Rep. Takano, VA FY2018 budget endangers disabled veterans with proposed cuts to IU benefits

[boardman]

Rep. Takano, VA FY2018 budget endangers disabled veterans with proposed cuts to IU benefits

For Immediate Release: May 24, 2017
Contact: Richard McPike, (202) 225-2305

Rep. Mark Takano Questions VA Secretary Shulkin About Trump Budget

Raises Questions About Benefits and Health Funding

Washington, DC -- Representative Mark Takano (D-CA) today questioned Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin regarding provisions of President Donald Trump's FY2018 budget that would endanger Individual Unemployability benefits for disabled veterans and change funding for veterans who get their care through community providers. During the Secretary's testimony before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Rep. Takano asked two questions, neither of which the Secretary fully answered.

Video of the interaction between Rep. Takano and Secretary Shulkin is available here: Link: https://youtu.be/i1OgJ5xypXw

Rep. Takano first asked, "I am concerned about the proposal to terminate Individual Unemployability benefits at age 62 for veterans eligible for Social Security.... If a veteran was provided this benefit because of an inability to maintain gainful employment, particularly at an early age, he or she wouldn't have been able to pay into Social Security or put savings into a 401(k) or other retirement savings account. If you end the IU payments at age 62 for veterans like this, don't you risk plunging them into poverty when you shut off the IU payments?"

By terminating benefits at age 62, the budget proposed by President Trump would leave many veterans facing the possibility of lower Social Security benefits and severely reduced income for the remainder of their lives. This would abandon to poverty veterans who were injured during their service to our nation. Veterans deserve answers from the Trump Administration about why this benefit is being targeted and what support they'll have if their IU benefits go away.

Rep. Takano's second question during the hearing was, "Why does the budget propose to extend the current Choice Program with mandatory spending? Was this due to the discretionary caps or does VA eventually intend to fund all VA medical care and services with mandatory appropriations? What's the rationale here?"

Rep. Takano also referenced concerns voiced by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Paralyzed Veterans of America that the change included in the Trump budget to continue the present Choice Program with mandatory funding threatens funding for other elements of the VA health care system.

"The budget released by the President this week is not only an abandonment of his campaign pledges to protect the voters who supported him last November, it also endangers promised benefits to America's veterans. These two ill-considered changes, which would cut off unemployability benefits from veterans and lead to a gradual erosion of funding for the non-Choice elements of the VA health care system, must be rejected by Congress. I am disappointed that Secretary Shulkin was unable to offer a rationale for these changes. America's veterans deserve better than the treatment they would receive under the President's budget," said Rep. Takano after the hearing.

Rep. Takano is the Vice Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and represents Riverside County, California, which has one of the largest veteran populations in the nation.


Richard Kirk McPike
Chief of Staff
Office of Congressman Mark Takano
1507 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2305 Fax: (202) 225-7018