Pension bill for Filipino WWII vets advances
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WASHINGTON — Legislation to provide millions of dollars in new pension benefits to Filipino veterans of World War II cleared a key Senate hurdle Tuesday, but the White House and some Republicans said the money would be better spent on U.S. soldiers fighting the war on terrorism.
Despite the controversy, the Senate voted 94 to 0 to advance the bill to a final vote sometime this week. Democrats pushing the legislation want to give 18,000 Filipino veterans of that war who live abroad a roughly $300-a-month pension.
The White House and Republican opponents of the bill pointed out that such a pension would be in addition to one these veterans already get from their own government.
But no lawmaker wants to be accused of opposing federal aid to veterans. Senators on both sides bandied that accusation and sparred over which veterans are most deserving of U.S. aid at this time in history.
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