Barbara Boxer: “in my minute I hope I can convince colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this amendment. Just this past…”

“in my minute I hope I can convince colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this amendment. Just this past weekend, President Bush called for a war on poverty. This amendment is a step in that direction. It is offered in that spirit. What we do is help 1.5 million veterans who are now living in poverty by giving a tax credit to those employers who hire them. This idea was proposed and is supported by the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans and the Noncommissioned Officers Association. Veterans groups tell me the current tax credit, Welfare To Work, is not working for veterans because they are not on welfare. They need this tax credit. So we send our people into harm's way and sometimes they come back and they really are having a tough time integrating into society, getting a meaningful job. This will reward employers who give them a job. And, by the way, we pay for it by bringing that top rate down to, not 36 percent but 36.05 percent. Let's do this for our veterans.”