Mr. President, this amendment will expedite the naturalization process for noncitizen soldiers serving on active duty, in the Select Reserves, and will enact safeguards to protect noncitizen immediate relatives of American and noncitizen…
Mr. President, this amendment will expedite the naturalization process for noncitizen soldiers serving on active duty, in the Select Reserves, and will enact safeguards to protect
noncitizen immediate relatives of American and noncitizen soldiers who are killed in action.
More than 48,900 noncitizens are currently serving in the United States military on active duty and in the Selected Reserves. Hundreds are serving from the State of Nevada. They place their lives on the line for our country every day.
In recognition and appreciation of their service, they deserve a naturalization process that does not unnecessarily delay the grant of citizenship or impose other restraints because they are stationed in another country.
These noncitizen soldiers love America so much they are willing to make great sacrifices to protect us and promote our values and even defend the Constitution--although they do not fully enjoy its protections. They deserve better treatment than they currently receive.
Like many Americans, I am moved by the story of Airman Dilia DeGrego, who is a legal resident of the State of Nevada.
Airman DeGrego's story is a tale of exemplary courage. She was born in Mexico and came to the United States at the age of 4. Airman DeGrego's family wanted so much for her to be a citizen that her mother relinquished her parental rights and gave full custody of Airman DeGrego and her two sisters to her aunt and uncle who live in the United States.
Airman DeGrego joined the Air Force, in her words, because she wants to serve her country. Her Country. Airman DeGrego knows no other home than the United States.
She is a proud member of the Air Force family and is a true patriot.
I am honored to tell you that last night Airman DeGrego sent a short message to my office stating that she has been granted an interview within the Office of Citizenship. She completed her message with two simple yet overwhelmingly powerful statements. ``I have been blessed. God, bless America.''
Who can say that active duty Airman DeGrego, citizen or not, is any less of a hero?
These noncitizen heroes have defended our liberty in every single Great War in which our Nation has participated and represent over 20 percent of the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
This amendment will provide necessary relief to current noncitizens serving in active duty and the selected reserves within the United States military by setting forth an expedited process of naturalization.
The amendment will also provide protections for noncitizen spouses, unmarried children, and parents of citizen and noncitizen soldiers who are killed as a result of their service, to file or preserve their application for lawful permanent residence.
This amendment is supported by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the National Guard Association of the United States, the Air Force Sergeants Association, the Air Force Association, the Non-Commissioned Officers Association, the Blue Star Mothers of America, the National Council of La Raza, the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, the National Federation of Filipino American Association, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
I rise today in support of action that will recognize and honor current noncitizen soldiers serving in the United States armed forces and will honor the legacy of all of our soldiers who have been killed in action by providing fair and sympathetic treatment of their immediate relatives seeking legal permanent residency.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a letter written by Airman Dilia DeGrego, who portrays exactly what the Senator from Massachusetts is saying about the tremendous sacrifice made by these people who are willing to fight for our country--and they should be treated accordingly--be printed in the Record.
So I commend and applaud the Senator from Massachusetts for offering this amendment. And, of course, as he indicated, I am a proud cosponsor of this amendment.
Mr. President, the Senator from North Dakota is here. If I yield, he can go forward. I am happy to withhold.
Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 848.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
Mr. President, I rise today with Senators McCain, Dorgan, Inhofe, Bill Nelson, Jeffords, Collins, Edwards, Bingaman, and Murray to offer an amendment on behalf of our Nation's disabled veterans.
This amendment would end the longstanding injustice that prevents disabled veterans from drawing the disability compensation and retirement pay they have rightfully earned. It sounds unusual, but it is true. This prohibition on ``concurrent receipt'' has plagued our veterans for more than a hundred years.
First, I thank Senators Levin and Warner for their support on this issue year after year. As a result of their dedication, deliberation and fairness in conference, we have been able to make some progress each year, and I commend them for the work they have done. The establishment of the special compensation programs has ensured that about 30,000 veterans can receive the benefit of both retirement pay and disability pay. But there are still hundreds of thousands of disabled veterans who need our help.
Many people wonder why we return to this issue year after year in an attempt to keep this fight alive. After all, the White House and the Pentagon are opposed to concurrent receipt, and we are told by OMB there is no money for it. So why take up the struggle year after year in this environment?
For me, it is simply a matter of fairness. Why would we deny a veteran who served honorably for 20 years the right to the full value of his retirement pay because his service caused him to become disabled? That is what this terribly unfair law does. A retired and disabled veteran must deduct from his retirement, dollar for dollar, the amount of disability compensation received. In many cases, the effect is to totally wipe out the retirement pay. The end result is that the disabled military retiree loses all the value of his 20 or more years of service to our Nation. We don't subject any other Federal retiree to this kind of offset--only our disabled military retirees.
