Amendment No. 10 Offered by Mr. Kratovil

Floor Speech

Amendment No. 10 Offered by Mr. Kratovil -- (House of Representatives - June 25, 2009)

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. I thank the distinguished Chair of the Armed Services Committee. I rise in support of this en bloc amendment which includes the Castor-Bilirakis amendment, an amendment I introduced jointly with my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis).

Under the Castor-Bilirakis amendment, each member of the armed services serving in combat operations would be provided with a monthly postal benefit that they can transfer to their families or to a charitable organization so they can afford to send care packages and other communications while they are serving bravely overseas. Just think of the benefit to our brave men and women serving in combat operations, a benefit to their morale, a boost in the morale when they receive that letter from home, when they receive that all-important care package.

This effort has been ongoing for many years. It has been included in past Defense authorization bills. It passed the House last year only to be taken out in conference. It is time to get this provision enacted as a stand-alone bill, H.R. 707, the Homefront to Heroes Act. We have more than half of the House of Representatives as cosponsors. It is time to get this done finally.

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