Bob Filner: “we who serve as members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs have many responsibilities. Our primary commitment…”

“we who serve as members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs have many responsibilities. Our primary commitment, however, is to those men and women who are disabled while serving on active duty in America's Armed Forces and to their families. Accordingly, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2367, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 1997. Under this measure, more than 2 rac{1}{2} million service-disabled veterans nationwide, and their surviving spouses, will receive an increase in their disability-related benefits on December 1 of this year. In the great State of California alone, more than 220,000 veterans injured in service to our country will receive this enhanced benefit. I am privileged to serve on the Veterans' Affairs Committee and to work on behalf of those whose sacrifices have protected the freedoms on which our Nation is founded. We, as free men and women, owe a unique debt to our veterans, and I urge my colleagues to join me in fulfilling this special obligation by supporting H.R. 2367.”