Full Text of HR0622 95th General Assembly
HR0622 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HR0622 |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Legislation has been introduced in previous years | 3 |
| to provide free mailing privileges for letters and packages to | 4 |
| American troops overseas; two bills have been introduced into | 5 |
| the 109th Congress - H.R. 923 and H.R. 2874 (H.R. 2874 | 6 |
| supersedes H.R. 887, a very similar bill introduced by former | 7 |
| Representative Harold Ford on February 17, 2005); and
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| WHEREAS, H.R. 923, the Mailing Support to Troops Act of | 9 |
| 2005 (introduced on February 17,
2005 by Representative | 10 |
| Fossella, with 71 current cosponsors), in its original form | 11 |
| would
allow family members of service personnel to mail letters | 12 |
| and packages free of charge to
active members of the military | 13 |
| serving in Afghanistan or Iraq and to servicemen and
women | 14 |
| hospitalized as a result of disease or injury suffered in | 15 |
| Afghanistan or Iraq;
mailers would need only to write on the | 16 |
| envelope or box, "Free Matter for Member of the
Armed Forces of | 17 |
| the United States", or words to that effect specified by the | 18 |
| Postal
Service (USPS); mail matter that contains any | 19 |
| advertising would specifically be excluded; H.R.
923 would | 20 |
| authorize appropriations to reimburse USPS for its extra | 21 |
| expenses in
transporting such mail; H.R. 923 was referred to | 22 |
| the Committee on Government Reform; and
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| WHEREAS, H.R. 2874, the Supply Our Soldiers Act of 2005, |
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| was introduced by Representative
Ford on June 14, 2005, and had | 2 |
| 31 cosponsors; it would attempt to make it easier for
families | 3 |
| and charities to ship letters and packages to soldiers serving | 4 |
| in combat zones;
soldiers mobilizing for overseas duty would be | 5 |
| given an allotment of special stamps
(equivalent in value to | 6 |
| $150 per calendar quarter) that they can send to their loved | 7 |
| ones,
or to selected charities, to allow them to send letters | 8 |
| and packages without further postage
to the service members; | 9 |
| there would be a 10-pound limit on packages sent to | 10 |
| individuals;
the Postal Service would be reimbursed by the | 11 |
| Defense Department for providing this
service, and Section 3 of | 12 |
| the bill would authorize appropriations to the Defense
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| Department for this purpose and for any other expenses it | 14 |
| incurs; by putting individual
service men and women into the | 15 |
| authorization chain for the mail they receive, this bill
would | 16 |
| avoid the problem of subsidizing unsolicited mail to the | 17 |
| troops; additionally, by
capping the allotment per service | 18 |
| member, it would mitigate potential stress on the
military | 19 |
| postal system; H.R. 2874 was referred to the Committees on | 20 |
| Armed Services and
Government Reform; and
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| WHEREAS, On September 29, 2005, the House Committee on | 22 |
| Government Reform marked up
H.R. 923, and in doing so, accepted | 23 |
| an amendment in the nature of a substitute that
adopted the | 24 |
| core concept, as well as the title, of H.R. 2874; as amended | 25 |
| and ordered to
be reported by voice vote of the Committee, H.R. |
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| 923 requires the Department of
Defense, in consultation with | 2 |
| the Postal Service, to establish a one-year program under
which | 3 |
| qualified members of the armed services would receive a monthly | 4 |
| voucher that can
be redeemed, by their families or friends, to | 5 |
| pay the postal expenses of sending one letter
or parcel | 6 |
| (weighing up to 15 pounds) to the service member; the | 7 |
| Department of Defense
would reimburse the Postal Service for | 8 |
| the postal benefits provided by the vouchers;
Committee | 9 |
| Chairman Tom Davis said that the substitute language had the | 10 |
| approval of
Representative Fossella, the Committee on Armed | 11 |
| Services, and the Postal Service; the
Congressional Budget | 12 |
| Office estimated that nearly all of the about 145,000 American
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| service personnel who would be eligible for the postage benefit | 14 |
| would take advantage of
it, and assigned it a budget cost of | 15 |
| $30 million over fiscal years 2006 and 2007; and
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| WHEREAS, The language of H.R. 923 was added by the House | 17 |
| Armed Services Committee as
Sections 575, 576 ("Funding"), and | 18 |
| 577 ("Duration") to H.R. 5122, the Sonny
Montgomery National | 19 |
| Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007; H.R. 5122 was
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| passed by the House on May 11, 2006; on June 22, 2006, the | 21 |
| Senate substituted its own
defense authorization language for | 22 |
| the House language and passed H.R. 5122; the Senate
version | 23 |
| does not contain the postal benefits authorized in the House | 24 |
| bill, so whether the
language survives is now a matter to be | 25 |
| decided by the conference committee; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 2 |
| NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 3 |
| urge the Congress of the United States to pass legislation that | 4 |
| would allow not-for-profit organizations and family members to | 5 |
| mail without charge, twice per month, on the first and 15th day | 6 |
| of each month, letters and packages to members of the U.S. | 7 |
| Armed Services in combat zones; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 9 |
| delivered to the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, the | 10 |
| Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and each member | 11 |
| of the Illinois congressional delegation.
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