Gerald Kleczka: “first of all I would like to urge all my colleagues to give their unanimous approval to this legislation before us. I…”

“first of all I would like to urge all my colleagues to give their unanimous approval to this legislation before us. I would like to thank and recognize the chairman of the committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas), for the speed and hard work he has put into this legislation to bring it to the floor today. Two days ago, untold numbers of civilians in New York City alone, with large numbers of our servicemen and women at the Pentagon, were killed in an act of terrorism against the United States. This bill will treat all of the victims of this atrocious attack as equals by giving the surviving families of the civilians who died in the buildings that were hit, as well as those on board the airplanes, the same tax treatment as those who perished while serving in our Armed Forces. This terrorist attack did not distinguish between military and civilian loss of life, and our tax laws should not either. The bill consists of four main parts. Currently members of the military who are killed while serving in combat or who die of injuries suffered while serving in a combat zone are given a sizable reduction in their estate tax liability. The bill before us would extend this same estate tax treatment to people who are killed as a result of Tuesday's terrorist attack.”