A Posthumous Concern, Another kind of Racism (tags)
VETERANS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES in the Far East (Usaffe) here at home and in America thought that, at long last, the US Congress was poised to pass legislation addressing their generations-old claim for benefits. But as the American economy unraveled, politicians began sniping at the bills (pending before the US Congress) aimed at increasing the benefits of Filipino veterans. Filipino-American veterans groups and lobbyists began to fear that the promise to bring the bill to a vote in the US House of Representatives would fall by the wayside. No one, of course, predicted that the US Congress would be plunged into a crisis atmosphere by US President George W. Bush’s proposed bailout, which the US Senate and House Democrats have agreed to, but whose approval has been delayed and, possibly, foiled by a group of House Republicans anxious they will be defeated in November if they vote for a bailout.