Statements On Introduced Bills And Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Thune):

S. 3246. A bill to exclude from consideration as income under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 amounts received by a family from the Department of Veterans Affairs for service-related disabilities of a member of the family; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today, my colleague Senator Thune and I are introducing a piece of legislation that will correct a flaw in the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act of 1996, NAHASDA, that could leave some disabled Native American Veterans having to choose between living with their families or having enough money to survive without them. No veteran should ever be faced with having to make that painful choice. Their service to our nation demands that they be treated with the greatest care, and this bill would help ensure that.

Native Americans serve in the U.S. military at a higher rate, per capita, than any other group. However, if a Native American veteran returns home with injuries suffered in battle, they face additional challenges because of the rules covering tribal lands.

Currently, NAHASDA counts veterans disability payments and survivor benefits as income when determining both eligibility for housing assistance and rental payments. Since virtually the only criteria for receiving public housing assistance on tribal lands is income--and the income levels on tribal lands are historically low--it does not take a large veterans disability payment to make them cross the threshold of being ``too wealthy'' to qualify for tribal housing. And in Indian Country, alternatives to tribal housing are few and far between.

In addition, because disability payments are based on the level of disability, the larger the sacrifice a soldier has made, the less likely he or she will be able to return to tribal housing. This also means that a soldier who has been disabled could not move in with his family if they receive housing assistance without putting the entire family at risk of losing their housing if the payments would put them above 80 percent of area median income. No family should have to choose between a roof over their head and caring for a wounded son or daughter, father or mother. Nor should they have to choose between living on their native homelands or being forced to move off the reservation to care for this wounded veteran. Yet, this is the Catch-22 that wounded Native American veterans currently face, and it must be fixed.

Our bill would do that, in a very simple way. It would exempt veterans' disability and survivor benefits from counting as ``income'' for tribal housing programs. This does not affect the amount of money Congress appropriates for tribally designated housing entities. It would just allow those programs to serve Native American veterans who have been injured in combat, or the families of those killed on the battlefield. Our bill is a simple, budget-neutral way to fix a law written with the best of intentions. I urge the speedy passage of this bill.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source