Jay Rockefeller: “I support my colleagues, Senator Wellstone and Senator Murray, in their efforts to restore the veterans benefit that was…”

“I support my colleagues, Senator Wellstone and Senator Murray, in their efforts to restore the veterans benefit that was unjustly cut to pay for unprecedented increases in the highway bill. Adoption of this amendment would restore the former state of the law, by reinstating disability rights for veterans, while still fully preserving each and every highway project that was included in the highway bill and in the corrections bill that was covertly attached to the IRS Restructuring bill. Prior to the enactment of the highway bill, the law required the payment of disability compensation to veterans who could prove that they became addicted to tobacco use while in military service, if that addiction continued without interruption, and resulted in an illness and in disability. The conference report on the highway bill rescinded this compensation to disabled veterans, generating $17 billion in 'paper savings' to fund an unprecedented increase in ISTEA.”