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Cornyn: Senate Advances Important Measure To Help Wounded Warriors

Amendment to Defense Authorization bill includes Cornyn provisions to improve benefits for burn victims, their families

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, made the following statement Thursday following Senate passage of an amendment to assist America’s wounded troops and veterans. Sen. Cornyn is an original co-sponsor of the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act, S. 1606, which passed 94-0 as an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill. The amendment includes provisions by Sen. Cornyn to improve benefits for burn victims and their families:

“This is an important piece of legislation to provide further support for our wounded warriors, cutting through some of the red tape and bureaucracy that adds an extra burden for those who have given so much for our country. We must continue working to relieve the difficulties our wounded service members and their families face as they go through recovery and rehabilitation, and plan for their future. Our nation has a solemn duty to provide for our troops, and the government can never do enough to demonstrate our gratitude for their service and sacrifice. I’ll do everything possible to ensure they receive the very best care, treatment and benefits.”

Sen. Cornyn successfully amended the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act recently during the committee process to include his provision benefiting burn victims. It strengthens the law by explicitly adding “burns” to the listed serious medical conditions for directed Department of Defense development of requirements and standards for helping family members with care for their wounded service members. Sen. Cornyn’s measure was a direct result of meetings he had in Texas this year with wounded soldiers and their families, including a roundtable he convened at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio on March 10.

Sen. Cornyn, along with Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., introduced another amendment that was accepted that requires the Secretary of Defense to provide an assessment to the relevant Congressional oversight committees on the need for additional employment assistance or protection for a family member who is caring for a wounded service member. This measure was also included in the overall amendment added to the Defense Authorization bill on Thursday.

The bipartisan wounded warrior assistance bill co-sponsored by Sen. Cornyn would:

1. Require the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop a comprehensive policy on the care, management and transition from the military to VA or civilian life for all service members with a serious injury or illness that may render them unfit for duty.
2. Provide enhanced health care to the wounded and injured service members:
   • Authorizes medically retired service members with a disability rating of 30 percent or higher to receive the active duty health care benefit for 3 years.
   • Authorizes certain family members not otherwise eligible for military health care who are caring for a member with combat-related injuries at a military or VA hospital to receive medical care from military or VA providers.
3. Require the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of the Veterans Administration, to develop a comprehensive plan on prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, and treatment of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
   • Require the Secretary of Defense to establish two centers of excellence: one for TBI and one for PTSD.
   • Authorize $50M for improved diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of service members with TBI or PTSD.
4. Establish a DOD/VA Interagency Program Office to develop and implement a joint electronic health record.
5. Strengthen and reform the DOD Disability Evaluation System by requiring the military departments to use VA standards to make disability determinations, and prohibit deviation from VA standards except to give the service member a higher disability rating, requiring the military departments to take into account all medical conditions that render the member unfit for duty. Also requires pilot programs to test and reform the disability evaluation system.
6. Increase severance pay for service members separated with less than 30 percent disability:
   • Minimum one year pay for those separated for disabilities incurred in a combat zone,
   • Minimum six months pay for others, and
   • Eliminate requirement that severance pay be deducted from VA disability compensation for disabilities incurred in a combat zone.

Sen. Cornyn serves on the Armed Services, Judiciary and Budget Committees. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Border Security and Refugees subcommittee and the Armed Services Committee’s Airland subcommittee.

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