Political Quotes

“I join with Senator Levin, Senator Smith, Senator Hutchinson, and Senator Reid in offering this amendment to S. 2514. The committee included in the bill a provision--section 641--that, over the next 5 years, would phase in elimination of the current dollar-for-dollar offset of military retired pay and veterans' disability pay for those military retirees most severely in need--that is, those who have been determined by the Veterans' Administration to be 60 percent or more disabled. I compliment Senator Cleland, Senator Hutchinson, Senator Smith and the members of the Personnel Subcommittee on bringing forward this timely, focused relief. The provision in the underlying bill was drafted to be consistent with the direct spending funding allocation contained in the budget resolution reported by the Budget Committee. But as the leaders of the subcommittee would readily acknowledge, more needs to be done. During the full committee markup, Senator Smith of New Hampshire proposed an amendment that would implement full concurrent receipt immediately.”