Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006

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AMENDMENT NO. 1865

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to offer with Senator Obama this amendment to the Veterans appropriation bill. Our amendment will inform America's most under-compensated disabled veterans about how they may have their claims reviewed.

Americans have a fundamental dedication to fairness. No matter what a person's background, class, religion, race or other difference, everyone deserves to be treated equally under the law.

When we hear about unequal treatment, our basic sense of justice as Americans is shocked. We are perhaps doubly shocked when we hear of unequal treatment of disabled veterans.

We would expect that disabled veterans will receive differing levels of disability compensation based on the degree and type of their disability, but we do not expect to see the average amount paid to disabled veterans to vary greatly from State to State.

Unfortunately, the truth is that the average amount paid to disabled veterans across this country varies widely.

The May 19, 2005 Review of State Variances in VA Disability Compensation Payments released by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General confirms media reports that ``variances in annual disability compensation by State have existed for decades.'' The average annual disability compensation payment in the highest State is $12,004 per year. In the lowest State it is only $6,961.

The State with the lowest average compensation is my own state of Illinois.

The report from the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledges that, in addition to demographic factors, inconsistency in VA rating decisions is one of the major causes of this disparity. A major reason for inconsistent decisions is the shortage of rating specialists in the VA offices reviewing the claims. The review's survey of VA rating specialists revealed that most of them do not believe the regional offices have sufficient rating staff.

On May 20, the day after the release of the report, Senator Obama and I hosted a Veterans Town Hall Meeting in Chicago. We invited the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to join us so that he could help explain to the veterans of our State how they had been so short-changed and so under-compensated for so long and--more importantly what he was going to do about it.

To the Secretary's credit he stepped up to the plate. He promised a special operation to review new claims as well as old ones and he committed to providing the additional staff to get this done.

These are steps in the right direction which might help correct a decades-long history of unequal treatment; a decades-long pattern of under-compensated veterans; a decades-long injustice.

Unfortunately, veterans can't ask for what they don't know about.

The purpose of our amendment is to set aside some funds which will allow the VA to conduct an information campaign to inform veterans of this past history of unequal treatment and under-compensation and to notify them of how they can have their case reviewed for possible correction.

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs made a commitment to making the situation right.

Here is what the Secretary said:

We are committed to doing what is right for our veterans. If that entails that we have to set up a special operation here in Illinois to review your claims or to look at new claims that you as an eligible veteran want to make, we will do that. We want each of you to feel that you have been treated fairly and equitably by your VA, because you deserve that.

The past is past, but as I have been charged by both of these Senators, the future is now, and we are going to make a special effort to see if we can have you feel sure that you have been treated fairly and equitably by the VA so that you will have a chance if you so choose to have a review of that, or you can bring the new information to us, and we will make every effort to see that that is reviewed, and reviewed fairly and equitably for you.

Later at that meeting, the Secretary promised to provide the staff to get this done. He said:

..... If we need more people here, we're going to get them. And as I said when I spoke earlier, it looks like we could make a special effort for you to come in and have a review or come in with a new claim, and we're going to have people there to process it and do it just as timely as we can.

Recently, those additional disability rating specialists arrived to augment the existing staff at the Chicago regional office so that claims can be reviewed more thoroughly and more quickly.

Now the final step is for the VA to inform veterans that, while they have indeed been under-compensated and short-changed for decades, help is now available to them.

The amendment which we have offered requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct an information campaign in those States where the average annual disability compensation payment made to veterans is less than $7,300. According to the Inspector General's report of May 19, 2005, there were six ``low cluster'' States below this level of average disability payment. Those States were Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Connecticut, Michigan and Indiana. The intent of this measure is to inform veterans of the past history of below-average disability compensation payments in these States. It is also intended to provide these veterans with information on how to request a review of past claims and ratings and how to submit new claims as the Secretary has promised. The campaign would include mailed notifications to all veterans in these States who are currently receiving disability compensation. The amendment also requires the Department to disseminate this information through broadcast and print advertisements in order to educate any veterans whose past claims may have been improperly denied.

The deliberate sharing of this information with our most under-compensated disabled veterans will help provide them with an opportunity to have their case reviewed and perhaps at long last to receive the compensation to which they are entitled.

I yield the floor

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