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PRINTER'S NO. 1300
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
222
Session of
2017
INTRODUCED BY RYAN, BAKER, D. COSTA, COX, DRISCOLL, GROVE,
NEILSON, SANKEY AND SOLOMON, APRIL 10, 2017
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS, APRIL 10, 2017
A RESOLUTION
Urging the President of the United States and the Congress of
the United States to enact H.R. 303 to permit full,
concurrent receipt of military retired pay and other veterans
compensation, including dependent allowances.
WHEREAS, American servicemen and servicewomen have dedicated
their careers to protect the rights we all enjoy; and
WHEREAS, Career military personnel endure hardships,
privation, the threat of death, disability and long separations
from military families in service to our country; and
WHEREAS, Integral to the success of our military forces are
servicemen and servicewomen who have made a career of defending
our great nation in peace and war from the Revolutionary War to
the present day; and
WHEREAS, A gross inequity existed in the Federal statutes
that denied disabled career military personnel equal rights to
receive veterans' disability compensation concurrent with
receipt of earned military retired pay; and
WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States passed and the
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President signed H.R. 1588 to remedy this inequity applicable to
career military personnel dating back to the 19th century; and
WHEREAS, Retired veterans with a minimum of 20 years were
denied concurrent receipt of hard-earned military longevity
retirement pay and veterans' awards for service-connected
disability; and
WHEREAS, Career military personnel earn retirement benefits
based on longevity of 20 years for honorable and faithful
service and rank at time of retirement; and
WHEREAS, Veterans' disability compensation serves a different
purpose from longevity retirement pay and is intended to
compensate for pain, suffering, disfigurement, chemical
exposure, wound injuries and a loss of earning ability, with a
minimum requirement of 90 days of active duty; and
WHEREAS, The prevailing idea that military retirement pay is
free is not only misleading but false because there is a
contribution to retirement pay, calculated to reduce military
base pay and retirement pay by approximately 7% when pay and
allowances are computed and approved by the United States
Congress; and
WHEREAS, Traditionally, career military personnel receive
lower pay and retirement than civilian counterparts and have
invested a life of hardships and long hours without the benefit
of overtime pay and lack of freedom of expression through
unions; and
WHEREAS, Allowances to dependents of veterans with a 30%
disability are increased with the amount of disability; and
WHEREAS, The Department of Defense deducts the entire amount
of dependents' allowances, essentially leaving the disabled
military retiree with no dependent allowance, a discrimination
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which extends to the families of military retirees; and
WHEREAS, Current Federal law only authorizes concurrent
receipt of military retired pay and other veterans compensation,
including dependents' allowances for a service-connected
disability rated at 50% or more; and
WHEREAS, It was unfair to require disabled military retirees
to fund their own veterans' compensation by deductions on a
dollar-for-dollar basis in the Department of Defense; and
WHEREAS, No such deduction applies to similarly situated
Federal civil service or congressional retirement beneficiaries
who receive veterans' compensation; and
WHEREAS, The statutory change proposed in H.R. 303 corrects
this injustice and discrimination to ensure that the United
States' commitment to national and international goals is
matched by a similar commitment to those who sacrificed on
behalf of those goals; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the President of the United
States and the United States Congress to immediately enact H.R.
303 to permit full concurrent receipt of military retired pay
and other veterans' compensation, including dependents'
allowances; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense,
the presiding officers of each house of Congress and to each
member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
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