FOR RELEASE:  July 16, 2002

EVANS’ SUPPORTED VETERANS MEASURES APPROVED BY COMMITTEE; ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY AND BATTLE OF THE BULGE VETERANS MEMORIAL BILLS NOW AWAIT
HOUSE PASSAGE 

Washington, DC – Congressman Lane Evans (D-IL), Ranking Democratic Member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, expressed strong approval of the passage today of two important veterans measures by the House Committee on Veterans Affairs,  Evans, an original cosponsor of both measures, called Committee approval, “a major step” to becoming law. The first bill, H.R. 4940, the Arlington National Cemetery Burial Eligibility Act, would extend Arlington National Cemetery’s hollowed ground well into the future.  H.R. 4940 provides for in ground burials of veterans whose military service rises to the highest standards or who perish while in the honorable performance of their military duty for the country.   

The Veterans Affairs Committee also reported H.R. 5055, a bill to authorize an appropriate memorial within the grounds of the Arlington National Cemetery to those veterans who bravely fought at the Battle of the Bulge to liberate Belgium during WWII.  Evans, who is also a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, described the Battle of the Bulge as one of the most important battles of United States military history.  “It is fitting that those who lost their lives in this remarkable battle be remembered by an appropriate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery,” Evans said.  

The next step for these important measures will be action by the House of Representatives.  House consideration has not yet been scheduled, but is expected soon.

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