Veterans’ Disability Pay: An Issue Awash in Politics

[stumpy]

Veterans’ Disability Pay: An Issue Awash in Politics

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By Tom Philpott
March 2004


In a deal reached last fall to end the ban on concurrent receipt of military retirement and disability compensation for some retirees, Congress and the White House also agreed to establish a bipartisan commission to review current disability programs and, if needed, recommend reforms.

Just as the partial concurrent receipt deal is controversial—dividing disabled retirees into haves and have-nots—the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission now taking shape also could be politically charged.

“This commission could perform a useful function,” said Rep. Ted Strickland (R-Ohio) of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. “I fear, though, that it will have negative consequences for veterans,” recommending limits on veterans’ “disability services and payments.”

Strickland then stirred the pot more, adding he is worried Republican-appointed commissioners could be “lap dogs” of an administration many veteran groups have grown to distrust.

Over many decades, both Republican and Democratic administrations opposed lifting the ban on concurrent receipt. But it was this administration that, as the issue gained traction on Capitol Hill, threatened a presidential veto of any bill that would ease the dollar-for-dollar reduction in military retired pay for retirees drawing disability compensation.

Last September, House Republicans showed veterans’ groups a proposal negotiated with the White House that would lift the ban on concurrent receipt entirely if they would agree to support legislation narrowing sharply the eligibility of future veterans for disability pay. Only disabilities tied to “performance of duty’’ would qualify for compensation, and an individual’s disability ratings, set at time of retirement, could not be raised. Veterans associations were outraged by the proposal, and it was withdrawn.

Finally, congressional leaders and the White House agreed to lift partially the ban on concurrent receipt immediately—effectively restoring lost retired pay to 225,000 to 250,000 military retirees—if the disabilities were tied to combat or combat training and were phased in over 10 years for those with disabilities rated at least 50 percent.

But the deal had to include a bipartisan commission to critique VA and Defense Department disability programs. The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission will attract intense interest. Two groups of disabled retirees, for example, are angry they were left out of the concurrent receipt deal. They include 300,000 to 400,000 career military retirees with disabilities either rated below 50 percent or unrelated to combat or combat training. These retirees continue to see their retired pay reduced by the amount they draw each month in disability compensation.

Also complaining of no raise in benefits are disabled retirees forced by injuries or illness to leave service short of 20 years. Partial concurrent receipt, they argue, only widens the disparity in lifetime compensation between those fortunate enough to serve full careers and those forced to accept disability retirement, some because of war wounds.

On the other hand, some cost-conscious critics could argue current disability programs are too inclusive, that “service connected” should mean only performance-related disabilities rather than any illness diagnosed or injury sustained while in the service, as the current law directs.

The commission will have 13 members. The Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader will appoint two members apiece, as will the Speaker of the House and the House Minority Leader. The president will make the remaining five appointments. A majority of commissioners must have received the Silver Star or a higher combat decoration.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) was the first to announce his picks: Former Nevada Governor Mike O’Callaghan, a tri-service veteran who earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart during the Korean War, and Rick Surratt, a veteran wounded in combat in Vietnam who is today the deputy legislative director of the Disabled American Veterans.

A final report is due to Congress and the White House 15 months after the commission’s first meeting.

Tom Philpott is a freelance writer and syndicated news columnist. His column, "Military Update," appears in 48 daily newspapers throughout the United States and overseas.

[neumaiek]

Nice but we have all seen the animosity between the beaurocrats and the veterans. The politics of the veterans service organizations as well as the apathy of veterans themselves have traditionally served up a plan of failure in the arena of veterans benefits. In fighting, destructive personalities, and cowardly silence has killed the local veterans ability to gain any new benefits or restore those taken from them in the name of fiscal austerity. We must all take some degree of personal accountability for the failures to get the Veterans Benefits that we all agree have been earned.

I would like to see an article updating the commission closer to today's date rahter then one a year ago that probably screwed everyone of us during the late night congressional votes or tacked on to an obscure bill as an amendment that would take a cratering charge to uncover.

