a real way our veterans.

The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is absolutely correct. I agonize every time I walk down the streets in my community and see veterans who are homeless, and then find that hospitals are closing and that they cannot get their medication and they do not have anyplace to sleep.

I think it is a shame and disgrace that we have allowed that to happen to our veterans, because here they are, proudly serving our country. We should roll out the red carpet upon their return, and we should have every program, every provision for them returning to either civilian life or life here in the military. That should be made easy, that transition.

Instead, what do we have? We have cuts in their funding, we have lack of medical care for them, and we have many of our veterans coming back

from different parts of the world with unknown diseases, and we cannot get them in for treatment or diagnosis or for any kind of medical care. It is mind-boggling to me.

I will tell the gentleman, I think we need to really look at what we mean when we say we support our troops, because, in supporting our troops, for me, that means, yes, protecting them and keeping them from harm's way, but also upon their return making sure that their families and their lives are not only made whole, but that they receive the type of incentives and the type of real action, affirmative action, that we should provide for them, because they have done such a job for this country.

That, in essence, is taxing disabled veterans for disabilities that they unfortunately acquired while serving this country.

They are taking away money from them after they have been hurt. That is mean. That is mean, and I think it immoral. Somehow, the entire country needs to wake up to that and say how unjust this is and correct this. That is why H.R. 2569 has got to come to the floor.

He should be. What we are doing is making veterans pay for their disabilities, which are no fault of their own. It should be just the reverse. We should pay them a stipend, an additional benefit, for what they have done.

Just very briefly. As the gentleman was talking, I am reminded of my childhood now. I can remember very vividly men in uniform, black men in uniform, being denied entrance to a restaurant or to a movie theater, or being forced to go to a water fountain that said ``Colored Only,'' in uniform. I can remember this.

I have so many unfortunate memories of proud African American men in their uniforms being turned away, being discriminated against for one reason, and that is because they were black. I think that they are true heroes, they are true patriots; and I hope that history will record their service to this great country. But also I think we need to make sure that history is accurate in its writing and in its history and not cloud over the fact that men in uniform did not have equal access to basic kinds of services, such as a water fountain.

The gentleman is right. History must be recorded accurately. I think only by telling the truth, by putting forth the true history of any group of people, but especially our veterans, whom we are discussing tonight, that has got to be a priority for our young people, because how will they know what to do in the future? How will they know how to live? What kind of values will they embrace, if they do not know of the struggles and of the challenges and of the fights that many people in this country have waged?

So history must be recorded, and it must be recorded accurately.

There are many veterans who are still with us who are getting older now who I have the privilege to know and work with, and those are the Tuskegee Airmen. What a wonderful legacy they have left.

I will never forget when I was working for our great statesman, Congressman Ron Dellums. I was on his staff and we worked very hard to get a display in the museum, I believe it was in the NASA museum, of the Tuskegee

Airmen. That was a real fight, but we got it there. Millions of people were able to read about, see and honor the Tuskegee Airmen because of Ron Dellums and because of the work we did to make sure that they received a prominent place in the museum here.

That is right. My final comment is, as I said earlier, I think we need to put our money where our mouth is now and try to fight like we know how to fight to make sure that each and every nickel that they deserve they receive.

Mr. Speaker, let me first thank my friend and colleague from Maryland for the honor of addressing the House at this moment. I much appreciate it.

Mr. Speaker, recent press reports have indicated that the administration is planning to begin the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq in the spring of 2004. Based on recent visits to my congressional district in Missouri, I believe such a move would be very politically popular. Overwhelmingly, the

people want our troops brought home as rapidly as possible. I, too, want to bring them home.

However, if we have learned anything from recent history in Baghdad, it is that poor planning for the occupation has contributed to the dangerous and confused situation in which we find ourselves. I was concerned about planning for the occupation last year. In fact, Mr. Speaker, I wrote to the President on two occasions, first on September 4, 2002, and second, on the eve of the war, on March 18, 2003. My letters detailed the potential problems our forces might encounter during the postconflict occupation of Iraq, and I submit copies of those letters for the Record.

Committee on Armed Services,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC, September 4, 2002.

The President,

The White House,

Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. President: Thank you for inviting me to the

briefing this morning. I share your concern about the

continuing threat posed by Saddam Hussein and his efforts to

produce weapons of mass destruction (WMD). I would like to

offer my assistance as the administration considers how to

deal with this threat.

Before Congress can authorize any military action that

might be part of the administration's plan, we must have

answers to more questions than were about to be raised at

today's meeting. Our constitutional duty requires us to

ensure that all implications of such action are considered in

advance. The case has not yet been fully made as to what the

threat is, why military force is an appropriate way of

addressing the threat, and why action must occur now. In

short, Congress and the American people must be clear on your

strategic vision before we can authorize a specific course of

action. I believe, like Clausewitz, that in strategy there is

an ``imperative . . . not to take the first step without

considering the last.''

