Providing Honorary Status to Reserve Military Members

Floor Speech

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Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I thank the ranking member for yielding me this time, as well as being a staunch supporter of this and, of course, other legislation to secure the rights and benefits for our veterans.

I would also like to thank the gentleman from New Jersey for his unwavering support on this and other bills, and appreciate all of the things that are moving today.

I say a special thank you to Chairman Miller and the majority leader and the majority whip who changed the schedule around to allow this bill to be debated tonight after Representatives Roe, Benishek, DesJarlais, Denham, and I returned from Afghanistan, visiting our warriors downrange defending freedom and putting their lives on the line and doing it in such a professional manner, and standing there and not being able to tell the difference between a Navy, a Marine, or an Army National Guard or Reservist, all of those services working together in unity for this.

I'm proud to sponsor this piece of legislation, the Honor America's Guard and Reserve Act. The veterans' community has prioritized this for a long time. About the honor that you heard my good friend and the lead Republican sponsor on this from Iowa, Mr. Latham, talk about, it's about that honor and dignity and a country respecting that.

These are folks who serve in so many ways, responding to national emergencies. But, most importantly, I think, standing ready to be deployed at a moment's notice as a deterrent to aggression. They stood there during the Cold War, many of these people for 20 years, serving this Nation, training the current warriors who are downrange. And yet we will honor them with military retired pay, medical care through Tricare, we'll even bury them in a veterans' cemetery. But under current law, that member of that reserve component, if they weren't called up under title 10 for more than 179 days, the honor we will not bestow upon them is the right to call themselves veterans, and that truly is a gross injustice. I believe it's an oversight to them, and its an oversight to their families who understood the respect they had. I think it is basic common sense. A reservist can be buried in a Federal cemetery. They should have the right--and what this bestows upon them, no money, no extra benefits, but when the flag comes by on Veterans Day, they can render a hand salute in taking part when that national anthem is played. It is about honor.

It may not seem important to some, but for those who wear the uniform subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, received the same training, and spent 20 years away from their families and had the ability to be called up, this lack of recognition is a gross injustice. H.R. 1025 will finally correct this in a straightforward way, including the Guard and Reserve retiree in the definition of the term ``veteran.'' It will ensure they're no longer regulated to second-class status.

As I've said, the sole purpose is to grant veteran's status to those who've been denied it to this point. In light of this fact, let me be absolutely clear: it's about honor. It's not about monetary benefits or material privilege. Both the Congressional Research Service as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs concluded this legislation will provide no additional benefits; instead, it is a tribute to their service. It has been reinforced by the Congressional Budget Office which says it has a zero cost to taxpayers. It's a simple bill. It simply states that those members of the Guard who've served for all of their time, stood ready to be deployed for whatever reason at a moment's notice, have earned the right to be considered veterans.

I would like to point out this legislation is supported by the Military Coalition and the National

Military Veterans Alliance, which together represent more than 4 million active-duty servicemember veterans and their families.

I'd like to thank everyone who has engaged in this. It's been a long process. We've got a companion version in the Senate, Madam Speaker, and the time is right to bestow this honor on those who have given so much. So with that, I encourage my colleagues to use this as an opportunity to right an injustice, to stand tall with our Guard and Reserve soldiers, to set this right and allow them to proudly, by this Veterans Day, be able to render their hand salute to our flag.

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