Some thoughts:
1. You are either a part of the problem or a part of the solution.
2. Lead or get out of the way.
3. Don't vote? Then you have given up your right to complain.
4. Squeeky wheel gets the grease.
5. Sound off like ya gotta' pair!
6. Are you just a voice in the crowd OR are you the voice OF the crowd.

[stumpy]

This Commission will have its first meeting next month. I wonder what impact this Commission will have on the benefits that Veterans are now receiving and how future Vets will be taken care of.

[Federal Register: April 21, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 76)]
[Notices]
[Page 20803-20804]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21ap05-108]

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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS


Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission; Notice of Meeting

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) gives notice under Public
Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that the Veterans'
Disability Benefits Commission has scheduled a meeting on May 9 and 10,
2005, at Sofitel Lafayette Square Hotel, 806 15th Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20005. The meeting will convene at 8 a.m. and conclude
at 5 p.m each day and is open to the public.
The purpose of the Commission is to carry out a study of the
benefits under the laws of the United States that are provided to
compensate and assist veterans and their survivors for disabilities and
deaths attributable to military service. The Commission will receive
briefings intended to provide an understanding of programs managed by
the Department of Veterans Affairs and other Federal departments and
agencies for disabled veterans and their survivors. The Commission will
also take testimony from representatives of interested stakeholders and
the public concerning issues relating to these benefits that should be
addressed by the Commission. Stakeholder groups include veterans'
service organizations and military associations.
The agenda for May 9 includes an introduction of Commission
members, a description and the legislative history of VA's disability
compensation program, Commission responsibilities, ethics requirements,
other federal disability and survivor programs, and a review of
literature concerned with disability issues. Agenda items for May 10
include testimony by panels comprised of representatives from veterans'
service organizations and military associations.
Interested persons may attend and present oral statements to the
Commission. Interested parties can provide written comments for review
by the Commission in advance of the meeting to Mr. Ray Wilburn, Acting Executive Director, Program
Evaluation Service (008B2), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20420. Individuals who wish to attend the
meeting should contact Mr. Wilburn at (202) 273-7509 or by e-mail at
vetscommission@va.gov.

[neumaiek]

Vets coming into the office are expressing increasing concern over the eventual outcome or goal of the commission. OK so they are all in agreement that there is a secondary and instated agenda to take away as many benefits as possible from all Vets.

Current fear is that only "Combat" veterans or those who received disabilities as the result of direct combat will be retained for compensation and admittance to VA hospitals.

Justified or not the track record of Congress is not giving anyone a warma nd fuzzy. Just more depression and disgust.

Refer to previous postings for solutions to these and all other problems.

[stumpy]

I am not overly concerned about this Commission at this point. The Federal Government has many Commissions that are looking at things like Income tax, 911 ect...ect. These Commissions provide their report to the agency concerned and also to Congress. From what I understand, the majority of recommendations are DEAD on arrival. The Commission has no power to change anything and if changes are made the Congress has to agree with those changes. It will be interesting to see what their recommendations are.

[rainvet]

I agree with you Stump and I don't believe everything things someone said . The Gov't want to be hear and that what alots of what we see and hear is ;
just loose air blowing in the wind.GOD Bless all Vets, past,present,and future's

[neumaiek]

True, commissions are often toothless. But, considering the lack of veteran's to defend themselves in the face of cost cutting and program changes of the past it is prudent to view these attempts to review VA benefits with great care. It seems that with the grid-lock of congress nothing gets done. However, they do seem to agree and pass quickly (and often in the dead of night) legislation that cuts veterans benefits.

I just am very disappointed with the many so called Veterans groups and their inability to represent the veterans. Not to mention the apathy of the general veterans community.

[ssgcastillo]

its true we veterans,are not united in enough to make any impact on anyone up on the hill.every local organizations are not willing to dicuss veterans affairs. so we are not consdered any threat to any politicos.

[TinCanMan]

The interest in veterans issues will continue to shrink for a variety of reasons. The military forces continue to shrink. DoD is leveraging technology, fewer human resources are required. This will eventually reduce the percentage of vets in the population and the interest in veterans issues.

We also no longer have the draft. The draft permitted the military to enlist many privileged individuals. For better or worse, these folks acquired the military experience. Most got out but some later became elected officials or persons of influence. Most of these folks were sympathetic to veterans causes. We don't have that any more. Precious few of our legislators are vets. It will continue to get worse as the military shrinks.

