WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, introduced the Blinded Veterans Paired Organ Act of 2007 (S. 1163).  This bill would update eligibility requirements for certain benefits provided to veterans with a service-connected disability due to blindness.  Current law excludes many veterans with severe vision impairment from benefits that could significantly improve the quality of their lives.  A bipartisan group of Senators are cosponsoring Chairman Akaka's bill: Veterans' Affairs Committee members Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jim Webb (D-VA), and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and outside the committee, Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE).

"With more servicemembers deployed in combat zones everyday, we are constantly reminded of the great sacrifice they make for this Nation.  We owe it to these men and women to minimize their burden and ease their application for veterans' benefits.  This legislation would ensure that all veterans who are legally blind due to a service-connected disability are eligible for critical benefits," Akaka said.

The bill would change eligibility requirements for two separate benefits available to blinded veterans.  Currently, both of these benefits are restricted to a narrow group of veterans who have the most serious degree of vision impairment.  The Blinded Veterans Paired Organ Act would extend these benefits to all veterans who meet the standard definition of legal blindness used by the Social Security Administration to determine disability for the last forty years.

The first affected benefit concerns veterans who lose sight in one eye due to a service-connected disability, then later lose sight in the other eye due to a non-service-connected disability.  In these circumstances, they are eligible to be compensated by VA as if vision in both eyes had been lost during service.                                          

The second benefit concerns grants that VA offers service-disabled veterans who need help modifying their homes to accommodate their disabilities.  Veterans with service-connected blindness in both eyes can receive up to $10,000 to specially adapt their homes with additional light fixtures and safety mechanisms.  This bill will extend these benefits to all legally blind veterans.

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