House Proceeding 05-12-09 on May 12th, 2009 :: 1:19:30 to 1:23:45
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1:18:50 to 1:22:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Steve Buyer

1:19:08 to 1:19:30( Edit History Discussion )

Steve Buyer: i rise in opposition and i would say to the chairman as a history professor i know that you must embrace history and not be a revisionist of history. i'm greatly disappointed with this legislation. i'm disappointed because this is an attempt to say that he wants to resolve an inequity through discrimination so that your bias toward one specific

1:19:31 to 1:19:53( Edit History Discussion )

Steve Buyer: group is so strong among the veterans community that you will discrem nate against others. and i'll -- discriminate against others. and i'll use your friend as a merchant marir, as a prisoner of war building the bridge over the river river quai. means that other p.o.w.'s who served with them would not be

1:19:54 to 1:20:14( Edit History Discussion )

Steve Buyer: entitled to the special monthly payment, that you believe that that merchant mariner is so special that all other prisoners of war should not receive such payment. you see, there's a reason that those of us have worn the uniform do not do this. the only time we have provided a service pension, a service

1:20:15 to 1:20:35( Edit History Discussion )

Steve Buyer: pension are for medal of honor recipients. we do not provide service pensions. and that's exactly what this is. so we're paying $1,100 to meda of honor recipients, and you want to pay now $1,000 to merchant mariners. yet, there are 28 groups of

1:20:36 to 1:20:57( Edit History Discussion )

Steve Buyer: whom are similarly situated. individuals of whom were contractor status during the war. now, we need to stop and pause and think about what we're doing here. ever since the american revolution the -- our government has utilized contractors as our combatants go to war. whether it was in the

1:20:58 to 1:21:18( Edit History Discussion )

Steve Buyer: revolution, whether it was the war of 1812, the mexican-american war, the spanish-american war, world war i, world war ii, korea, vietnam, the first gulf war and in fact the present wars in iraq and afghanistan we all use contractors. so after world war ii we created a process whereby these contractors then can be

1:21:19 to 1:21:39( Edit History Discussion )

Steve Buyer: granted, quote, that veteran status. so whether or not merchant mariners, the question of their valor, even the question of their status has now been resolved. what's before the house is now with regard to a particular group of veterans that we're going to treat them differently,hat we're going to say that you have such a

1:21:40 to 1:22:00( Edit History Discussion )

Steve Buyer: unique status that we'll give you $1,000 payment, a service pension when in fact we don't even do that for anyone else. so i am greatly disappointed that this type olegislation is brought to the floor. this is legislation that should never have been done. i'm asking -- members that are flying back now so they are not

1:22:01 to 1:22:10( Edit History Discussion )

Steve Buyer: even sure about this legislation or what it's about and they're thinking well, because it came out of the committee it must be great legislation, it must be veterans legislation, we must all be arm in arm and we should

1:22:11 to 1:22:32( Edit History Discussion )

go ahead and pass it. time-out. i think we need to be very, very cautious and careful. we don't even -- like i said, we don't even give the specialty payment to prisoners of war. and we're going to select a particular group of individuals to give them. i'm going to reserve the balance of my time because i to make.

1:22:33 to 1:22:53( Edit History Discussion )

Glenn Nye: the speaker pro tem gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california, mr. filner: i'd like to recognize one of our new members who has been very active on our committee, mr. knight, for as much time as he may consume. mr. knight: i rise today to honor the service of our merchant mariners from world war ii and to urge this house

1:22:50 to 1:24:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Glenn Nye

1:22:54 to 1:23:14( Edit History Discussion )

Glenn Nye: to provide them with the common sayings that imany years -- compensation that is many years overdue. i'd like to thank chairman filner for his tireless work and for his commitment of this issue. as a member from an area with a long -- the merchant mariners, just like our war fighters,

1:23:15 to 1:23:35( Edit History Discussion )

Glenn Nye: they answered the country's call and just like the brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, men of our merchant marines made the ultimate sacrifice. over 1,500 merchant marine ships were sunk during the war. many of them made by german uboats during the perilous crossing of the atlantic. our merchant mariners had suffered the highest casualty

1:23:36 to 1:23:57( Edit History Discussion )

Glenn Nye: rate of service of the approximately 250,000 americans who served on our merchant ships, more than one out of every 26 was killed. but despite these sacrifices they were not granted the same benefits that other veterans received. they were promised benefits by president roosevelt but they were systematically cut out of the g.i. bill, health care,