[rainvet]

neumaiek, stumpy, ssgcastillo, TinCanMan ; I enjoyed your post and I agree that with the new Military of the Future ; that will causes for the USA to be less, and less of fighting men and Women to be used for ground forces. We are moving into the age of air power to do our fighting for us. GOD Bless and heal our your land of the great USA AND Its American peoples. GOD Bless Us!

[neumaiek]

The issues we are dealing with are completely dissassociated with the size or methods used to procure soldiers.

It shows how easily veterans lose focus on getting the basic benefits we all earned from erroding. Its like dealing with a group of ADD affected kids. Look here people if you don't start acting as a political entity that is solid on its goals then you are going to lose it ALL! That's what it is about. Issues like being able to smoke inside your organizations club houses while drinking beer is insane! Look at what civilians have to pay every month for health care coverage. Look at the cost of health care in itself. Prescription costs! When all our benefits are gone it will be to late to think you can get it back.

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE PEOPLE!!! Don't you see we are losing the battle and the war?

Time to STAND IN THE DOOR an dput your boots in the breeze!

[stumpy]

I'm not really sure what I'm suppose to be concerned about. I have not seen any Legislation that is being proposed to take away any benefits. The Commission won't have any type of recommendation for over a year...and then what they say is only a recommendation. Once I see the cards on the table and if I don't like what I see....then and only then, will I get on my band wagon. Life is just to darn short to worry about...WHAT IFs.

[neumaiek]

The last two weeks our office has been swamped with "concerned" Vets because of information passed via their Veteran Organizations, Chamber of Commerce and local newspaper printings. I'm just happy to see them follow issues that really concern them.

Just have another ~10,000 vets to find in the county and see how they are doing!

[Billw018]

You can find the following information on the commission at these two web sites.
http://www.veteransadvantage.com/new...eginsWork.html
http://news.corporate.findlaw.com/pr...005145107.html

Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission

Interested persons may attend and present oral statements to the
Commission. Interested parties can provide written comments for review
by the Commission in advance of the meeting to Mr. Ray Wilburn, Acting Executive Director, Program Evaluation Service (008B2), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20420. Individuals who wish to attend the
meeting should contact Mr. Wilburn at (202) 273-7509 or by e-mail at
vetscommission@va.gov.

You can also view the commission charter at the following web site:
http://www1.va.gov/advisory/page.cfm?pg=43

As previously said, you can’t live your life worrying about “what ifs”. However, you can let congress and the commission know your views about the “ifs”.

It is time for veterans to be proactive with protecting our benefits. You can’t wait until congress is voting on legislation to voice you objections.

[stumpy]

Originally Posted by Billw018

It is time for veterans to be proactive with protecting our benefits. You can’t wait until congress is voting on legislation to voice you objections.

I'm not sure how I can be proactive at the moment with the exception of watching what the commission is doing. After the commission completes its study, there will be a time period for public comment. This is the appropriate time to express any concerns a Veteran may have. I think Veterans are shooting themselves in the foot if they start raising cain with this Commission before they have made any recommendations. Also we must remember that whatever this commission decides is only a recommendation and Congressional approval will be required to implement any suggested changes. Historically many Government Commissions make recommendations and nothing ever becomes of those recommendations. At this time I will not get bent out of shape about this Commissions work, however I will keep an eye on their progress and official recommendations.

[DonaldN]

The Retired Enlisted Association (TREA)

For new information about Veteran issues in Congress subscrib to the:

The Retired Enlisted Association (TREA)
Washington Office
909 N. Washington Street, Suite 301
Alexandria, VA. 22314-1555
(703) 684-1981
www.trea.org


FY 2006 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

The House completed its action on the FY 2006 NDAA on May 25th with
a vote of 390-39. The House version includes provisions to:

. Eliminate the 10 year phase-in of concurrent receipt for
those rated by the VA as individually unemployable (IU) effective
October 1, 2009.
. Grey area retirees will be provided the same benefit as
other military retires for Space-A travel.

