mrs. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman california is recognized for three minutes. mrs. davis: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in support of h.r. 2990, the disabled military relief act of of 2009. i would like to echo the comments of chairman skelton on the merits of this bill and to congratulate him for bringing this important measure to the floor. . the process of coordinating and identifying the spending offsets was a long, hard struggle which demonstrates the resolve of the chairman and the armed services committee as a whole to end the disabled veterans tax. the disabled veterans tax has been an economic burden on our military retirees for far too long. this is especially true for those who were denied the opportunity to serve for a full 20-year career this bill provides immediate protection for the mostly severely disabled, with ratings of 190%. madam speaker, this is not a

perfect solution. the chairman and i and all our colleagues on the armed services committee want a full and permanent fix. the task to find the needed offsets from the entitlement accounts was a difficult one. no one should doubt our resolve to bring full benefits to our disabled retirees. i want to assure other groups with issues that face the same daunting challenge to find entitlement funding offsets that we have not forgotten your causes. today, we have focused on disable red tirees. we are fully aware that more needs to be done to, one, fix the s.b.p. -- the spb -- sbpdic offsets, two protect health care benefits, and eliminate the veterans tax for those not

addressed by h.r. 1990. we will continue to work to fix these programs as soon as possible. democrats have much to be proud of in our efforts to eliminate the veterans disability tax. we are again taking a leadership role in providing the benefits our disabled retirees deserve. s that good bill that keeps faith with our veterans. i urge my colleagues to support the disabled american re-- disabled veteran retiree act of 2009. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina. mr. wilson: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. skelton: madam speaker, this bill is a tribute to excellent armed services

committee staffwork and i wish to acknowledge the fact that so many supporting both democrats and republicans did yeoman's work on this. mike higgins, john chaplain, jeanette james, they did such a fantastic job in gluing a difficult bill together. i want to publicly thank them. at this time, i yield one minute to my friend and colleague, the gentleman from georgia, also a member of the armed services committee, mr. marx. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. marshall: thank you. i want to thank everyone for the work that's been done for to relief from the disabled veterans tax. i would like to urge all veterans to call the inability of those who are entitled to concurrent receipt of retirement benefits and

disability benefits to call this the disabled veterans tax, a term coined about six years ago, more and more veterans are using that term. as we use that term and get this thing libble -- labels the way it should be, as a disabled veterans tax, i'm convinced that over the years, we'll find the offsets needed to eliminate this unfair tax on disabled veterans. again, mr. chairman, i thank you. without your due diligence and an awful lot of work by staff we wouldn't be able to make the inroads we're making this time around. a lot of credit goes to you. i thank you, sir. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. skelton: i yield to my colleague, my friend, the gentleman from massachusetts, two minutes, he is also the chairman of the subcommittee on federal workforce, postal service in the district of columbia on the committee, on over-- on the committee on

oversight and government reform, mr. lynch. the speaker pro tempore: how much time, sir? the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. mr. lynch: i would like to thank chairman towns and chairman skeleton for their leadership on this bill. the disabled military retiree act and i'm pleased to be a co-sponsor of the bill. there's a saying which is true, that we can never fully repay our men and women in uniform for what they have given to our nation. we can never fully repay them for their sacrifice and service, but i am happy to say that chairman skeleton is trying his best, along with chairman towns and the ranking member to do just that. as chairman of the subcommittee on the federal workforce, postal service and the d.c., i'm delighted that key civil service retirement provisions are also approved by this chamber, included in the measure being considered today.

federal employee and postlal -- federal employee and postal unions and others support these provisions. they will improve the federal employee retirement system by providing workers with retirement credit for unused sick leave. additionally, the civil service retirement annuity calculations problem for those employees who wish to phase down to part-time work at the end of their federal rears will also be rectified. the office of personnel management has long supported this fix as a way to retain the skill and knowledge -- skilled and knowledgeable mes nearing the end of their working years. the government as an employer must take the lead in addressing these workplace realities. this will will also provide retirement credit for hundreds of d.c. government employees who now serve as federal employees. i'd like to make it clear that these retirement provisions are paid for by treating federal workers in hawaii, alaska,

puerto rico, guam, the u.s. virgin islands the same as all other federal employees. i look forward to working with the respective delegates on this issue. i yield back the balance of my time. thank you, mr. chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from south carolina. mr. wilson: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. skelton: at this time i yield one minute to my friend my colleague, the gentleman from georgia, who is the vice chairman of the foreign affairs subcommittee on terrorism and nonproliferation and international trade, the gentleman, mr. scott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. scott: thank you very much. i want to thank chairman skeleton for giving me this opportunity to speak on behalf of this important and timely bill. i want to commend president obama and speaker pelosi for the leadership we have provided. madam speaker, i've been in congress, this is my eighth

year. for each of these eight years, i've worked hard on this bill of concurrent receipts. i can't think of a more important bill that we could offer at this time as we approach the fourth o-- of july, when the nation sell blates its independence and freedom. at the forefront of that the reason we're able to celebrate this independence and freedom is because of the soldier and our veterans. and we have long felt that it is not fair nor right if our soldiers are injured and disabled and if they have to leave the service, why should they have to choose between a retirement pay and disability? what we're saying with this measure is the right thing to do is to make sure our soldiers have both. i urge a unanimous vote for this. every member of this chamber should vote yes on this

important bill. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from south carolina has 5 3/4 minutes remaining. mr. wilson: as we conclude, i'd like to commend the chairman for h.r. 2990. this is a step forward, but i'm confident that all of us that we can work together for more. at this time, i yield the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields his time. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. skelton: madam speaker, i have no more requests for time on our side. i wish to thank the gentleman from south carolina, mr. wilson, for his excellent cooperation and hard work to make this bill a reality. we were most appreciative. again, i think -- i thank all of those who worked on this very complicated piece of legislation and kudos to the armed services staff on both sides of the aisle.

it's very important, very important for our veterans, particularly those disabled veterans that have had less than 20 years of service. treats them as they should be. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2990? those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. mr. will spon: i demand the -- mr. wilson: i demand the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: all those in favor of taking the vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing to be counted. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are

ordered. further proceedings will be postponed. mr. wilson: i move we adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. mr. wilson: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: those in favor of voting by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is @eueueueueueueueueueueueueueueuu