DATE: Saturday, November 1, 1997            TAG: 9711010685

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   38 lines

HOUSE OKS RESTRICTIONS FOR FEDERAL CEMETERIES

Veterans sentenced to death or life imprisonment for capital crimes could not be buried or memorialized in federal cemeteries under a bill the House passed Friday.

The measure is Congress' response to the conviction of Timothy McVeigh, the Persian Gulf War veteran recently sentenced to death for bombing an Oklahoma City federal building and killing 168 people in 1995.

Lawmakers have said that since McVeigh was convicted of the worst act of terrorism on U.S. soil, it would be unseemly for him to be buried alongside the nation's military heroes, if he so desired.

In other action, the House approved legislation authorizing a 2.1 percent cost-of-living adjustment for 2.6 million veterans who receive disability payments, effective Dec. 1.

Both measures were passed by voice vote.

A Senate-passed version of the burial measure would have denied all veterans' benefits to former soldiers convicted of federal capital crimes.

The House amended the bill Friday to limit the denial of benefits to burial or memorialization in federally financed veterans' cemeteries. But the bill also would apply to veterans convicted of state capital crimes.

The changes are subject to Senate approval.

Current law denies burial benefits to veterans convicted of espionage, treason, sedition and other crimes, but not murder. As a result, McVeigh remains eligible for all veterans' benefits, including burial.

``The changes . . . will preserve the sanctity of our national cemeteries by denying burial to veterans who commit the most heinous criminal offenses,'' said Rep. Bob Stump, R-Ariz., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. KEYWORDS: FEDERAL CEMETERIES CAPITAL CRIME CONVICTION

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