Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008

HEROES EARNINGS ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF TAX ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - May 20, 2008)

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

Mr. Speaker, I joined up in the military during the Vietnam conflict, and at that time, and still today, we don't have human resource departments in the U.S. military. You tend, as a young division officer, to take care of the challenges that your young men and women have, and their families yourself, whether it's an eviction notice or whether it's a health issue, or whether it is, as thousands at that time and through the eighties used to have to go out and get their food stamps in order to continue their quality of life, you took care of them.

This bill takes a significant step, I believe. As Mr. Rangel insinuated, it's a small step, but it is a significant step. I say that because the most moving picture I have ever seen in the Pentagon is one that is across from the Secretary of Defense's office. It's of a young servicemember kneeling in church and alongside of him is his wife and a young child. And under it is this great saying from the Bible, where God turns to Isaiah and says, ``Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?'' and Isaiah replies, ``Here am I. Send me.''

We send them, and we need to welcome them when they come back. The commissary bags also used to have on them, ``The hardest job in the military is a military spouse.'' What this bill does is takes care of the cost of life. But it also is significant that it takes care of the cost of loss of life. Because what distinguishes this profession from anyone else's is that it has the dignity of danger about it, where the loss of life may occur.

So in this bill it ensures if an employer still wants to, even after a death of a servicemember, contribute to his retirement plan, he can. It also then permits the spouse, having lost a servicemember, can actually then place this military gratuity benefit into an IRA without any penalty. It does much for our servicemembers; that lets them take combat pay, for example, and place it towards earned income so that they can move into the middle class as an earned income tax credit.

In my mind, this is an excellent bill that has come out, and it has bipartisan agreement. But the reason I think this is so important today is that our servicemembers returning from overseas, 19 percent of them have post-traumatic stress disorder, 33 percent of them have a mental challenge, from depression to anxiety.

This war is different. In World War II, the average soldier went into battle 182 days. He had time to rest in between major battles to get his nerves back in shape. Our soldiers in Iraq go

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outside the wire every day for 15 straight months into a combat-like situation. They are a strong generation, but this war is different.

So therefore as we keep that in mind for those who say, Here am I, send me, we should also keep in mind that what we are doing here is when the great warriors Jonathan and David departed for the last time in the Bible, Jonathan turned to David and said, Tomorrow there shall be a new moon and thou shall be missed because thy seat shall be empty.

This seat should never be empty. It should be filled with a legacy of what they have done for this Nation. This bill, in my mind, takes a step, a small but significant step to remembering that these men and women who have served this Nation should continue to be welcomed home by us with a legacy of thanks that this bill does.

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