Fossella refusing to suppport Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act, Schumer on board

Last Wednesday we reported about a bill in the House by Rep. Altmire that would prevent the Army from removing signing bonuses from troops who have sustained injuries and are unable to serve. Rep. Fossella as we noted had not signed onto the bill as a co-sponsor despite 219 other members in Congress doing so. It appeared that after 40 plus days of non action that Rep. Fossella is refusing to support the injured soldiers and their families. This week we see that Sen. Schumer is now stepping up and taking action to prohibit the Army from these indecent acts;

Several New York veterans have been asked to repay part of their signing bonuses after war injuries prevented them from completing their tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Sen. Charles Schumer said.

Hundreds of veterans nationwide may have been affected by what the Army characterizes as a mistake, said Schumer (D-N.Y.), who along with lawmakers including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has called for legislation to guarantee that signing bonuses won't be reduced.

Schumer said his office had received calls from several New York soldiers who complained that the Army had docked their bonuses.

As we noted earlier Rep. Vito Fossella still has not co-signed the bill in the House to prevent this and seemingly has made no comments or indications that he will support it.

49 the number of days that Rep. Vito Fossella has refused to sign on in support of the Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act. Call his office and tell him to support this bill.
Staten Island: (718) 356-8400
Brooklyn: (718) 630-5277

Why is Fossella refusing to co-sponsor the Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act

On October 10, 2007, Rep. Jason Altmire introduced a bill entitled the Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act, HR 3793. The summary of his bill explains its intent;

To amend title 37, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Defense to continue to pay to a member of the Armed Forces who is retired or separated from the Armed Forces due to a combat-related injury certain bonuses that the member was entitled to before the retirement or separation and would continue to be entitled to if the member was not retired or separated.

Currently the bill has 219 cosponsors, enough to pass the bill if it comes to the House floor for a vote. Missing from that list of supporters is Rep. Vito Fossella. For forty-two days now Vito Fossella has refused to cosponsor this and the only question his constituents can ask is why? What exactly is Vito Fossella opposing; This is what Vito Fossella doesn't want to change that 219 Congress members are trying to fix;

The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments. [via KDKA CBS]

We deserve someone in Congress who wil represent our interests. We deserve someone who supports our troops both in battle and after they return home, not someone like Fossella who sides with the government in trying to take away their money for getting injured.

update I edited a sentence in that third to last paragraph that was not reading well