Senator Craig doesn't think Filipino veterans are worth the money

Craig The Grinch
By: Rodel Rodis, Jan 12, 2008

There was so much optimism early this year in February when I joined Gen. Antonio Taguba in the halls of Congress to lobby House members to support the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill. We all felt in our bones that after 26 years of lobbying, this would be the year that the Rescission Act of 1946 is finally rescinded.

This excitement was fueled by the Democratic sweep in the November 2006 elections, which resulted in the appointment of Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawai‘i) and Rep. Bob Filner (D-California), the two principal sponsors of the bill in the Senate and in the House, as chairs of the veterans’ affairs committees in their respective chambers.

By April 2007, both Sen. Akaka and Rep. Filner had conducted hearings on their respective equity bills and had garnered their committee’s approval. It had never advanced to this stage before, and many believed that it would be just a matter of time before the bills were brought to a floor vote in the Senate and House.

On June 27, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee approved the Veterans’ Benefits and Emoluments Act (S. 1315), which incorporated the provisions of the Filipino Veterans’ Equity Bill (S. 57). A provision included proposed monthly pensions of $911 for U.S.-based veterans and $300 for those veterans residing in the Philippines.

“S. 1315 would fix a historical wrong,” Akaka said. “Filipino veterans served under the command of the U.S. military during World War II. They were considered by the Veterans’ Administration, the predecessor of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, to be veterans of the U.S. military, naval and air service, until that status was revoked by the Rescission Acts of 1946.”

The main opposition to the Senate bill came from Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), the former chair of the Senate Veterans’ Committee, who calculated the price tag of the bill to be almost $1 billion over 10 years, which he believes the U.S. government cannot afford when “there are other pressing bills pending before the committee, especially benefits for veterans of the war on terror.”
go here for the rest
http://www.asianweek.com/2008/01/12/craig-the-grinch/

Why this man has any say in any of this is beyond belief.