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Veterans Benefits

The Bush Administration has made it clear that veterans are not his priority. Over the past few years, the President’s budget requests have included proposals to increase veterans’ health care costs, increase co-payments for the cost of prescription drugs, and exclude some veterans from even being able to enroll for health care.

This Administration has been very quick to go to war but far too slow in responding to the needs of our veterans and their families. With more veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, I am committed to adequately funding veterans’ health care.

The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (H.R. 6599) was introduced by Congressman Chet Edwards on July 24, 2008. This bill builds on the Democratic Congress’ commitment to America’s veterans and is supported by all of the major veterans organizations. H.R. 6599 would provide $47.7 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which is $2.9 billion more than the President’s budget requested and 11 percent more than last year’s largest ever increase in VA funding.

H.R. 6599 would appropriate $100 million to raise the mileage reimbursement rate from 28.5 cents per mile to 41.5 cents per mile. During debate on this bill, I offered an amendment to prevent the VA from further increasing the deductible veterans must pay to receive their 41.5 cent per mile reimbursement. Raising the deductible defeats the purpose of increasing the reimbursement rates in the first place. My amendment was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and included in the final bill.

In addition, H.R. 6599 would provide $3.8 billion for special mental health care, $5 billion for on-going maintenance and renovations of medical facilities, and $130 million to assist homeless veterans. The bill also provides $100 million to hire 1,400 new claims processors in order to help reduce the claims backlog in the VA and to decrease processing wait times. H.R. 6599 was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 409 to 4 and now awaits consideration by the Senate. I voted for this important legislation.

I am also working to change the way veterans’ health care is funded in Congress. The brave men and women who have served and continue to serve our Nation should not need to fight so hard each year for the health care and benefits they have earned. Constant cuts to our veterans’ health care are no way to honor our service members. That is why I am an original co-sponsor of the Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act (H.R. 2514). Currently, the veterans’ health care budget falls under a discretionary account. That means, each year, Congress is allowed to fund veterans’ health care as little or as much as they see fit. H.R. 2514 would prevent the President and Congress from tampering with veterans’ services like they are a disposable commodity. The bill would shift veterans’ health care from discretionary to mandatory funding. H.R. 2514 is the only way veterans are guaranteed the adequate health care services they deserve. The Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act is currently under review in the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

In June, the President signed the Army Specialist Joseph P. Micks Federal Flag Code Amendment Act into law. The law is named for Joseph P. Micks, a soldier from Rapid River, Michigan who was killed in Iraq in July 2006. After Specialist Micks was killed, I heard from family members and veterans within the community that some federal facilities had lowered their flag in his honor while others had not. Such inconsistency in following the governor’s directive to fly flags at half-staff is hurtful and disrespectful to our brave men and women. My legislation requires federal facilities to lower their flags to half staff in honor of fallen heroes upon a governor’s proclamation.

The Defense Authorization Act, which the President signed into law on January 28, 2008, also includes two key initiatives I authored. The Fallen Service Member Respectful Return Amendment, which is based on my legislation (H.R.691), will ensure that the Department of Defense transports the remains of fallen soldiers by air to the military or civilian airport nearest to the final destination selected by the family. The DOD was forcing some rural families to drive hundreds of miles to large, urban airports to meet the remains of their loved ones.

In addition, the Defense Authorization Act would expand the education benefits for members of the National Guard and Reserve by allowing members who have served on active duty for 90 days or more after September 11, 2001 to utilize the Reserve Education Assistance Program (REAP) for up to 10 years after their separation from the service. I introduced similar legislation (H.R. 3991) last year. With so many members of the Guard and Reserves deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan for extended tours of duty, it can be difficult for these young men and women to utilize their education benefits while they are overseas.

Currently, the Department of Defense pro-rates a soldier’s bonus based on the number of months the soldier served before he or she was medically discharged. I was first notified of this inexcusable policy by a constituent of mine who served with the Army National Guard in Iraq, and was denied part of his bonus after his Humvee struck in IED. In November and December of 2007, I sent four letters to the President and the Department of Defense requesting that they reverse this policy and ensure that all service members injured while in combat receive their full bonuses they were promised. The President’s inaction has forced Congress to intervene. Therefore, I co-sponsored H.R. 3793, the Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act. This bill would establish a uniform Department of Defense policy to ensure that all outstanding bonuses are paid to service members who are injured in combat and cannot return to duty. H.R. 3793 was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 405 to 0 on December 19, 2007. The bill was included in the Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2009 (H.R. 5658), which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 22, 2008. I look forward to finalizing this legislation and sending it to the President.

I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to assure our nation’s service members receive all of the benefits they were promised and deserve.