Jackie Speier

“ I am simply asking that we, as a nation, honor the promise we made to the brave souls who put their very lives on the line for the sake of America and all it stands for. Let us show our gratitude to the few remaining Filipino World War II veterans and restore the benefits due them and promised to them when they, like all of us here, raised their right hands and swore: I do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America. ”

“ Faced with massive war debts, Congress excluded a class of veteran that had no voice and no vote. Since then, piecemeal attempts have been made to rectify the inequities of The Rescission Acts, but time is clearly working against us.
Today, the few Filipino veterans who are still living are in their eighties. Their number is estimated to be at or around 20,000, with 7,000 living in the United States. Many of those veterans reside in my district, which boasts the largest number of Filipino Americans in the nation. ”

“ Without their support, some say, American forces likely would have been outmanned and outgunned at many of the decisive battles in the Pacific Theater during World War II. But because of an unfair designation set into law, our government treats one class of Filipino veteran differently than another. ”