WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Akaka gave a speech on the Senate floor tonight, pushing for pension benefits for Filipino Veterans who fought under U.S. command during WWII.
Click here to hear the speech (mp3 format)
The text of the speech is copied below. Akaka is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Mr. President, I come to the floor today to speak - again - about S. 1315, the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Act of 2007. This critical legislation would affect real change in the treatment of our Nation's veterans.
Mr. President, provisions in S. 1315 would improve life insurance programs for disabled veterans, expand the traumatic injury protection program for active duty servicemembers, and provide individuals with severe burns specially adapted housing benefits. These provisions are vital to improve benefits and services for our veterans.
However, for many months now, S. 1315 has been blocked from debate by Republican members opposed to a provision in the bill that would extend certain VA benefits to Filipino veterans, residing in the Philippines, who fought alongside U.S. troops during World War II. These veterans have been denied these benefits for over 50 years. I believe it is time to give these elderly veterans the benefits that they earned and so richly deserve.
In the sixty-two years since the end of the Second World War, Filipino veterans have worked tirelessly to secure the veterans status they were promised when they agreed to fight under U.S. command during World War II. They were considered United States veterans until that status was taken from them by an Act of Congress in 1946.
Mr. President, at the conclusion of my remarks, I will ask unanimous consent that a letter to Senator Craig from General Delfin Lorenzana, the Head of the Office of Veterans' Affairs for the Embassy of the Philippines, appear in the Record. This letter presents a historical overview of Filipino involvement during World War II and what has ensued since that time.
General Lorenzana notes that these veterans fought in a war between U.S. and Japan, under the U.S. flag as part of the United States Army Forces in the Far East. He notes that out of the nearly half-a-million Filipino veterans who served, only 18-thousand survive today. In another decade, only a few of them will remain.
I am happy to note that many Filipino veterans enjoy eligibility for benefits and health care services on the same basis as other U.S. veterans. However, there is still work to be done in order to extend these eligibilities to all of those who served with the United States military during World War II.
Mr. President, last June the Committee held a markup where then-Ranking Member, Senator Craig, offered an amendment to reduce the amount of pension that Filipino veterans residing in the Philippines would receive under S. 1315. I stress that the amendment was not to strip pension benefits from the bill entirely - merely to reduce the benefit in line with what Senator Craig viewed as appropriate. I disagreed with Senator Craig's assessment and his amendment was not adopted.
In the months that followed markup, consideration of S. 1315 was put off while Republican leadership on the Committee suddenly changed hands.
In late Fall, my efforts to seek a middle ground between the level of pension benefits in the bill as reported, and the level former Ranking Member Craig sought during markup, were rejected. When a counteroffer was finally made by the Committee's new Ranking Member, Senator Burr, supported by Senator Craig, it proposed to entirely strip pension benefits from Filipino veterans residing in the Philippines from the bill. This is not acceptable to me. It is possible, however, that it might be acceptable to some in the Senate. That is why I continue to ask that we move forward with deliberation of this measure. Let us have a real debate on this bill, and then have an up or down vote.
I again ask that the Senate be allowed to debate this important measure. Our Committee must be permitted to finish our work. America's veterans deserve no less.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter from General Lorenzana, which I mentioned earlier, appear at this point in the Record.
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