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CAN THIS BE?: FILIPINO VETS COULD GET
STIMULUS
PACKAGE MONEY -- Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) wants
to give millions to non-citizen, non-resident
Filipino
veterans as part of the Senate stimulus package.
The "should we pay Filipino vets?" argument has
been going on for years. For background use the VA Watchdog search
engine... click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=filipino&op=and
Congress won't act on this, so they are trying to
sneak it in the stimulus bill.
First, we have a news story.
Second, is a press release from Rep. Steve Buyer
(R-IN), Ranking Member on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, who is
firmly opposed to giving any funds to Filipino veterans.
What's interesting here is that Buyer wants
stimulus funds for the VA because he won't vote FOR an adequate budget...
more here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/
nf09/nfjan09/nf012409-4.htm
And he doesn't want stimulus funds for Filipino
vets because he can't get the chance to vote AGAINST it.
I don't agree with Buyer often, but he's right
this time. This should not be included in the stimulus package.
Story here...
http://www.washingtont
imes.com/news/2009/jan/30/senate-bill-all
ots-millions-to-filipino-veterans/
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
Share story/email link.
-------------------------
Bill allots millions to Filipino vets abroad
by Stephen Dinan
Senators say their goal is to stimulate the U.S. economy, but the Senate's
economic recovery package spends up to $198 million in lump-sum payments
to aging Filipino veterans of World War II -- two-thirds of whom don't
live in the U.S. and are unlikely to be pumping much money into the
economy.
The money, long-sought by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel
K. Inouye, Hawaii Democrat, would go to about 15,000 living veterans who
served in World War II as a part of U.S.-led forces and who were promised
postwar benefits, including U.S. citizenship.
Those promises were revoked by Congress soon after the war, and Filipino
veterans have spent the years since pressing for compensation. Mr. Inouye
said the payments are long overdue, and are urgent.
"This episode is a blight upon the character of the United States, and it
must be cleansed," he said in a statement, calling the revoked
 promises
"a dark chapter" in U.S. history. "It should be noted that as you read
this, many of the Filipinos who would qualify are on their deathbeds.
Today, the average age of these men is about 90."
But critics said the issue has no business in the recovery bill.
"Like so many other items in the so-called stimulus legislation, I find it
hard to figure out how sending money overseas to the Philippines will help
stimulate the American economy," said Sen. Richard M. Burr, North Carolina
Republican, who led a fight last year to block disbursement of the money.
A spokeswoman for Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the top Republican on
the Appropriations Committee, said he sees the money as legitimate but
that it "just doesn't have anything to do with stimulating the U.S.
economy."
Money was set aside for the Filipino veterans last year, but was never
spent because Mr. Burr and other Republicans prevented the House and
Senate from agreeing to a formula for doling the funds out.
The Senate recovery bill, which will be debated on the chamber's floor
next week, authorizes $198 million for the Filipino veterans and sets
forth how the money can be spent. The House bill, which passed that
chamber Wednesday, didn't include the provision.
Republicans have attacked both the House and Senate bills for many of the
spending items they include, ranging from hundreds of millions of dollars
to fund sexually transmitted disease prevention to boosting Amtrak.
Republicans were united in voting against the House bill, and were joined
by 11 Democrats.
But in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid still held out hope for
Republican support, noting that President Obama had come to Capitol Hill
to lobby congressional Republicans personally for their support. But Mr.
Reid, whose party holds a 58-41 majority in the Senate, made clear he was
determined to pass the stimulus bill quickly, regardless of Republican
support.
"If we don't [get Republican votes], it won't be our fault for not
trying," the Nevada Democrat said.
He dismissed Republican complaints that some of the spending in the bill
will do little to create new jobs or will take too long to have an impact.
"It's easy to sit back and nitpick," he said. "Is everything in it
perfect? Of course not. But it's a good package."
Republicans, though, said they have not had enough input in the measure,
which they said is skewed too much toward spending.
"There is a growing and grim recognition within our conference that
there's very little likelihood of a significant change in this colossal
spending bill," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican. "And so we
need to resist this package with everything that we have."
