Walter B. Jones: “tonight I am on the floor again. I am asking the House leadership and also the Democratic leadership to please bring to…”

“tonight I am on the floor again. I am asking the House leadership and also the Democratic leadership to please bring to the floor H.R. 693, the Military Death Gratuity Tax Repeal. Mr. Speaker, let me explain to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that in the early 1990s, the Congress increased from $3,000 to $6,000 a death gratuity that is given to the family of a loved one who has died in uniform for this country. The Committee on Ways and Means, and it was not their fault, but the bill, the increase, was not sent to their committee so they could eliminate the tax. So since the early 1990s, anyone who has died in uniform for this country, their families have received a death gratuity of $6,000 and also the next year receive a tax bill from Uncle Sam. Mr. Speaker, now that we are fighting for freedom for the Iraqi people, our troops in Afghanistan and also in Iraq have been killed, and God bless and rest their souls and bless their families, but, Mr. Speaker, the reason I am on the floor tonight is I am asking the House leadership, both Democrat and Republican, to please, before we leave here in early November, to bring this bill to the floor and let us pass it in a bipartisan way and send it to the other body.”