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thedrifter
11-22-02, 02:21 PM
November 21, 2002


In this Issue:
1. Special Compensation /Concurrent Receipt For Retirees
2. Other Provisions included in Defense Authorization
3. Veterans' Benefits Package Cleared for President
4. Congress Passes Homeland Security Bill
5. Support Guaranteed Funding for Veterans Healthcare


1. Special Compensation/Concurrent Receipt for Retirees

In a compromise between the White House and Armed Services Committee
Leaders, Congress passed the FY03 National Defense Authorization Act. It
will provide special compensation to some combat wounded disabled retirees.

VFW leaders acknowledge the effort but expressed disappointment that the
bill fails to correct the law that reduces the military retired pay of all
disabled retirees by the amount of disability compensation they receive.
Commander-in-Chief Ray Sisk said, "The concurrent receipt issue remains to
be addressed and we intend to continue the fight to achieve this end."

The measure created a category of special compensation for all military
retirees who were wounded in combat and received the Purple Heart or those
retirees who were severely disabled in combat-related incidents.

The amount of the compensation will be the full amount of retired pay lost
due to receipt of VA disability compensation. It will be effective six
months from the date the President signs the law. The six-month delay will
enable the DoD to establish application procedures and to determine which
retirees and which disabilities qualify.

The qualifying disabilities are explained as follows:

- Any qualifying retiree with a disability rating of 10% or higher that is
associated with award of a Purple Heart. Under this rule, the special
compensation amount will be based on the disability rating awarded for the
combat wound ONLY.

- Retirees awarded disability ratings of 60% or higher for other
illnesses/injuries attributable to combat situations, combat-oriented
training, hazardous duty, or instrumentalities of war.

DoD defines combat-related as:
- Direct Result Of Armed Conflict: including a war, expedition, occupation
of an area or territory, battle, skirmish, raid, invasion, rebellion,
insurrection, guerrilla action, riot, or any other action in which Service
members are engaged with a hostile or belligerent nation, faction, force, or
terrorists.
- While Engaged In Hazardous Service: including, but not limited to, aerial
flight duty, parachute duty, demolition duty, experimental stress duty, and
diving duty.
- Under Conditions Simulating War: resulting from military training, such
as war games, practice alerts, tactical exercises, airborne operations,
leadership reaction courses, grenade and live fire weapons practice, bayonet
training, hand-to-hand combat training, rappelling, and negotiation of
combat confidence and obstacle courses (does not include physical training
activities, such as calisthenics and jogging or formation running and
supervised sports).
- Caused By Instrumentality Of War (incurrence during a period or war is
not required): includes such causes as wounds caused by a military weapon,
accidents involving a combat vehicle, injury or sickness caused by fumes,
gases, or explosion of military ordinance, vehicles or material. (DoD
example: an injury resulting from a fall on the deck of a ship while
participating in sports would not normally be covered, since the sport
activity, not the ship, caused the fall. But it would be covered if the
operation of the ship caused the fall.)

It is uncertain how many people would qualify for this special compensation,
but estimates range from 10,000 to 30,000 eligible retirees, with cost
estimates ranging from $4 billion to $9 billion over 10 years. The new
Defense Authorization Act specifies that the Pentagon will be responsible
for applying the above criteria to determine which VA disability awards
qualify for the special compensation.




2. Other Provisions included in Defense Authorization

When Congress approved the Conference Report to the FY03 National Defense
Authorization Act, concurrent receipt was not the only issue considered.
There were many other important provisions affecting those who have served
in uniform past and present. Included are provisions that:

-provide a 4.1% military pay raise with larger pay increases for mid-grade
and senior noncommissioned officers and mid-grade officers.
-reduce the out-of-pocket housing expense to just 7.5% of actual costs.
-extend and create special pays and bonuses for wide categories of
personnel.
-grant commissary privileges to National Guard members called up for federal
duty.
-create a Korean Defense Service Medal for those who served between July 18,
1954 and a date TBD in the future.
-allow reservists an extra four years to utilize their GI Bill benefits.
-increase DOD and VA health care sharing opportunities.
-meet the President's request for force strength, but provide flexibility if
the War on Terrorism requires it.
-provide $73.7 billion for equipment and weapons and $56.7 billion for
research and development.
-increase the readiness account by $4.6 billion over last year.

