Date: 2003-11-11
Speaker: HARRY REID (democrat)
Chamber: S
State: Nevada

who has championed the concurrent receipts for all of our veterans who have suffered disabilities. who reach the age where they also are eligible for Social Security and other retirement benefits. Why they should be penalized. unlike anyone else in the private sector or the public sector. is beyond methose people who have served and who have paid the price with their own physical infirmities. wounds. sometimes maimings. Today I was at the Korean War Memorial with a group of Minnesotans. some of whom could not walk and were in wheelchairsamputees because of the wounds they suffered fighting for this Nations freedom and the security of the world in Korea over half a century ago. Why they should be penalized now in their older years for that service. for what they earned. and what they paid for with the price of their own bodies. is somewhere where we still. as a nation. have fallen short in our responsibility to them. To phase it in. with all due respect to all of us who made this effortbut against the fervent opposition. which I do not understand. of the administration. to immediately correcting this injusticeto phase it in over 10 years. to me is unconscionableindefensible and unconscionable. We have put tax relief for the wealthiest people of this Nation in place and made It retroactive. We have tax relief coming in and out and in and out and back again within the same 10 years we are talking about phasing in this deserved benefitearned benefitfor our injhred veterans of America.. That is another critical task that I know this body. which passed it overwhelmingly last yearand the efforts of the chairman and ranking member of this committee. if they had been able to prevail. would have been applied fairly and immediately to all of our disabled veterans. But it is a task that all of us must undertake again next year. There are important measures in this legislation that benefit the State of Minnesota. as other States. What is most important Is that this is a measure that benefits our entire country. I would say again that the bipartisan spirit of the committee. of the Senate. with regard to national defense. both before but particularly during most of the 3 years I have been in the Senate. which has included the post9/l1/2001 era. has been probably my proudest participation- in the Senate because we are first and foremost. all of us. Americans. Even those disagreements that sometimes preoccupy us. that capture the headlines. that seem to be the description of this great body. are. in fact. as our distinguished Democratic leader. Tom DASCME. has reminded us regularly. the noise of democracy. It Is because we can all stand In this body and express our views and agree or disagree. hopefully. respectfully. with one another. Regardless. that we can do so. and go home to our families. to return the next day to offer our best judgments and ideas. again without fear of incarceration or execution or obliterationthat is what is priceless about this Nation. That is what this bill is intended to preserve. I believe that the committee. and the conference committee. the men and women serving in our Armed Forces. the civilian leadership of this country under President Bush and his civilian defense leadership. the Joint Chiefs of Staff. and the command of the military of this country. for whom I have felt the greatest respect and regardI think our fellow Americans can sleep well tonight with the knowledge that they are being well protected. Mr. President. I yield the floor.