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FILNER-BUYER FEUD HEATS UP AND SHIFTS TO
FILIPINO
VETERANS' PAY -- Filner: "If he [Buyer] were
fighting for
veterans as much as he's fighting me, we'd all
be better off."
Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN)
Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA)
This battle is getting interesting.
Rep. Filner, as House Vets' Chair, has a
demonstrably pro-veteran agenda.
Rep. Buyer, the former Chair, has an attitude
problem. Buyer has been reported to say: "Filner is just
keeping MY Chair warm for me."
For more information on Rep. Bob Filner, use
the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=filner&op=and
For more information on Rep. Steve Buyer, use
the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=buyer&op=and
For more information on Filipino equity
legislation, use
the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=filipino&op=and
Story here...
http://www.military.com/
features/0,15240,145397,00.html
Story below:
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Filner-Buyer Feud Shifts to Vet Pay
Filner-Buyer Feud Deepens Over Filipino Pensions
by Tom Philpott
Democrat Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee,
and Republican Steve Buyer, ranking Republican and former chairman, have
been feuding since the 110th Congress convened in January with Democrats
taking control.
Their feud took on new intensity in July over an issue that pits
pensions for Filipino veterans who fought with Americans in World War II
against additional pension dollars for a group of elderly American
wartime veterans made homebound by non-service connected disabilities.
Buyer accuses Filner of strong-arming through committee a bill (HR 760)
with language to give overly-generous service pensions to Filipino
veterans of World War II and paying for those pensions by, in effect,
neutralizing an appeals court ruling that made a special monthly pension
available to 20,000 more elderly and housebound U.S. veterans.
Also, Buyer charges that Filner abused his authority as chairman to
block committee consideration of Republican late-hour amendments that
would have safeguarded the special monthly pensions.
Filner doesn’t dispute that the Filipino pensions are slated to be
funded with dollars earmarked to raise compensation for elderly disabled
U.S veterans with non-service-connected. But he argues that the extra
pension dollars resulted from an appeals court finding a “loophole” in
the law. Also, Filner said he regards as a higher priority pensions to
Filipino veterans who fought with Gen. Douglas MacArthur more than 60
years ago and shouldn’t have to wait any longer to be compensated for
that service.
As to the charge that he acted undemocratically by refusing to consider
Republican amendments before the committee voted on HR 760, Filner said
he was incited to use hardball tactics during the bill’s markup when
Republicans themselves ignored committee tradition and withhold their
amendments from Democratic scrutiny until a final vote was to start.
A tough floor fight over the bill is expected in September.
“The thing that upsets me the most in regards to Mr. Filner is that he
has no respect for other people’s views or opinions. He is intolerant
and he never follows the rules,” said Buyer in a phone interview.
Filner responded, “If he were fighting for veterans as much as he’s
fighting me, we’d all be better off.” Adding, “He won’t admit I’m the
chairman…He’s determined to keep me, personally, from having legislative
victories. And he’s just hurting veterans, as far as I can see.”
Evidence that personalities fuel much of current dispute over Filipino
veterans might be found in how the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
tackled the issue. In June it approved an identical Filipino veterans'
provision using an identical funding source. Sen. Daniel Akaka
(D-Hawaii), the committee chairman, led the effort and former committee
chairman Larry Craig (R-Idaho) chose not to criticize or even mention
the Filipino provision in his own press release on the bill (S 1315).
Buyer and Filner, however, appear to seek out opportunities to poke the
other in the political eye. Both came to Congress in the class of 1992.
Otherwise, Buyer said, their backgrounds couldn’t be more different.
Buyer, from Indiana, is a Citadel graduate, a lawyer and an Army Reserve
colonel – someone, he says of himself, who “has served his nation for 27
years of war and peace. You walk into my office and immediately say, ‘I
can tell this is a military guy.’ ”
Filner, a native of New York City claims in his official biography to
have “spent several months in a southern jail as a ‘Freedom Rider’ in
the Civil Rights movement.” He settled in San Diego and taught at a
local university before entering politics.
“You go into his office and there’s a huge picture of him being
arrested,” Buyer said. “He prides himself on having been a Vietnam War
protester.” That difference in background explains the “volatility” of
their relationship, Buyer said, “Because you’ve got one who has been
schooled in honor and in trust and all the virtues and values that go
with military bearing. And you put that with someone who is a public
activist, anti-institution and doesn’t give a damn about the rules and
you’re going to have conflict.”
Last July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims overturned a
Department of Veterans Affairs decision that had denied Special Monthly
Pension (SMP) to Robert A. Hartness, an 86-year-old World War II veteran
now legally blind from age-related macular degeneration. VA had argued
that to qualify for SMP at the housebound rate, an elderly wartime
veteran has to have at least one condition rated 100-percent disabling.
Hartness, who conceded he still cuts his own lawn, was rated 70-percent
disabled.
VA said the court’s ruling would make 20,000 more veterans eligible for
higher SMP at a cost of $965 million over 10 years. Filner, following
Akaka’s lead, amended HR 760 to support VA’s original position on SMP
eligibility, which freed up money to help 18,000 aging Filipino
veterans.
Those living in the United States would receive the same old-age pension
available to U.S. veterans, which is linked to level of income. Those in
the Philippines, however, would receive $8400 a year if married, $6000
if single and surviving spouses would get $3600 -- regardless of income.
Buyer said these payments are too high, the “equivalent of over
$100,000” for a Filipino family living in the Philippines.
Filner shrugged off the criticism, noting Filipino veterans haven’t
received any compensation for 60 years and most don’t have long to live.
It is “no accident” that he has pushed to help Filipino veterans for 15
years, Filner said. Fifteen percent of his constituents are Filipino
Americans, the highest concentration of any district outside of Hawaii,
Akaka’s state.
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Larry Scott --
