Senate votes to pay Filipino vet pensions

[unhappycamper]

Senate votes to pay Filipino vet pensions
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Apr 24, 2008 15:27:43 EDT

The Senate voted Thursday 56-41 to support the idea that keeping promises — even old ones — is just as important as creating new and better veterans’ benefits.

The vote came on an amendment offered by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., to remove from the Veterans’ Benefits Enhancement Act a provision that would pay pensions to Filipino veterans living in that country who served alongside U.S. troops in World War II.

Burr said the $221 million to pay for the pensions for Filipino vets who do not have service-connected disabilities could be better spent on helping new U.S. veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He specifically proposed increasing grants for disabled veterans to adapt homes and vehicles to improve their quality of life, and to provide automatic annual increases.

Pension supporters, including Medal of Honor recipient and World War II veteran Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said the bill is a matter of honor because the U.S. government had promised the pensions more than 60 years ago but never delivered.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/military_filipinoveterans_pensions_042408w/

[rpannier]

1. In a way both are right

We owe those we promised to provide pensions to the money they earned.

Burr is right that we need to spend more money on our servicemen coming back Afghanistan and Iraq.

My problem with burr's position is... I think he's more interested in finding ways not to give the Philipinos what they earned, rather than in securing more money for those returning from combat.

I'm willing to bet, that if this was money being given to wealthy corporations that helped us during WWII, Burr would be a co-sponsor on the bill.