Bob Filner: “I want to add my voice to urge all of our colleagues to listen to the voice of our veterans. Find it in your hearts once…”

“I want to add my voice to urge all of our colleagues to listen to the voice of our veterans. Find it in your hearts once and for all, this unjust disabled veterans tax. A resident of my congressional district, the 51st in California, in San Diego, named Miguel Gonzalez, was wounded in service and declared eligible for VA disability compensation. After retiring from the military, he was also entitled to his retired pay, as every American is entitled to their retired pay. But unlike every other Federal employee, for every dollar that he receives in his disability compensation, he gives back to the government a dollar from his retirement. What an unfair and demoralizing tax on the brief bravest and best in our Nation. Today this tax is especially galling as we ask and expect our young men and women to fight the threats of terrorism. I cannot see any difference between that case and the case we are talking about this evening, except that the disabled veterans tax costs our servicemembers much more than the hospital bill that we were so upset by.”