"Disabled Veterans Tax"

Chicago Public Radio - WBEZ

November 10, 2003

Illinois' democratic congressional delegation is calling for a House vote on a bill that would let veterans with 20 years military experience keep their disability benefits.

Right now those veterans have to pay for disability compensation out of their military pensions.

According to a study commissioned by House Democrats...that costs roughly seven-thousand Illinois veterans an average 46-hundred dollars annually.

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky says Illinois veterans need that money for daily living expenses.

(Schakowsky) "we're talking about veterans who need the money for rent and prescription drugs.  They depend on this money."  

Schakowsky says the bill has 374 co-sponsors and would pass by a landslide.

But she says Republican leaders refuse to call a vote...because they support what she calls a weaker version of the plan.

Calls to the office of Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert were not returned.