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By Amy Lambiaso
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
amy.lambiaso@statehousenews.com
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, OCT. 11, 2005…..Gov. Mitt Romney on Tuesday threw his "full support" behind a legislative proposal to expand benefits offered to Massachusetts veterans and National Guard members, urging lawmakers to have it on his desk within a month.
Romney told members of the Veterans and Federal Affairs Committee he'd like to sign the so-called "Welcome Home Bill" on Nov. 11 - Veterans' Day as a symbolic tribute to the nearly 500,000 veterans currently living in Massachusetts. Since October 2001, roughly 18,000 Massachusetts residents have returned home from active duty, said Veterans' Services Secretary Thomas Kelley.
The governor said the bill, which would extend educational benefits for veterans, increase the daily stipend for those serving in the National Guard, and increase the death benefit and life insurance privileges of guardsmen and their families, represents the "ongoing need" of veterans that was greater than he anticipated when the US entered the war.
"I think we all recognize, we are - as a nation and as a state - we are asking more of the National Guard than has been asked over the last couple of decades," Romney said. "And it means that our response and support of the National Guard also has to also increase."
The governor appeared before the committee with Secretary Kelley and Adjutant General Oliver Mason, and applauded the dozens of veterans, widows and family members in the audience at the outset of today's hearing. After his testimony, Romney accepted the invitation of the committee and sat in the audience to listen to several of those widows testify.
The "Welcome Home Bill" was filed last week by the co-chairmen of the committee, Rep. Anthony Verga (D-Gloucester) and Sen. Stephen Brewer (D-Barre) as a comprehensive effort to provide additional benefits to veterans and entice more residents to sign-up for service in the National Guard. Romney today said the committee's bill, which is similar to a bill he filed in February, has his "full support."
In response, Verga told Romney: "I'd like to say this, it's great doing business with you."
The 20-section bill would increase the death benefit for guardsmen's families from $5,000 to $100,000, offer a one-time $1,000 bonus for any serviceman or woman called to duty in Iraq or Afghanistran since Sept. 11, 2001, and increase annuities for widows and families of veterans. The daily stipend for National Guard members would go up from $75 to $100, under the bill.
In addition, the legislation would provide tuition and fee waivers for all veterans and National Guard members to attend a public college of university in Massachusetts, and World War II, Korean and Vietnam veterans would receive a high school diploma of recognition if they could not complete school.
Romney also pledged to support "additional compensation" for the state's higher education system if the tuition and fee waivers would significantly damage its budget.
Mason said the educational benefits would help recruitment and retention efforts in the guard. The "stress" and "tempo" of ongoing operations overseas has contributed to retention problems, he said. Mason told the committee he was "thrilled" to be supporting the legislation.
Massachusetts is authorized to enlist 6,375 guardsmen into the Army and up to 2,300 into the Air Force, Mason said. The state currently enlists roughly 75 percent of that cap and would like to raise it to 85 percent, Romney said.
"Our men of women of the National Guard, Army and Air, have certainly towed the mark in everything we've asked them to do since 9-11," Mason said. "Our soldiers and airmen have stepped up and done everything we've asked them to do. And this bill, with all of its components, gives a very clear message of the support that we have by our leaders here in the state."
Lawmakers on the committee said today they intend to advance the proposal to meet the governor's timetable and have it on his desk by Veterans' Day. Verga called the legislation a "basis for building" with additional benefits and offerings that could be added on the House or Senate floor.
When asked by Sen. Brewer if he thought a military draft was in the future for eligible US residents, Romney immediately responded, "no." Later, he expanded that point to reporters and said the issue should not be discussed.
"We're not going to have a draft," he told reporters. "I think even raising that as a specter is unfortunate because it creates a wave of fear that is unrealistic and unnecessary. We, as a society, should fairly compensate those who serve in the military. And we have the means to do that as a society, and the will to do it, and there is no prospect of a draft."
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