UPDATE ON DISABLED VETS SCREW JOB

The Retired Officer Association | Today

[advocate10]

This is TROA's legislative update for Friday, June 21, 2002.

Issue 1:  Senate Approves Concurrent Receipt Amendment.  The Senate has
adopted an amendment to the FY 2003 Defense Authorization Bill which would
fully eliminate the VA disability compensation offset to military retired
pay for all disabled retirees with 20 or more years of service, effective
October 1, 2002.

Issue 2:  Administration Issues Veto Threat.  A letter released by the
Office of Management and Budget on June 19 said the President's advisors
would recommend that he veto the FY2003 Defense Authorization Bill if it
includes a plan for partially or fully eliminating the disability offset
to military retired pay.  See below for a suggested message to the
President.

Issue 1:  Senate Approves Concurrent Receipt Amendment

On June 19, the Senate adopted an Armed Services Committee amendment to
the FY 2003 Defense Authorization Bill that would eliminate the VA
disability compensation offset to military retired pay for all disabled
retirees with 20 or more years of service, effective October 1, 2002.

Many thanks to all the people who sent more than 17,000 messages to
Congress on this subject through TROA's Web site this week.

As originally drafted, the Senate bill contained a provision similar to
that passed by the House in May, which would phase out the offset over
five years, but only for retirees with 20 or more years' service and
disability ratings of 60 percent or higher.

The new "full concurrent receipt" amendment, sponsored by Senate Armed
Services Committee (SASC) Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and the rest of the
SASC, was adopted by voice vote.

Senate leaders hope to complete action on a long list of other defense
bill amendments by the end of next week, before leaving for the
Independence Day recess.  That will set the stage for the real test in
July, when House and Senate leaders will sit down to resolve the
differences between their two versions of the bill-with the House's
phase-out plan as the floor and the Senate's "full" concurrent receipt
plan as the ceiling.

TROA is very grateful to many in the Senate for helping pave the way for
Wednesday's successful vote.  Special thanks in particular go to Chairman
Levin and Ranking Republican John Warner (R-VA) and Senators Tim
Hutchinson (R-AR), Harry Reid (D-NV), John McCain (R-AZ), Bob Smith
(R-NH), and Max Cleland (D-GA).  You can find a list of all of the members
of the SASC at http://www.senate.gov/~armed_services/members.htm

Issue 2:  Administration Issues Veto Threat

TROA was extremely disappointed, to say the least, at the contents of a
June 19 letter sent to Congress by the Office of Management and Budget,
which threatened a possible veto of the FY2003 Defense Authorization Act
if that legislation proposes eliminating the VA disability compensation
offset to military retired pay.  The letter asserted that the President's
advisors would recommend a presidential veto if the final Authorization
Act includes either the Senate plan to eliminate the offset immediately or
the House plan to phase in partial elimination for severely disabled
military retirees.

The Administration's opposition to this long-overdue initiative is nothing
new.  No Administration of either party has ever supported providing any
relief from the current unfair, in large measure because of the cost. 
But threatening to veto the defense bill if it provides any relief to
disabled retirees is a new low.

TROA shares Sen. Harry Reid's view of the letter, as he expressed them on
the Senate floor Wednesday.  "I know President Bush as well as most
members of the Senate," Reid said, "and this wasn't written by the
President.  It doesn't say he would veto the bill over the concurrent
receipt issue.  It says his advisors would recommend a veto. This was
written by staff bureaucrats.  If the President were to veto this, he'd
have to be a much different person than the George W. Bush I know.  Here's
what I'm doing with this staff letter." and he folded it up and put it in
a wastebasket.

When Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) asked how Congress was expected to pay for
this initiative, he was answered promptly by Senators Levin and Reid.

"We're going to pay for it the same way we pay for everything else
Congress approves," said Sen. Levin.  "Congress always has to make
difficult decisions on spending priorities," Sen. Reid added.  "But one of
the priorities we must take care of is treating our disabled military
retirees fairly."

It's precisely because the Executive Branch has failed to seek a fix for
the current gross inequity that Congress has seized the leadership role.

At a time when the country has been particularly sensitized to the
sacrifices of those who serve in uniform, TROA finds it difficult to
conceive that the President would veto the defense bill for the express
purpose of denying disabled military retirees their earned retired pay.

Should this actually occur, TROA and all other military and veterans
associations would expect the 83% of senators and 90% of House members who
have signed their names as cosponsors of this important legislation to
back up those signatures and override any such veto. But any possible need
for that is still at least a month away.

In the meantime, we urge TROA members and others to write the White House
to let the President know how far wrong his advisors have gone on this
issue. You can send a TROA-prepared message via TROA's Web site
( www.capwiz.com/troa/home/ ).  Just click on the "Don't Veto Concurrent
Receipt" action alert link, then click the "Go" button.

[surely_you_jest]

I sincerely hope so.