[Vision2020] House Dems Find Money for Disability Retirees

[Tom Hansen]

This is going to help many, MANY disably retired veterans, who otherwise
would be forced to subsist on table scraps.

Two words for our caring House democrats . . .

Thank you.

What will prove interesting is . . . who votes against HR 2990.

Courtesy of the Army Times at:

http://tinyurl.com/l5apoh

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House Dems find money for disability retirees

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jun 24, 2009 13:39:06 EDT

One week after House Democrats said they did not have the money to pay for
long-promised increases in pay for disabled retirees, they unveiled a
major military and federal civilian pay package that does even more.

The source of money for the new bill, HR 2990, is an obscure fund to pay
for research into locating deepwater oil and natural gas resources.

“Congress has been working to find a way to permanently eliminate the
disabled veterans’ tax for many years, but fixing this entitlement program
is an immensely difficult task,” said Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of
the House Armed Services Committee and chief sponsor of the bill.

Skelton said the legislation does not go as far as he had hoped, but it
“moves us closer to fulfilling the President’s pledge to give disabled
veterans full access to the benefits they deserve.”

It was not immediately clear how much money lawmakers got by tapping into
the oil and gas development fund. The money source was not available last
week when the House Armed Services Committee was approving its version of
the 2010 defense authorization bill, but it is available if lawmakers are
writing a separate bill.

Congressional sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they
expect the new legislation will be merged with the defense policy bill
into a single measure at some point.

The bill is called Disabled Military Retiree Relief Act, a name derived
from one of its key elements aimed at people who received military
disability retirement with less than 20 years of service. These “Chapter
61” retirees — a reference to the section of the U.S. Code covering the
military disability retirement plan — would be allowed to receive their
full military retired pay plus veterans’ disability compensation, a major
change from current law in which retirement pay is reduced
dollar-for-dollar by any amount received in disability compensation.

President Barack Obama had pledged during the presidential campaign this
year to allow all Chapter 61 retirees to be able to concurrently receive
both payments, but the bill would not do that right away.

The offset would be phased out over several years, beginning with full
payments of retired and disability pay on Jan. 1, 2010 for those whose
disabilities are rated at 100 percent, including those whose 100 percent
disability is based upon a determination that their medical conditions
make them unemployable.

Full concurrent receipt for all Chapter 61 retirees would take effect Jan.
1, 2014.

The bill contains other provisions as well.

For the military, it includes a one-year extension of many military
bonuses and special and incentive pays that are about to expire, and
provisions on re-computing retirement pay for some reservists.

For federal workers, it includes a credit for unused sick leave, a new
process for computing retired pay based upon part-time service and a
provision involving the credit given to people who transferred from
working for the District of Columbia government to working for the federal
government. Skelton described this as “important changes” to the federal
retirement system.

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Pro patria,

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the
tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."

-- Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.