There’s still hope. The financial bailout talks has put Congress on overtime. That means more time for advocates of the Filipino Veterans of WWII to rally support for a conference committee that could forge a law that will finally make the vets whole. Battling a Friday deadline, the vets issue seemed dead. But sources close to the negotiation told me there was still time. More encouraging is that the House has found $198 million in appropriations for the vets as part of a continuing resolution. The money is there, now all that’s needed is for the House and Senate to discuss the bills on the table, Sen. Daniel Akaka’s S.1315, which would give the vets up to $9,000 a year, and a House measure from Rep. Bob Filner that would shortchange the vets with a lump sum payment, and no military status.
Supporters have never been as close to victory as they are now. It would be a shame if some congressman use the $700 billion fiscal crisis to avoid paying the 18,000 surviving vets the paltry sum they are asking.
That tack wouldn’t be fiscally responsible. It would just be cruel.