VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.






Be sure to get all four
VA Watchdog dot Org
RSS feeds --
Daily VA
News Flashes
House CVA
Veterans' News
Senate CVA
Veterans' News
VA Press
Releases
 

Download your
free copy of the
2008 VA benefits
handbook here...
 

Printer-Friendly Version

BENEFITS BILL WITH FILIPINO VETERANS' PENSIONS WINS

SENATE TEST -- The White House has expressed concerns

about the provisions granting benefits to Filipino veterans,

but has not threatened a presidential veto.

Filipino veterans

For more about benefits for Filipino veterans, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=filipino&op=and

Story here... http://www.cqpolitics.com/w
mspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=cqmidday-000002708657

Story below:

-------------------------

Benefits Bill With Filipino Veterans’ Pensions Wins Senate Test

Senators agreed Tuesday to take up a bill to expand veterans benefits almost 10 months after its approval by the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

The Senate voted 94-0 to proceed to the legislation, which covers a wide range of benefits, including expanded life insurance, burial allowances and housing grants.

The bill, sponsored by committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka , D-Hawaii, still faces the same challenge on the floor that has delayed its consideration until now. Richard M. Burr , the ranking Republican on the committee, wants to strip out a controversial provision authorizing a $221 million fund to provide pension benefits for 13,000 Filipino veterans of World War II who do not have service-connected disabilities.

The North Carolina senator opposes the Filipino benefits provision on the grounds that it would send funds overseas needed to help U.S. veterans returning from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Akaka views the provision as a long-overdue recognition, and expressed frustration over the delay in bringing the bill to the floor.

Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., said 80 percent of the Filipinos who served with U.S. forces in World War II were in support roles behind the front lines and thus did not suffer injuries. But their work was essential to the fight, he said.

Reid noted that the pension payments would not last for very long; the average age of the affected veterans is 84, he said.

The White House has expressed concerns about the provisions granting benefits to Filipino veterans, but has not threatened a presidential veto.

-------------------------

posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org

Don't forget to read all of today's VA News Flashes (click here)

Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage

email Larry

(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home Page)

       
Military Medical Malpractice 
Legal Network               

VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.