Military Spouses Residency Relief Act

Mr. Speaker, this is an exciting day for me. I was the author of this bill. I have been dealing with the gentlewomen who brought this to my attention a long time ago, and it's coming to fruition today, and I am pleased and honored.

I am the author of the identical companion bill, H.R. 1182. I represent Fort Hood, Texas, which is a pretty good-sized military base in the United States, the largest. I rise in support of these military spouses for this Military Spouses Residency Relief Act.

First, I want to thank everyone who has worked on this bill and worked hard to bring it to this point. Senator Burr and Senator Feinstein over on the Senate side took up this cause and shepherded it and got it through the Senate, and this past-due reform is now before us today. I would also like to thank Chairman Filner for supporting our military spouses and requesting the bill be taken up today.

We greatly appreciate all the VSOs who lent their support, including the Military Officers Association of America, the Air Force Sergeants Association, AMVETS, the VFW, and the Military Spouse Business Association. Above all, I would like to thank all the military spouses who have encouraged me and who encourage their Representatives and Senators to support this bill.

Finally, I would like to extend a very special thanks to Rebecca Poynter and Joanna Williamson, two entrepreneurial spouses who brought this issue to me and devoted so much of their time working with all the Members that are involved to get this bill passed. This is their baby, and they should be recognized.

This small measure will provide invaluable relief to numerous military spouses who regularly uproot their entire lives to accommodate our Armed Forces. When I first heard this story, I was shocked that there was such a difference between husband and wife, the two spouses, as it relates to the benefits we give them in the military.

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides for basic civil relief to our men and women of the armed services in exchange for their voluntary service. These range from relief from adjudication while deployed in combat to maintaining a single State of domicile, regardless of where their military orders may send them.

This State of domicile provides an important stability for our soldiers, airmen, marines, and sailors. Though their orders may send them to numerous places or numerous States, they are able to simplify their State income tax requirements, maintain their property titles, and continue to vote for their Member of Congress or their elected official back home. Without SCRA protections, the servicemembers would have to deal with all those every time they move to military installations located in different States.

But spouses do have to deal with those every time they move to different States, and the spouses deal with these stresses even while faced with the challenge of moving, finding schools for children, balancing some unsupported relocation costs and the loss of a spouse's earnings as they leave the job to join the servicemember.

This bill would amend the SCRA to allow military spouses to claim the same domicile as the servicemember for the purpose of State income and property taxes, as well as voter registration. Spouses could elect to stand united with their spouse, not only in support of our country, but in sharing the same State as the home base. This reform would prevent a military family from suddenly losing up to 10 percent of their income if they are called upon to relocate to a different State. This is a significant loss of income that occurs as a direct result of governmental orders.

S. 475 would also provide the impetus for military spouses to put their names on deeds and titles, which would build and strengthen their own credit and further ensure their legal protection.

This Veterans Day, which is coming up the 11th of this month, next week, I will ask each and every one of us to not only remember our servicemembers current and past, but take a moment to remember the military spouses who have sacrificed for and supported our soldiers.

Keeping that in mind, I ask my colleagues to grant this valuable relief to our military families and to support the passage of the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act.

Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.

I notice that the gentleman who is advocating on the Democrats' side is not a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, at least not to my knowledge.

Under the rules of the House, is this appropriate that a Member who is not on the committee in which the bill has passed through and has jurisdiction is the advocate for the Democrats in this case?

So, if I understand the Speaker, the Chair, at his discretion, can decide who can be the spokesman for the bill even if the person is not on the committee?

A further parliamentary inquiry.

Is this customary, or is this an unusual situation? I don't need a long dissertation, just a ``yes'' or ``no'' as to whether it is customary.

So what you are saying is you can do it, but you are not willing to answer the question as to whether this is customary or not, because I've been here 20 years, and I have not seen this in the 20 years I have been here.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.

I rise in support of S. 475, the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act.

I want to thank the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Senator Burr, for sponsoring this legislation. I also want to recognize and thank Mr. John Carter of Texas for his support on this issue by introducing the companion House bill, H.R. 1182. It has 206 bipartisan cosponsors, and I am proud to be one of those.

Mr. Speaker, by its very nature, military service requires a significant sacrifice in terms of the quality of family life, especially of the spouses of servicemembers. Because servicemembers are routinely subject to transfer within and outside the continental United States, often with very short notice, spouses often find it difficult to obtain and/or to retain suitable employment.

However, military spouses are not covered by the same residency protections that are available to the servicemembers under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. As a result, State laws regarding taxation, voting and ownership of property are often applied differently to the spouse and the servicemember. The SCRA allows servicemembers to determine their permanent residencies or domiciliaries. By allowing this, SCRA protects servicemembers from State taxation, property ownership, and voting laws that are not in their permanent residencies or domiciliaries.

Because the law is silent to spouses in these matters, they do not receive the same protection as servicemembers. Therefore, they can be subject to States which aggressively seek to impose residency related to income and property ownership laws, despite, my colleagues, the fact that they no longer reside in the States due to the spouses' military orders.

S. 475 addresses this issue by giving military spouses a choice to use either their current addresses where they are stationed because of their spouses' military orders or their permanent addresses to determine their residencies or domiciliaries for voting in any municipal, State, or Federal election.