The Senate will not take up the FY 2006 NDAA until after the
Memorial Day recess. Congress will not be back in session until
June 6th. The Senate will consider three important amendments:

. Sen. Nelson of Florida will introduce an amendment to
eliminate the offset between the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) and
Dependency Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and will move the effective
date of the paid up SBP premium to October 1, 2005.
. Sen. Graham of South Carolina will introduce an amendment to
expand TRICARE Select to all members of the reserve component to
include those who are not activated.
. Sen. Reid, the Minority Leader from Nevada will introduce an
amendment to eliminate the 10 year phase-in of concurrent receipt
for those rated by the Department of Veterans Affairs as
individually unemployable (IU) effective January 1, 2005 (same date
as recommended by the Department of Defense).

TREA supports all three of these amendments - NOW is the time to
contact your Senators and urge to support these important amendments.

FY 2006 Military Quality of Life/Veterans' Affairs Appropriations

On May 26th, the House voted 425-1 to accept the new Military
Quality of Life/VA Appropriations bill. This appropriations bill
includes funding for Defense and Veterans Healthcare. Medical
services for the Department of Veterans' Affairs are funded at
$20,995,141,000, which is a $1 billion increase over the President's
FY 2006 Budget request. The committee has once again rejected
increases in co-payments for category 7 and 8 non-service connected
veterans who are enrolled in the VA healthcare system. Defense
health programs were funded at $19,983,912,000.
---

[Billw018]

Originally Posted by stumpy

I'm not sure how I can be proactive at the moment with the exception of watching what the commission is doing. After the commission completes its study, there will be a time period for public comment. This is the appropriate time to express any concerns a Veteran may have. I think Veterans are shooting themselves in the foot if they start raising cain with this Commission before they have made any recommendations. Also we must remember that whatever this commission decides is only a recommendation and Congressional approval will be required to implement any suggested changes. Historically many Government Commissions make recommendations and nothing ever becomes of those recommendations. At this time I will not get bent out of shape about this Commissions work, however I will keep an eye on their progress and official recommendations.

I don’t know of anyone who is “bent out of shape” with the commission at this point. You can write the commission with your views, concerns, suggested new benefits or improvements without “raising cain”. No one has suggested that all vets write the commission with negative/nasty letters, I think this would be “shooting themselves in the foot” as you have said.

The commission is there to evaluate and assess benefits under current law. I think the commission should know veterans’ concerns or views prior to issuing their recommendations to congress. I think these concerns, suggestions and views should be part of the evaluation process, especially when the commission will be recommending the standard or standards for assessing whether a veteran receives disability compensation.

As you said, many commissions make recommendations and nothing is ever implemented or approved, however this works both ways.

[stumpy]

The Va has been very good to me. Everything that I have claimed I have been approved for. I for one have no problems with the VA. When the Commission releases its initial report and if I see something I don't like or I can suggest an improvement; I will make my comment at that time.

Their are several Veterans sites on the WWW that are advocating a mass mailing to the commission about perceived cuts in VA benefits. Since the Commission has not said one word about cutting benefits I have to wonder what all the commotion is about and this tactic may backfire on us.

[Billw018]

I am glad the VA has been good to you! However, that doesn’t mean there are no problems with the VA. It would be great if everyone could have had your experiences but that is just not the case. I retired after 25 years military service with 0% disability and I am happy with that. I personally have never used the VA but I have friends who have/do.

I am not aware of the veterans’ web sites you are talking about advocating mass mailing. I just think veterans need to get more involved with things that affect them and their fellow veterans.

Why do you think we have a commission evaluating and assessing the standards that determine compensation for veterans’ disabilities? Rep. Buyer has made his "core constituency" vision well known.

We can perceive or not perceive anything we want but I don’t think we should sit around with our heads stuck in the ground while our benefits are being evaluated and assessed. This is just my opinion. Like you, everyone has a right to their opinion.

[stumpy]

Originally Posted by Billw018

Why do you think we have a commission evaluating and assessing the standards that determine compensation for veterans’ disabilities? Rep. Buyer has made his "core constituency" vision well known.

Rep Buyer has nothing to do with this Commission. When the Concurrent receipt Law was passed the compromised position was that a commission would be formed to study of Veterans Benefits.