Congressional Budget for the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2008

Floor Speech

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 -- (Senate - March 23, 2007)

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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, the amendment the majority leader and I are offering today is the first step in our effort this Congress to undo a fundamental unfairness that affects over 300,000 disabled veterans in this country who also happen to be military retirees. In short, this amendment creates a reserve fund that will allow this Congress to once and for all eliminate the offset that exists between military retiree pay and VA disability benefits.

At a time when we have men and women in harm's way in Iraq, Afghanistan and in other locations around the globe, it is appropriate that the budget resolution we pass out of the United States Senate acknowledge and seriously address the unmet needs of our Nation's veterans.

It is wrong that our veterans are enduring long waiting lines to receive health care from the VA due to inadequate funding. It is wrong that the Bush administration slammed the doors of the VA health care system on hundreds of thousands of so-called ``higher income'' veterans--veterans who in reality make as little as $28,000 a year. And it is wrong for this administration to try to impose higher copayments and enrollment fees on our veterans. As someone who sits on both the Budget Committee and the Veterans Affairs Committee, I am incredibly proud that on all these issues, this budget resolution is on the side of veterans and rejects administration proposals that short-change and nickel and dime those who have served.

The scandal at Walter Reed has highlighted that even here in Washington, only a short distance from this chamber, some of our servicemembers were living in sub-standard conditions with moldy walls, rodents, and holes in the ceilings. Thankfully, this budget resolution also addresses this outrage.

In addition, this budget resolution also provides for substantial, new investments in mental health services for our veterans to help us treat the thousands of veterans returning from the Iraq War with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. Also this budget resolution recognizes that we need to significantly increase funding to treat the large number of servicemembers returning with traumatic brain injury.

Finally, this budget resolution includes an amendment I added in committee that will allow us to make other important improvements to veterans' programs later this year. In short, the budget resolution we are considering is a huge step in the right direction when it comes to veterans' health care and benefits. Chairman Conrad and his staff deserve tremendous credit for recognizing the very serious needs of our veterans and moving boldly to address them. I also want to commend Chairman Akaka of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and his staff for their work and support throughout this budget process.

Even with the tremendous strides forward we have made for veterans in this budget resolution there is one additional issue that needs to be addressed. Today, Senator Reid and I are offering this amendment to take care of that very important issue. Before getting into the details first let me start off by saying that I am honored to be working with the majority leader on this issue. I know that, year after year, he has been the leading voice in the Senate to eliminate the Disabled Veterans Tax. And today, he continues that leadership with this amendment.

This amendment would create a reserve fund to allow for the elimination of the remaining offset between military retiree pay and VA disability payments. In my view, this is an issue of basic fairness. Military retirees earned their retiree pay based on their long-term service to the Nation. They earn their VA disability benefits based on the disability they acquire or aggravate in the service of their country.

The current offset between these separately-earned benefits originates from a 19th century law that required a dollar-for-dollar offset of military retired pay for VA disability compensation. In my view and the view of millions of veterans across the country, it is clear that veterans deserve to receive both their military retirement which they receive for their service and their VA disability payments as additional compensation for the injuries and lost earning power due to their service-connected disabilities.

Let me provide just a bit of background on some of the progress Congress has made on this issue in recent years, thanks in large part to the work of Senator Reid. In the fiscal year 2003 Department of Defense Authorization, Congress created a special benefit called ``combat-related special compensation'' or CRSC. It expanded it in the fiscal year 2004 DoD Authorization. CRSC gives certain combat disabled veterans a cash benefit equivalent to what they would receive if full concurrent receipt were allowed.

In the fiscal year 2004 DoD Authorization bill, Congress approved phasing-in concurrent receipt for military retirees rated as at least 50 percent disabled. The fiscal year 2005 DoD Authorization ended the phase in for 100 percent disabled veterans.

So, today we find ourselves in a situation where retirees who are less than 50 percent disabled are getting no relief from the Disabled Veterans Tax and veterans at least 50 percent disabled but less than 100 percent disabled are in the middle of the phase period that will not be complete until 2014. Frankly, if Congress has made the determination that the ban on concurrent receipt of military retiree pay and VA disability compensation is wrong--and I think the legislation passed so far demonstrates that Congress has made that determination--there is no excuse for making veterans wait for the benefits that we have acknowledged they are due. Now is the time--once and for all--we need to eliminate the disabled veterans tax.

The Reid-Sanders amendment is just one important step we need to take to keep faith to the promises we made to our veterans. I look forward to working with the majority leader on this issue as it moves through the legislative process and I would ask that my colleagues to support this amendment.

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