Opening Statement of Representative Tammy Baldwin
(D-WI)
Before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs
Legislative Hearing on
H.R. 2963, Dr. James Allen Disabled Veterans Equity Act
April 6, 2006
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Berkley and Members of the
Subcommittee for including as a part of this hearing, H.R. 2963, the Dr.
James Allen Disabled Veterans Equity Act that I introduced, along with
my co-author Congressman Boozman last year. I appreciate the Committee
for providing me with the opportunity to testify about an inequity in
the current paired organ statute [Section 1160 of title 38, United
States Code] that has resulted in the denial of appropriate disability
compensation to blinded veterans. I would like to thank the Chairman and
Ranking Member for your leadership on this very important issue.
This Committee and this Congress have rightly recognized that some human
organs or limbs are designed to work in pairs: legs, hands, kidneys,
lungs, ears, and of course eyes. In the instance of eyes, blindness in
one eye profoundly affects depth perception, even if sight is fully
retained in the other eye. The paired organ statute was written to
assist those veterans who experience a service-connected loss of a
paired organ or limb. This statute recognizes the interdependency of
paired organs and endeavors to treat the combined disability created by
a non-service-connected loss, injury or degeneration of the remaining
paired organ or limb as though it were the result of a service-connected
disability. In general, the paired organ statute accomplishes this task,
with the exception of its treatment of loss of sight.
I want to begin by sharing with you the story of Dr. James Allen, after
whom this legislation is named. Dr. Allen is a Professor of
Ophthalmology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in my
district. He has worked at the Veterans Affairs Hospital for
thirty-three years and treated numerous eye patients, including veterans
who are blind. One such example is Mr. Donald May. Don is a World War II
veteran who lost his right eye in a hand grenade explosion. A few years
ago Mr. May became legally blind in the non-service-connected left eye.
He applied to the Department of Veterans Affairs for help and was denied
further benefits. He was told that the current law in regard to paired
organs did not apply to him, even though he was legally blind in his
service-connected right eye.
After Dr. Allen brought the plight of his patients to my attention, I
began to research why these veterans were being denied the benefits I
felt they deserved, benefits that I believe Congress intended to grant
to them. Through my work with the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), we
discovered that while the current paired organ statute covers
“blindness,” in practice few, if any, veteran has been able to qualify
for such compensation.
In theory, the statute provides that a veteran who is service-connected
for blindness in one eye could qualify for additional disability
compensation if they became blind in the remaining eye for non
service-connected reasons. However, the statute does not define the term
“blindness” nor is any provision made for impairment of vision (in the
non-service-connected eye) short of blindness.
Rather than using visual acuity of 20/200, or loss of field of vision to
20 degrees, as the definition of “legal blindness” that has been adopted
by all 50 states and the Social Security Administration, the Department
of Veterans Affairs uses a much more restrictive 5/200 rating for legal
blindness, which is, in rough layman’s language, the equivalent to
having an eye with light perception only. As a result, few, if any,
blinded veterans are able to qualify for additional compensation under
the paired organ statute.
Consequently, I began to explore various options to address this
inequity in current law. During the 108th Congress, I introduced Dr.
James Allen Disabled Veterans Equity Act, which I re-introduced last
June as H.R. 2963. My legislation is modeled after a provision in the
Veterans Benefit Act of 2002 intended to correct a similar problem with
the paired organ statute that had denied additional disability
compensation to veterans based on hearing loss. H.R. 2963 would allow
veterans who receive veteran’s disability compensation for impairment of
vision in one eye at a rate of at least 10 percent to be eligible to
receive additional disability compensation for impairment of vision in
the eye that is not service-connected.
This change in the law would only affect a small percentage, estimated
to be roughly five percent, of the 13,109 veterans who are
service-connected for loss of vision in one eye. Yet, such a change
would send a powerful signal to our nation’s blinded veterans that the
hardships they have faced are not forgotten. Indeed, our nation’s
blinded veterans face significant challenges in the labor market. The
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research found that
for individuals with visual impairments, to the extent that they are
unable to read letters, the employment rate is only 30.8 percent,
compared to 82.1 percent for those without disabilities. Overall, the
employment rate of persons with disabilities has decreased from 26
percent in 1996 to 19.5 percent in 2003. Given this dire employment
trend, and the unique socioeconomic characteristics of our veterans, it
is even more urgent for Congress to correct this one last inequity in
current paired organ statute and address the life-altering impact of
blindness on our veterans.
H.R. 2963 currently enjoys broad bi-partisan support, including the
co-sponsorship of the Chair and Ranking Member of this Subcommittee. I
would like to thank you for all of your help in advancing this
legislation. I would also like to thank other members of this
Subcommittee: Congressman Evans, Congressman Bradley, Congressman Udall,
and Congresswoman Brown-Waite, for also co-sponsoring and supporting
this bill. I am grateful that nearly 80 of my colleagues have signed on
as co-sponsors of this legislation, and I want to especially thank
members of this Subcommittee for your critical support of this small,
but crucial, piece of legislation.
Once again, I would like to thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for
the opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee on behalf of the Dr.
James Allen Disabled Veterans Equity Act. It is a modest but important
step in restoring fair treatment to those blinded due to their service
to our country and to further our commitment to them. Their sacrifices
and service to this nation should be matched by our desire to improve
the quality of life for them and their families. I look forward to
working with everyone on the Subcommittee, and those in the VA, so that
together we can advance this legislation.
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