Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
July 22, 1999 -- Page: S9084

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senator Edwards of North Carolina to offer legislation very important to those members of our Armed Forces who are deployed in defense of our nation's interests around the world. Our bill will provide for federal tax exemption to those serving in hostile areas not officially designated as combat zones. The current restrictions on this exemption to formally designated combat zones--which do not include many of our peacekeepers who face daily threats to their lives--are a half-century old relic of the Korean War that do not address the realities of the military missions in our post-cold-war world.

Today there are two combat zones as designated by the President in Executive Orders. One is in the Middle East, including the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Gulf of Aden, as well as Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. This area has been a combat zone since January 1991. The other combat zone is the Kosovo Area of Operations including the Federal Republic of Yugoslvia (Serbia/Montenegro), Albania, the Adriatic Sea, and the Ionian Sea. This combat zone has been in effect since March 1999. Members serving in those areas get a tax exemption.

Yet, today there are 17 areas considered so dangerous that our troops there get a special allowance known as Imminent Danger Pay that do not receive the same tax relief that those in a designated combat zone get. In fact, combat zone tax provisions did not apply to our troops in Somalia, where we lost 18 Rangers in one bloody gunfight.

Our bill argues, in effect, that if a location is dangerous enough to earn the allowance reserved for imminent danger, then it's dangerous enough to get favorable tax treatment, too. This would include troops that are in some of the most dangerous parts of the world, including Algeria, Burundi, Pakistan, Sudan, and Yemen.

When our troops are deployed in harm's way anywhere, there should not be a discrepancy in tax benefits from one location to another. This is an administrative distinction that matters little to the brave young Americans who are out there defending us. These determinations are made after careful study by the Secretary of Defense, based on the inherent dangers in a foreign area.

The Senate expressed its support for addressing this inequity in a resolution we passed as part of the FY2000 Defense Authorization Bill. Not only is this the right and fair thing to do, but during these times of increased deployments and personnel shortages, it is in our national interest to continue to show our dedicated service members that we appreciate their sacrifice and commitment.

I commend the Senator from North Carolina for his leadership on this issue and urge other Senators to join us in this effort.