Rick Allen: “before I speak on these amendments, I will share with my colleagues three amendments I have introduced. The first…”

“before I speak on these amendments, I will share with my colleagues three amendments I have introduced. The first amendment will double the current referral bonus from $1,000 to $2,000, which will encourage more men and women to enter the U.S. Armed Forces. The second amendment will provide statutory authority to the Army to pay $8,000 dollar enlistment bonuses to individuals who enlist in Officer Candidate School. The Army has made this promise--and this amendment provides statutory authority to fulfill that promise. And finally, I have offered--with Senators Craig, Hutchison, Burns and Snowe as cosponsors--an amendment that will provide financial protection to the 25.6 million military personnel and veterans whose personal data and Social Security information were stolen from the home of a Veterans Affairs employee in May of this year. Under the terms of my amendment, the VA would be required to provide credit monitoring and data theft protection to these veterans at no cost to our veterans. My amendment is supported by the VFW. I spoke to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson earlier today, and he informed me that he had announced that the VA will provide credit monitoring and data theft protection, and at no cost to the servicemembers and veterans. I thank Secretary Nicholson for making this sound and responsible decision.…”