US Republican lawmakers give overwhelming support to Filvets' bill

US Rep. Lynn Woolsey (3rd L) of the RP-US Friendship Caucus joins San Francisco Consul and WWII veterans after expressing her support for the Filipino veterans bill in the US Congress File photo: GMANews.TVMANILA, Philippines - The required number of American legislators to pass the much awaited Filipino Veterans Equity Act in the US Congress has been achieved, according to Philippine House Speaker Prospero Nograles.

In a text message on Thursday, Nograles said that he was informed by a Philippine official based in the US that there are 74 Republican legislators supporting the bill.

"As of this PM (the) total count of Republican supporters of the bill has reached 74 which is way beyond 60 required number," Nograles citing the information given to him.

According to Nograles, US Rep. Bob Filner (D-San Diego, CA), chair of the US House Veterans Affairs Committee, will convince Speaker Nancy Pelosi to calendar the bill for plenary approval.

"Cong Filner is expected to convince Speaker Pelosi to bring already to the floor the bill for voting. At the earliest it could be tomorrow already," Nograles added.

Nograles said he is confident that US legislators will approve the bill that have been long waited by Filipino veterans who fought side by side with US soldiers during the war.

S. 1316 provides for a flat rate of $3,600 annual non-service disability pension for single Filipino veterans living in the Philippines; $4,500 annually for married veterans; and $2,400 annually for surviving spouses.

While H.R. 760 permits non-U.S. citizen Filipino veterans of World War II residing outside of the United States to be eligible for a pension and death pension paid at a flat rate annually at $8,400 if married, $6,000 if not married and $3,600 for low-income widow.

Both versions will restore full veterans’ status to Filipino veterans of World War II which had been taken away under the Rescission Acts of 1946. This ends a long-standing injustice and fulfills the U.S.’s promises to those who served during World War II.

The staff of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) suggested to the supporters of the Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2007, that the House can invoke "suspension of rules" if they can get at least 60 Republican Congressmen to support the bill during a vote on the House floor.

Eric Lachica, executive director of the Arlington, Virginia-based American Coalition for Filipino Veterans (ACFV), said the said number of Republican votes are needed to ""reach the crucial number of 290 or 2/3 votes of the 435 [members of Congress] to win the floor vote."

Under the 'suspension of rules,' the bill is 'debatable for 40 minutes, one half of the time in favor of the proposition and one-half in opposition.'

The bill is passed 'only by affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being present, this procedure is usually used for expedited consideration of relatively noncontroversial public measures.' -Fidel Jimenez, GMANews.TV

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