Veterans of Foreign Wars Federal Charter Amendment

Floor Speech

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Mr. MILLER of Florida. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for yielding the time. I also want to thank Chairman Goodlatte and the ranking member for speeding this through the Judiciary Committee.

I rise in support of this piece of legislation, which is a simple bill, Mr. Speaker, designated to update the congressional charter of the VFW to reflect today's active duty and veteran population by changing, as we have already heard, the word ``men'' to ``veterans'' and the word ``widows'' to ``surviving spouses.''

Women veterans have in fact been eligible as members of the VFW since 1978, but like many things, it sometimes takes a little time for paperwork to catch up. I think VFW Commander in Chief John Stroud said it best in describing why they have requested this change:

We are not changing our congressional charter because it's politically correct. We're changing it because being an eligible veteran is what's important to our great organization, not one's gender, and changing ``widows'' to ``surviving spouses'' is more representative of today's military.

Women do in fact comprise over 16 percent of today's military force, and obviously, that means that they are making up an ever-increasing share of America's 22 million veterans as they return to civilian life.

I ask my colleagues to join Chairman Goodlatte, Ms. Lofgren, and myself in supporting H.R. 5441.

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