The WWII US Merchant Mariners -- who had the highest fatality rate of any unit in WW2 and were legally declared WW2 veterans -- have never received a dime of promised veterans’ benefits. Those who are still alive are in their waning years; many are living in poverty. [For more info, go to http://usmm.org/ww2.html]

To belatedly honor their service and in lieu of 70 years of missed benefits, HR-563 would grant the few thousand surviving Merchant Marine veterans a one-time payment of $25,000. Lesiglators should rise above petty party politicking and move this through committee and to a floor vote NOW.