Your strategy for dealing with Iraq must address the

fundamental questions of the threat, the method of acting,

and the timing. Furthermore, any strategy to eliminate Iraqi

WMD must also address several component issues, each of which

raises critical questions.

How To Manage Iraq's Transition to a Stable Post-Saddam Regime

As I mentioned to you this morning, this is a critical

question for administration strategy to answer in advance of

any military action. I have no doubt that our military would

decisively defeat Iraq's forces and remove Saddam. But like

the proverbial dog chasing the car down the road, we must

consider what we would do after we caught it.

As Sun-Tzu said in the classic strategic treatise, The Art

of War, ``To win victory is easy; to preserve its fruits,

difficult,'' Military planners and political leaders alike

knew this in World War II. Planning for the occupation of

Germany and Japan--two economically viable, technologically

sophisticated nations--took place well in advance of the

end of the war. The extreme difficulty of occupying Iraq

with its history of autocratic rule, its balkanized ethnic

tensions, and its isolated economic system argues both for

careful consideration of the benefits and risks of

undertaking military action and for detailed advanced

occupation planning if such military action is approved.

Specifically, your strategy must consider the form of a

replacement regime and take seriously the possibility that

this regime might be rejected by the Iraqi people, leading to

civil unrest and even anarchy. The effort must be to craft a

stable regime that will be geopolitically preferable to

Saddam and will incorporate the disparate interests of all

groups within Iraq--Shi'a, Sunni, and Kurd. We must also plan

now for what to do with members of the Baath party that

continue to support Saddam and with the scientists and

engineers who have expertise born of the Iraqi WMD program.

All these efforts require careful planning and long-term

commitment of manpower and resources. The American people

must be clear about the amount of money and the number of

soldiers that will have to be devoted to this effort for many

years to come.

How to Ensure the Action in Iraq Does Not undermine International

Support for the Broader War on Terrorism

In planning for military operations in Iraq, we cannot

ignore the lack of international support to date. Pre-emptive

action against Iraq is currently vocally opposed by many of

our allies and friends throughout the world and particularly

in the Middle East.

When we are seen as acting against the concerns of large

numbers of our friends, it calls into question the ``humble''

approach to international relations you espoused during the

presidential campaign. More than that, it has several

potentially damaging long-term consequences. First, it risks

losing the large number of partners needed to prosecute the

global war on terrorism. To ferret terrorist groups out of

their many hiding places, we must have broad allied support.

Second, it risks seriously damaging U.S. moral legitimacy,

potentially providing states like India and Pakistan with a

preemptive option that could drive long-standing conflicts

beyond containable bounds.

Finally and perhaps most dangerously, actions without broad

Arab support may inflame the sources of terrorism, causing

unrest and anger throughout the Muslim world. This dynamic

will be worse if Iraq attacks Israel--perhaps with weapons of

mass destruction--and draws them into the conflict. Iran,

which has the potential to seize a reformist path, may well

move away from the United States in the face of attacks that

could next be taken against them. Together, these dynamics

will make achieving peace in the Middle East more difficult

and may well provide the rationale for more terrorist attacks

against Americans.

These concerns do not make military action in Iraq

untenable. They do, however, highlight the depth and

importance of the issues to be addressed before we strike. We

need to ensure that in taking out Saddam, we don't win the

battle and lose the war.

How to Ensure That the United States Can Execute This Operation

Successfully as Well as its Other Military Missions

As you are well aware, Mr. President, the consideration of

military action against Iraq comes at a time when U.S. forces

are actively engaged throughout the world in a range of

missions. Given the operational pressures these forces

currently face, we must ask what the risks and trade-offs

will be of defeating Iraq, particularly if Iraqi forces mass

in Baghdad for urban operations. How many casualties must the

American people be prepared to take in a worst-case scenario?

What will the impact of sustained operations be on so-called

high-demand, low-density assets? What military operations

might we have to forego because of continued demands in Iraq?

Will we still be prepared for the range of other threats that

might emerge throughout the world? With little allied support

and contributions, will we still be able to maintain military

spending on transformational technologies and on sound

quality of life for our forces if we are bearing a huge

wartime cost alone? What will be the impact on the domestic

economy of these resource drains and of the long-term costs

of reconstructing Iraq? These questions must be answered

before any military action commences so that the American

people understand the risks and the sacrifices involved.

I ask these questions only to highlight the complexity of

the undertaking and the need for Congress, the American

people, and our friends around the world to understand

exactly what is at stake and why we must act now. Only such a

comprehensive strategic approach will ensure that we commit

U.S. troops consciously and with full knowledge of the range

of challenges we face--both in the initial campaign and in

the long aftermath to follow. Even a strategy that has

military action as its centerpiece will require great

diplomatic efforts to ensure its success. I look forward to

hearing the administration's answers and to working with you

to find the best course of action.

Sincerely,

Ike Skelton,

Ranking Democrat.