Committee Approves Measure To End Confederate Pension Fund

{Frankfort, Kentucky}...The Senate State and Local Government Committee voted 7-0 Wednesday in favor of a measure aimed at ending pensions for Confederate veterans nearly 150 years after the Civil War ended and more than a half century since anyone was eligible to receive the pension benefits. The House of Representatives passed the bill 98-0 on February 29th. The sponsor, Republican Representative Adam Koenig of Erlanger, assured senators that no money remains in the fund. The Senate committee chairman, Senator Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, says he was tempted to amend it, because it included the word "pensions," but it would have "sailed through the Senate," only to have died in the House, so he refrained.