washington scene
Veterans’Provisions
Senate committee votes on important measures.
The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee voted at a July 24 markup hearing to extend special caregiver benefits for Post-9/11 veterans to the caregivers of veterans of prior conflicts, but it failed to identify a “pay for” to cover the $8.5 billion cost.
Caregivers of veterans who served after Sept. 10, 2001, receive special benefits including training, counseling, respite care, and a stipend.
The committee favorably voted out a number of other measures including:
■ in-state tuition for student veterans. Veterans enrolled at public colleges will be reimbursed at the in-state tuition rate even if they haven’t established residency. The bill takes effect July 1, 2015, and veterans would have three years from separation to claim the in-state rate if they are nonresidents.
■ the VA claims backlog. The VA must publicly report quarterly on disability claims goals and how it’s meeting those objectives.
■ veteran status for certain career reservists. An amended provision honors as veterans reserve component members who served long enough to earn a reserve pension and TRICARE benefits but performed no service on active duty orders. Prior versions of the bill, S. 629, foundered on objections the legislation would open up unearned veterans’ benefits. The compromise language authorizes veteran status to the career reservists but strikes any reference to Title 38, the U.S. set of laws governing veterans’ benefits.
■ sexual-assault claims. Veterans traumatized by sexual assault in military service can apply for disability under procedures similar to those created for PTSD claims.
■ COLA increase. Disability, pension, and other benefits paid by the VA will get a rate hike Jan. 1, 2014, based on any adjustment to Social Security benefits.
■ definition of spouse. VA laws will be changed to reflect the Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriages.
The panel also extended for two years the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program that reopens training benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill to veterans ages 35 to 60; approved advanced fertility treatment for approximately 2,000 veterans, male and female, with severe wounds or injuries from IED blasts; and created two new employment programs for veterans. Ranking member Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) opposed the provisions and the caregiver extension “so we won’t continue to saddle future generations of Americans with continued debt.”
Committee Chair Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) promised he would do his “best to find the funding” before the bills reach the floor of the Senate.
MO
— Contributors are Col. Mike Hayden, USAF (Ret), director; Col. Mike Barron, USA (Ret); Col. Bob Norton, USA (Ret); Capt. Kathy Beasley, USN (Ret); Col. Phil Odom, USAF (Ret); Karen Golden; Matt Murphy; and Jamie Naughton, MOAA’s Government Relations Department. To subscribe to MOAA’s Legislative Update, visit
www.moaa.org/email.
42 MILITARY OFFICER SEPTEMBER 2013
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