On Memorial Day, Americans remember the ultimate sacrifice so many of our veterans made to protect our great nation and secure our individual liberty. In addition to honoring those who gave their lives to preserve our freedom, it is a good time to remember all the men and women who have worn our country's uniform.

Most Americans are probably unaware that about a half-million veterans physically or psychologically scarred as results of their military service are forced to fund their own disability benefits. As a Member of Congress, I often hear from some of the 1,500 disabled retirees in New Hampshire who must forfeit thousands of dollars of their retirement pay each year because their service to this country left them with a disabling condition. This is an injustice I am working to correct.

Men and women who served in the U.S. armed forces for at least 20 years have earned full retirement pay. Likewise, veterans injured in military service to this nation have earned full disability compensation from the Veterans Administration. Nevertheless, for more than a century, service-disabled military retirees have been forced to surrender an equal portion of their retirement pay if they want to receive the disability compensation to which they are entitled. Moreover, military retirees are the only group of federal retirees who are forced to fund their own disability benefits.

During their many years in uniform, these service men and women never imagined they would be compelled to forfeit part or all of their retirement pay if they became disabled in the line of duty. It is wrong to force retirees who have already sacrificed so much for their country to bear the financial - as well as the physical and emotional - costs of their service-connected disabilities.

I am an original cosponsor of the Retired Pay Restoration Act (H.R. 303), which would eliminate this unfair offset between military retirement pay and disability pay. The bill would allow career military men and women injured while fighting for this country to receive just compensation for their injuries in addition to the military retirement pay they have earned. This bill has received strong bipartisan support with more than 300 cosponsors in the House. A companion bill in the Senate (S. 170) has also received strong support with more than 50 cosponsors.

I voted recently against the Fiscal Year 2002 Budget Resolution in part because it made no provisions for concurrent pay. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that Congress will enact the Retired Pay Restoration Act this year. It is high time we took steps in Congress to ensure that disabled veterans who qualify are no longer denied military retirement benefits they have earned simply because they are on disability. Although the special compensation mandated by the retirement pay restoration bill does not correct the long-standing inequity of the current offset, it does step closer to correcting this unfair policy once and for all.