Stephanie Herseth Sandlin: “I rise today to ask several questions. Why does the Republican leadership in this House want to put an additional tax on…”

“I rise today to ask several questions. Why does the Republican leadership in this House want to put an additional tax on our veterans? Why does the Republican leadership in this House oppose eliminating the disabled veterans tax? Why is it okay to eliminate taxes for millionaires in this country, our most privileged, but not eliminate tax for our veterans? Why is that, Mr. Speaker? Why? Mr. Speaker, as you know, under current law, disabled American veterans who are entitled to military retirement benefits have their retirement benefits reduced dollar for dollar by the amount they receive in disability payments. Now, they earn their military retirement, and they earn disability pay. However, these amounts are all set against each other. Why does the Republican leadership and the administration support such a situation for our veterans in this country? Military retirees and veterans with service-connected disabilities are the only Federal employees subject to this offset and are essentially funding their own disability benefits. They are funding their disability with their own money that they earned serving this country. As a result, the disabled veterans tax, that is supported by the administration and the Republican leadership, subjects our Nation's veterans to worse treatment than any other class of Federal retirees, bar none.”