Senate Passes Veterans Benefits Legislation with Provision Championed by Senator Stevens

Press Release

The United States Senate today passed the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Act of 2007, an expansive, budget-neutral bill that provides much deserved benefits to veterans, their families, and their survivors.

The measure contained a provision championed by Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) that provides benefits to Filipino World War II veterans inducted into the U.S. Armed Forces. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also supported the legislation.

"America must not forget how crucial the efforts of Filipino veterans were to the success of the Allied forces in World War II," said Senator Stevens. "Their resistance of Japanese occupation tied down our enemy's forces in the islands and prevented them from deploying elsewhere. Today, the Senate has finally shown our nation's gratitude for the role Filipino veterans played in our history, fighting alongside American soldiers and helping us secure victory over tyranny. This recognition and the extension of the veterans benefits contained in this bill is long overdue."

"I am proud to stand with the Filipino veterans of World War II, many of whom are now in their eighties, who have been fighting for more than 60 years to be regarded as veterans of the United States," Senator Murkowski. "They fought to protect U.S. interests in the Pacific, at the direction of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, during a period when the Philippines was controlled by the United States. This recognition may be coming more than a half century after it should have but remains the right thing for a great nation like ours to do."

At the start of World War II, the islands of the Philippines were still a possession of the United States. As conflict with Japan seemed imminent, President Roosevelt called all military forces organized by the government of the Philippines into service under the U.S. armed forces.

In a recent speech on the Senate floor, Senator Stevens noted that the heroic contributions of Filipino servicemen led to the eventual victory of the Allied forces in the Pacific. Following the war, all Filipino veterans were entitled to the same benefits as U.S. veterans. In 1946, Congress changed that, excluding many Filipino veterans from receiving benefits.

In addition to restoring veteran status to Filipino WWII veterans, the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Act expands the number of individuals qualifying for traumatic injury insurance under the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance program and increases housing benefits to veterans with combat-related severe burns. The measure also increases benefits for individuals pursuing apprenticeships or on-job training programs.

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