Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R 821, legislation that would extend eligibility for burial in the national cemetery system, which includes the 59 open national cemeteries operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs [VA] and the 40 State veterans cemeteries that conform to VA eligibility standards, to members of the National Guard and Reserve who have served a minimum of 20 years and are eligible for retirement pay and their dependents. Mr. President, the Senate approved H.R. 821 in substantially the same form late last year, but because certain technical conforming amendments were inadvertently left out of the Senate-passed bill, the House delayed final action on the measure. The measure we are considering today contains these minor technical corrections. H.R. 821 is derived from legislation I introduced last year, S. 1128, that was cosponsored by Senators Craig, Dashle, DeConcini, Dorgan, Ford, Hatch, Heflin, Inouye, Jeffords, Kerrey, Pressler, Robb, and Shelby. S. 1128, in turn, was based on original legislation I introduced in the 102d Congress, S. 2961, that called for providing headstones, burial flags, as well as the interment benefit to career reservists. Congress managed to approve the headstone and burial flag provisions of S. 2961 in 1992, but deferred consideration of the interment benefit until the current Congress. Mr. President, an estimated 235,000 reservists gallantly served in the Persian Gulf war.…”