Let me give you a specific example that strikes close to home for this Senator. MAJ Len Shipley is a decorated Marine Corps officer from Henderson, NV. He served combat tours in Vietnam and in the first Gulf War. He retired in 1993 with 26 years of honorable service--13 years enlisted and 13 years as an officer. Tragically, last year, Major Shipley developed Lou Gehrig's disease, a terminal illness for which there is no cure. This disease kills most of its victims within 18 months of diagnosis. There are exceptions, of course, and I hope Major Shipley is one of them. But in all likelihood, he doesn't have much time left to live.
Subsequent to this diagnosis, the VA found Major Shipley to be 100 percent service-connected disabled. He was drawing his full retirement pay prior to receiving his disability rating, but once he was found to be entitled to disability compensation, he lost almost $2,400 of his monthly retirement pay because of the prohibitions on concurrent receipt. Major Shipley's wife, already a Navy reservist, has been forced to work overtime as a nurse in the local hospital to make ends meet. Her husband's disability--and now the loss of the retirement pay he has been collecting for more than a decade--has impacted her family severely.
We should be doing things to make Len Shipley's life better, not worse. He served his country honorably. The restriction on concurrent receipt is fundamentally unfair, unwise, and unsound policy. We should fix it.
I understand the new special compensation programs were designed to help veterans like Len Shipley, but he was told he does not qualify for this Severely Disabled Compensation Program because he received his disability rating more than 4 years after his retirement. Mr. President, Lou Gehrig's disease does not pause to consider when its victims retired from the military.
We still don't know whether Major Shipley will qualify under the Combat Related Special Compensation Program. I hope the program will be fairly administered, but I am already concerned about a Pentagon ruling that excludes the National Guard and Reserve forces from eligibility for special compensation benefits. I hope this is simply a mistake by the Pentagon that will be corrected immediately. If you are combat disabled and retirement eligible, why should it matter whether
you served on active duty, the National Guard, or the Reserves? It was never the intent of Congress to exclude the National Guard and Reserves from the Special Compensation Program.
But these special compensation programs are necessary only because this ancient prohibition on concurrent receipt is still on the books. It is time to finally end the prohibition, get rid of the special compensation programs, and lift this unfairness from the backs of the disabled veterans.
The support for concurrent receipt in the Congress is clear. I have mentioned a few cosponsors of this most important amendment, but I believe if we shopped it, most of the Senate would sign on. About 90% of the entire 107th Congress was on record supporting full concurrent receipt in the 2003 National Defense Authorization Act. Disabled military retirees were extremely disappointed when the legislation fell short after a veto threat by President Bush.
So it is time for us to demonstrate a sense of fairness to our retired disabled veterans. Let's end this prohibition once and for all. I urge my colleagues to support this most worthy amendment.
Mr. President, if I may say one thing, the Senator from Virginia has stated--and I heard him say this--his military career is insignificant. The Senator's military career, of course, was significant. Anybody who serves in the military adds to the dimension of our defense posture in the country.
I want the record to reflect that the armed services, the men and women who serve in the U.S. military, have been improved as a result of the service of the Senator from Virginia as a member of the Senate. He has been devoted to the committee that is now handling this legislation, and the teamwork the Senator from Virginia has shown with the Senator from Michigan--talk about insignificant, mine is really insignificant; I have had no military service. I proudly serve in the Senate, doing what I can to help those people who have served in the military and are serving in the military.
My service in trying to accomplish what I think is important for the military is really insignificant compared to the work done by the two managers of the bill. When the history books are written about this era of our country, there will have to be a chapter about what has been done by the two Senators who are managing this bill for their cooperation, partnership, and for moving this legislation forward.
It would be very easy to have a very agitated relationship. We do not have that here. Senator Warner and Senator Levin set an example for the rest of the Congress as to how people can work together, even though their views may not always be in sync, to work together for the betterment of the country.
I thank them very much for working so hard on this legislation, as they have over the years. But for the two of them, as I have already stated on the record, we would not be anywhere. We can pass all kinds of legislation in the Senate, but when it passes Statuary Hall and goes to the House, many times issues are gone.
As a result of the work of Senator Warner and Senator Levin, veterans in this country will forever be helped.
I will be happy to yield, but before yielding--I was going to say this--the Senator from North Dakota has been--I am trying to find a word to describe the push and pull, the ability to put legislation at the forefront of what we do. The Senator from North Dakota has done a remarkable job. But for him, we would not be where we are.
I will be happy to yield.