Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009

DUNCAN HUNTER NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009 -- (House of Representatives - May 21, 2008)

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Mr. ALTMIRE. Mr. Chairman, I want to take this minute to highlight one particular provision of this bill that is very important to me.

Like many Americans last year, I was outraged to learn that the Pentagon was denying combat wounded veterans their enlistment bonuses, apparently in the belief that they had not fulfilled their obligations to the military because they had been wounded in service to this country. Well, like most people in this House, I think that if you have been injured in service to this country, you have done more than we ever could have asked you to do. You have borne every burden and you have fulfilled your obligation.

So I introduced the Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act to ensure that every combat wounded veteran gets the enlistment bonus that they deserve. That legislation has been included in its entirety in this legislation that we are passing today. I thank Chairman Skelton for including it in the bill, and I encourage my colleagues to support it to remedy this grave injustice.

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