Veterans of Foreign Wars Federal Charter Amendment

Floor Speech

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Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as has been said, this bill makes a small but important change to the Federal charter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. As has been mentioned, it would amend the charter to become gender neutral by replacing ``men'' with ``veterans'' and ``widows'' with ``surviving spouses.'' I think doing this aligns the charter with the actual makeup of the organization today, and I totally support the change.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States has been serving veterans of our Armed Forces for over 100 years and traces its roots to the Spanish-American War. Only men were permitted to serve in the military when the organization was chartered in 1936, and of course, we know, since that time, things have changed a great deal.

The role of women in the military has greatly expanded. In fact, two of our colleagues--Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth of Illinois--both served with both distinction and honor in our military services and now serve with us as colleagues in the House.

Women serve in varied roles throughout the Armed Forces, and they have made many important sacrifices for the country. Women in fact now make up almost 10 percent of the total veterans population, and the Department of Veterans Affairs predicts they will represent nearly 18 percent of veterans by the year 2040.

In recognition of these facts, the VFW opened its membership to women over 35 years ago, and they certainly deserve our commendation for doing so.

Generally, as has been said many times, it should be up to the organization, not Congress, to decide who may and may not be a member of that organization. That is one of the many reasons why Members on both sides of the aisle have long supported the committee's policy against creating new Federal charters.

Even so, there is no policy against amending existing charters, and if such amendments are needed to align the charter to actual reality, then there is no reason to prevent such an amendment.

In fact, I also support the reason for this change. The Veterans of Foreign Wars seeks this change because it ``strongly believes that combat service, not gender, determines membership eligibility.'' I could not agree more, and I can only applaud the VFW for initiating this change and coming to the Judiciary Committee, seeking out the author of the bill and working with us in a bipartisan basis to get here today.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the author of the bill, and this was unanimously approved by the Judiciary Committee.

I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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