Stephanie Herseth Sandlin: “Madam Speaker, today there are 171,917 National Guardsmen and Reservists on active duty. They are facing increasingly…”

“Madam Speaker, today there are 171,917 National Guardsmen and Reservists on active duty. They are facing increasingly difficult circumstances with the most recent extension of the deployment of troops in Iraq. As a consequence of their service, many of our National Guardsmen and Reservists have been forced to resort to their savings, savings that are vital to the economic well-being of their families. Many of our Guardsmen and Reservists have been forced to liquidated IRAs and other retirement accounts in order to pay their families' day-to-day expenses. I am pleased that the bill we have before us today provides these servicemembers relief from the 10 percent penalty normally imposed on individuals making early withdrawals from those accounts. This relief is important, and I am pleased to support it as a first step. Curiously, the bill does not take the next logical step, the next important step. While H.R. 1779 would permit the individual to recontribute the money to the retirement plan, the bill eliminates any tax benefit for the recontribution. As a result, individuals making those recontributions could ultimately face double taxation. They paid regular income tax on the initial distribution; they would have to pay regular income tax on the final distribution. Madam Speaker, I am pleased today to support H.R. 1779, but only as a first step. These folks are risking their lives.…”