Pelosi Hails House Passage of Legislation to Reduce the Military Families Tax

Pelosi Hails House Passage of Legislation to Reduce the Military Families Tax

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Contact:Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. â€" Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today on legislation approved by the House this afternoon that makes further progress in ending the Military Families Tax, which unfairly penalizes surviving spouses of service members who have died as a result of service-connected conditions.

"The New Direction Congress is the guardian of a promise President Lincoln made to our nation’s veterans 144 years ago when he pledged, ‘to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan…’

"Today, the House achieved another victory for veterans and their families by making further progress in ending the Military Families Tax, which unfairly penalizes 55,000 survivors of those who have died as a result of wounds suffered in service to our nation. This legislation was a priority for the veterans service organizations I recently met with at a roundtable discussion, and I am pleased the House could deliver on it so quickly.

"Congress is also committed to providing the timely health care and benefits that our veterans were promised and that they deserve, which is why we provided a larger increase for veterans’ health care in the past two years than in the previous 12 years combinedâ€"including the largest single increase for veterans’ health care in the history of the VA. We also enacted the new GI Bill to provide our brave men and women serving in uniform a full, four-year college scholarship.

"On the battlefield, the military pledges to never leave a soldier behind. In the New Direction Congress, we pledge to never leave a veteran behind. We will continue to honor President Lincoln’s promise to care for America’s veterans and their families."