Heroes Earned Retirement Opportunities Act

HEROES EARNED RETIREMENT OPPORTUNITIES ACT -- (House of Representatives - May 23, 2005)

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlemen from Texas and Michigan for their eloquent words on behalf of this bill. I am truly honored to be here today, Mr. Speaker. I am honored because the mere consideration of this bill represents the greatness of our republican democracy.

At this time a year ago, I only dreamed of coming to the floor of this House and working for the people of the Fifth Congressional District in North Carolina. Here I am today promoting a bill I wrote to help those very constituents who deserve it most.

Just a few months ago, the father of Army Specialist Michael Hensley from my district in Clemmons, North Carolina, contacted me with a problem that his son and many of our other brave soldiers are facing. My constituent, Specialist Hensley, wanted to do the responsible thing by making the maximum allowable contribution to his individual retirement account, but found out that because of the nature of his wages, he would not be able to contribute to his nest egg this year. Thanks to the Republican leadership of this House and the bipartisan support from the minority, we stand here this afternoon to solve this problem.

Mr. Speaker, our current Tax Code wrongfully prohibits many of our brave men and women serving in combat zones from taking advantage of individual retirement accounts, or IRAs.

Most soldiers serving in these combat zones are paid in wages designated as military hazard pay. As deployment times have grown longer and longer, many soldiers now serve entire calendar years overseas, making their yearly compensation consist of hazard pay exclusively. These wages are not taxed; nor should they be. However, since this compensation is nontaxable, the wages are not eligible for IRA contributions. This is entirely unfair.

As we all know, IRAs are an excellent tool for responsible retirement savings, and responsible retirement savings should be encouraged for everyone, but especially for those who take up arms in war zones and fight for our freedom. The men and women defending America in harm's way overseas should not be excluded from fully participating in the important retirement investment opportunity that IRAs provide because of a glitch in our Tax Code. H.R. 1499, the Heroes Earned Retirement Opportunities, or HERO Act, will correct this serious injustice. The HERO Act simply designates combat hazard pay earned by a member of the Armed Forces as eligible for contribution to retirement accounts.

The legislation, which is endorsed by the Reserve Officers Association and the Military Officers Association of America, would not actually tax these wages, it would merely allow them to be invested in the same retirement accounts available to all Americans.

To quote the Military Officers Association of America in their letter of support for the bill, "This change makes perfect sense in view of all we are asking our service members to do in the War on Terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere."

I could not have said it better myself.

Mr. Speaker, our heroes defending America overseas certainly deserve the same access to retirement savings that we receive. In fact, we should be encouraging and even facilitating retirement savings whenever possible. Americans need to take responsibility for and control of their retirement. Those responsible enough to save their hard-earned wages should be rewarded, not burdened with taxes and regulations.

I would like to thank our Republican Majority Leader, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), as well as the gentleman from California (Chairman Thomas) for recognizing the importance of this bill and for expeditiously bringing it to the floor of this House.

I would also like to thank the gentleman from California (Chairman Hunter) for his service to our Nation in Vietnam, for his excellent leadership of the House Committee on Armed Services, and for cosponsoring and supporting this great bill. His commitment to our troops is to be applauded.

A special thanks to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Johnson) for his 29 years of service to our Nation, and for his cosponsorship of this bill and his assistance in the Committee on Ways and Means to bring the bill to the floor. He recognized immediately that this is a common-sense solution.

Lastly, I would like to thank my staff members, especially Bob Honald and Deana Funderburk for their support and effort to get a good idea transformed to good legislation. I urge all of my colleagues to help right this fundamental wrong by voting for this straightforward, common-sense legislation.

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