Filipino veterans said the money is deserved and belongs in the recovery
package because time is critical.
Franco Arcebal, a Filipino World War II veteran and vice president of the
American Coalition for Filipino Veterans, said his group estimates that
3,000 veterans have died since its last count in 2007, including the
veteran who used to lobby Capitol Hill for the spending, who died in
December, and six deaths in Mr. Arcebal's home region of Los Angeles last
month.
"Every time a person dies, it will reduce the expenditure of the U.S.
government. We don't want the U.S. government to wait for all of us to die
before they give us this," said the 85-year-old Mr. Arcebal. "From 1946 up
to now we were still clamoring for justice and return of these veterans'
benefits that were taken away from us."
Mr. Arcebal said about 250,000 Filipinos served under U.S. command in
World War II.
He said they hope Mr. Inouye will persuade the House to act.
Part of the delay last year was those among the Filipino veterans who are
U.S. citizens didn't want the $15,000 payments to cut into their Social
Security income, which the House version required. Non-U.S. citizens would
have received $9,000.
Troops who were already serving in the Philippine Scouts, the new
Philippine Scouts, the Guerrilla Services and the Philippine Commonwealth
Army were put under U.S. military control by executive order of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. The Philippines were under U.S. control at
the time, but the U.S. granted the island chain independence after World
War II.
Some veterans began receiving benefits before Congress' 1946 law revoking
the offer of benefits and citizenship, and those benefits have continued.
But some Filipino veterans' service was deemed not to meet the definition
of "active service" and were denied the benefits; those are the veterans
Mr. Inouye seeks to aid.
Aside from the overseas location of many of the veterans, the lump-sum
payment also could be contentious.
The Obama administration, speaking about the tangential issue of tax cuts,
argues that lump-sum tax rebates are not as effective in stimulating the
economy as a cut that pays out in smaller amounts in paychecks.
• Kara Rowland and David R. Sands contributed to this report.
-------------------------
Buyer press release here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/h
cva09/hcva013009-1.htm
Press release below:
-------------------------
Stimulus Package
Provides Money to Filipinos over American Veterans
For more information, contact: Brian Lawrence, (202) 225-3527
Washington D.C. – Ranking Member of House Committee on Veterans Affairs
Steve Buyer expressed deep disagreement today over a Senate proposal that
would provide American Taxpayer funds to non-citizen, non-resident
Filipino veterans as part of the stimulus bill the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009. This is yet another example of Congressional
Democrats’ preference for political pork over stimulating the U.S.
economy. The Senate provision would provide pension payments for World War
II Filipino Veterans of who mostly live outside of the United States and
are not citizens.
“The purpose of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is to stimulate
the American economy and create jobs, but this provision does neither.
However, I am not surprised that the liberals have included it in the
stimulus,” said Buyer. “Our nation is at a financial
crossroads and we face many
significant economic challenges, such as taking care of American veterans.
Sending American’s hard earned taxpayer dollars overseas does not create
jobs in America.”
“I do not question the valor and courage of the Philippine Army, which
fought alongside U.S. forces to defeat Japan in World War II and I am not
opposed to discussing ways to compensate these veterans. However, to do so
and say it under the guise of stimulating the American economy is a
complete falsehood and is the lowest form of partisan politics.”
Earlier this week, the House Rules Committee rejected on a party-line vote
four Buyer amendments to the House version of the stimulus bill. These
amendments would have provided funds to provide job skill training for
veterans, increase in subsistence allowance for disabled veterans
undergoing vocational rehabilitation training, and grants for homeless
providers to give job training services for homeless women veterans and
homeless veterans with children. Another amendment would have provided $1
billion in funding to allow VA to make small business loans to veterans
that would have increased entrepreneurship and created jobs. These
amendments were not made in order by the liberal majority in the House
Rules Committee.
“Veterans are an important part of our economy and my amendments would
have greatly benefited American veterans and the fact that Congressional
leaders blocked these amendments while providing funding to non-resident,
non-citizen Filipinos is a bitter pill to swallow.”
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
-------------------------
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