These are just some of the many improvements and provisions of this
legislation. For a more detailed summary, visit the Press Releases section
of the House Armed Services Website:
http://www.house.gov/hasc/ <http://www.house.gov/hasc/>

3. Veterans' Benefits Package Cleared for President

House and Senate Conferees agreed on a final version of S 2237, the Veterans
Benefits Act. It now moves to the President's desk, where he is expected to
sign it. This bill includes a number of provisions that the VFW supported
through our various Congressional testimonies this year.

Included in the legislation are provisions that:

-allow surviving spouses who remarry after age 55 to retain CHAMPVA
benefits.
-clarify the entitlement for veterans who have a service connected loss of
breast tissue.
-create a monument for the Battle of the Bulge in Arlington Cemetery.
-increase funding for State Approving Agencies, the organizations that
supervise and monitor the GI Bill program.
-end the age limits for eligibility for Veterans' Mortgage Life Insurance
and create a pilot program for the guarantee of hybrid adjustable rate
mortgages.
-increase the Medal of Honor special pension to $1,000.
-extend SSCRA benefits to National Guard members called up by the President
to serve on behalf of the states.
-allow the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to reverse factual findings
of the BVA if it is "unsupported by substantial evidence of record", instead
of the current "clearly erroneous" standard.



For our testimony on the various provisions of the legislation, go to:
http://www.vfwdc.org/shared/congtest02.htm
<http://www.vfwdc.org/shared/congtest02.htm>

continued..........

thedrifter
11-22-02, 02:22 PM
4. Congress Passes Homeland Security Bill <br />
<br />
Before adjourning, Congress passed important legislation that will create a <br />
Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security. <br />
<br />
The new department will...

thedrifter
11-27-02, 10:54 AM
Official Warns on Veteran Benefits
Budget Delay Could Threaten Progress on
Veterans' Benefit Claims, VA Secretary Principi Says

Mon Nov 25, 3:30 PM

WASHINGTON (AP`) - Progress the Department of Veterans Affairs has made in
slashing a huge backlog of benefit requests could be threatened if Congress
fails to approve a federal budget by February, VA Secretary Anthony Principi
said.

Principi said he increased the agency's compensation and pension work force
over the past year by 1,200 people and they helped cut the backlog of claims
from 600,000 in March.

He had planned to hire 150 more, including some registered nurses whose
medical training would help them navigate the complex disability claim system.

"If we don't get a budget by January, February, I'm going to start cutting
back (on new hires)," Principi said in a recent interview with The Associated
Press. "I can't rescind my promise to do this, but clearly if we don't get a
budget, it's going to hurt."

When fiscal year 2002 concluded in September, VA had reduced the backlog on
claims of all types to 470,205. Disability claims fell from a March high of
422,935 to 348,702.

The 107th Congress failed to pass a federal budget, passing only two of 13
spending bills for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1. When the 108th
session convenes in January, lawmakers will face a $159 billion shortfall.

Principi has set a goal of reducing the backlog of veterans' claims for
disability compensation and pension decisions to 250,000 with a 100-day
turnaround time by next summer.

"I would consider my tenure as secretary a failure if I did not dramatically
improve and achieve our goals by the time I completed my tenure. I stick to
that and adhere to that," Principi said last week.

At this point, Principi believes the agency has made significant progress.

He has created a "triage" team based in Cleveland to handle some of the
longest pending cases. Employees now specialize in certain types of claims,
expediting those particular claims. He's also pressed for changes in the
appeals board, encouraging it to clear up smaller issues on a claim, such as
a missing doctor's signature, rather than rejecting it and sending it through
the system again.

"They are moving things in the right direction," said Bob Wallace, Veterans
of Foreign Wars executive director.

Ronald Conley, national commander for the American Legion, said the agency
still has work to do on the number of cases returned by the appeals board
because of mistakes in the claims.

"Those claims that are coming back. We are not seeing great progress on those
claims," Conley said.

But the rate of cases returned to regional offices, known as remands, has
fallen from 50 percent in January to 12 percent this month, said Terry
Jemison, a VA spokesman.

Principi said he has begun evaluating regional office directors on the
timeliness of appeals. He's also put review teams in place at regional
offices to try to resolve problems with the case.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html

On the Net: Veterans Affairs: http://www.va.gov

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.


Sempers,

Roger