Simply, the bill would allow spouses to determine their residencies in the same manner as servicemembers regarding taxation, voting, and ownership of property with respect to land-use rights on Federal owned or controlled land in the same manner as servicemembers under section 508 of SCRA.

My colleagues, this is a commonsense solution to give military spouses who have already sacrificed so much for the Nation the protection that servicemembers have when it comes to local residency laws related to taxation and voting.

So, again, I want to compliment Senator Burr and also, for the companion bill in the House, Mr. Carter of Texas, for their sponsorship of this bill; and I urge my colleagues to support it.

I reserve the balance of my time.

It's my honor to yield as much time as he may consume to the author of the companion bill, which is H.R. 1182, the sponsor, Mr. John Carter of Texas.

We have no further speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 475) to amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to guarantee the equity of spouses of military personnel with regard to matters of residency, and for other purposes.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina for introducing Senate bill 475, the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act. The House version of this legislation was introduced by Mr. Carter of Texas.

As many of my colleagues know, the sacrifices that military children and spouses have to make in order to stay as one united family are difficult. This is especially true at a time when our country is fighting to protect freedom at home and abroad.

Senate bill 475 seeks to provide military spouses with the option to keep the same voting rights and tax conditions as afforded in their home States or to allow them to change to the new States where they will be reunited with a servicemember.

A military spouse who often accompanies a servicemember from one duty station to another is required to pay income and personal property taxes of the State in which they currently reside. On the other hand, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides our men and women in uniform the option of paying taxes to the States where they originated prior to military service or to pay taxes to the States in which they currently reside due to military service, lessening the need to hire accountants to review tax regulations of their home States, which can at times be multiple States. This will help keep their tax preparation simple and familiar, reducing the stress family members encounter when filing State taxes.

Mr. Speaker, the intent of this legislation is very simple. We need to recognize that military families serve too. It is only fitting to provide military spouses with the ability to retain certain State residency benefits which are already afforded to our men and women in uniform under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

Again, I would like to thank my colleagues in the Senate for working on this legislation so we may provide relief for our military families. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Parliamentary Inquiries

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers.

I reserve the balance of my time

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 475.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to unanimously support S. 475.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1182) congratulating Radford University on the 100th anniversary of the university.

I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on House Resolution 1182 into the Record.

I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 1182, which celebrates Radford University for 100 years of leadership and service in higher education. Radford was originally founded in 1910 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women, tracing its roots back to the expansion of the Virginia public higher education system. While its name and composition has evolved over the years, Radford's commitment to academic excellence has never wavered.

Radford's beautiful 177-acre campus is located in the New River Valley between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains. The university is home to nearly 8,000 undergraduates and over 1,000 graduate students, and these students have access to a diversity of academic and extracurricular programs.

The university is comprised of six undergraduate and one graduate college which offer 153 degree options. Additionally, Radford also has 19 NCAA Division I teams, 400 intramural sports teams, and over 200 clubs and organizations.

Recently, Radford was named one of the Top Up-and-Coming Schools in the Nation by U.S. News & World Report due to its promising and innovative changes it has made over the past few years. Under the leadership of Radford's sixth president, Ms. Penelope Kyle, the university has consistently ranked among the best colleges and universities in the Southeast region. Such recognition shows that the school is continually innovating and striving for success.

For its 100th anniversary, Radford honored its culture of service with a ``Centennial Service Challenge,'' which encouraged students, faculty, and staff to participate in community service in local and regional areas. This event is indicative of Radford's tradition of cultivating graduates who will become meaningful contributors to society and mark a significant milestone in the university's history.

Once again, I congratulate Radford University on its 100-year anniversary and thank Representative Boucher for bringing this bill forward.

Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to recognize the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boucher), the sponsor of the resolution, for 3 minutes.

(Mr. BOUCHER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I again urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 1182, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I want to thank the gentleman for his leadership in bringing this resolution to the floor and for yielding this time to me today, and I extend thanks also to the gentlelady from Illinois for her assistance with this measure. And I thank both of my colleagues for their very generous statements on behalf of Radford University this afternoon.

H.R. 1182 is bipartisan legislation congratulating Radford University on its 100th anniversary. The resolution is cosponsored by eight members of our Virginia House delegation, and Senators Webb and Warner have introduced companion legislation which previously has been approved in the Senate.

For a century, Radford University has provided students with an outstanding education, and the university richly deserves congratulations, which we extend today, on that achievement. In that century, nearly 70,000 students have received a Radford education, many of whom have gone on to become leaders in business and government and education, health care, the arts and other areas.

Radford University was chartered on March 10, 1910, as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Radford with the mission of preparing teachers; and it was renamed in 1924 as Radford State Teachers College, in 1944 as the Women's Division of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and in 1964 as Radford College. The school became Radford University in 1979, the name that it proudly bears today.

Today, Radford University is known for its strong leadership and relationships between faculty and students and the commitment to service that exists and pervades the student body. The school offers 153 undergraduate and graduate programs and strong research, service learning, and preprofessional programs.

Radford University is located in my congressional district, but its achievements bring pride not just to our region but to citizens across Virginia.

The university graduates reside in communities throughout the Nation, who share in the congratulations which the Congress today formally extends to Radford University on its 100th anniversary.

I thank my colleagues for their assistance in bringing this measure to the floor, and I urge its approval by the House.