House passes disabled veterans bill

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House passes disabled veterans bill

House Passes Bill Expanding Disabled Veterans' Benefits
By Matthew M. Johnson, CQ Staff

The House passed a bill on Wednesday to increase the number of disabled veterans eligible for both military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation.

"The disabled veterans' tax has for decades prevented retirees from receiving the full benefits they earned in military pay and compensation," said Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who sponsored the bill (HR 2990). "The one group of retirees that have endured great hardship, but have been among the last to be embraced by reform, is the disabled retirees with less than 20 years of service."

Many, he said, would have served a full military career but could not do so because of their disabilities.
The measure, which passed 404-0, would:
Expand disabled veterans' eligibility for simultaneous military retirement and veterans' disability payments;
Extend eligibility for bonuses and allowances to military personnel, including Reserve forces, health care professionals and nuclear officers, by a year; and
Refigure the retirement pay scale to reflect reservists' post-retirement service and allow them to receive retired pay if they are performing non-regular, post-retirement service.
Under the rule governing floor consideration of the fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill (HR 2647), Skelton's measure would be added to the defense bill before the House votes on passage.