Among the

casualties were Capt. Patrick McKenna of

Columbus, Ga.; 13 other American service members;

one American Foreign Service officer; and 11

foreign nationals.

The 3rd District

congressman testified before members of the

Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims

earlier this year, "I am here today to

support the families of 15 Americans who made the

ultimate sacrifice serving their country. Rather

than honor the memories of the Americans whose

lives were cut tragically short, our government

has focused its concern and resources on the

foreign victims of the incident."

Collins stated,

"The families of foreign victims of this

disaster received not only great attention and

responsiveness from our government, but also

received unprecedented compensation from the U.S.

Treasury. The American families, whose loved ones

sat side by side on the same humanitarian mission

with the foreign nationals, received no such

consideration or compensation."

According to the

Department of Defense, the American families were

denied compensation as a result of a 1950 Supreme

Court decision, which stated that no legal basis

exists for a member of the Armed Forces to

receive federal compensation for death or injury

that is "incident to service."

However, in a brief

prepared on this issue, the Department of Defense

has acknowledged that payment to foreign

nationals for losses incident to military service

would be contrary to the Supreme Court decision.

After the Judiciary

Committee approved the measure, Collins stated,

"I introduced HR 456 to insure that the

American families who were victims of the

shootdown receive the same benefits already

provided to the foreign families. I congratulate

the Judiciary Committee for acting in the

interests of equity and justice."

Collins continued,

"I believe it is unconscionable that our

American government, particularly the Department

of Defense, provided benefits to foreign

nationals that are not even offered to our own

U.S. service members who have made the ultimate

sacrifice for our country. Today we took another

step toward setting our priorities straight. I

look forward to bringing this legislation to the

House floor for final approval in the near

future."

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