[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 156 (Tuesday, October 10, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H9762-H9764]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
VETERANS' COMPENSATION COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 1995
Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 2394) to increase, effective as of December 1, 1995, the rates of
compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the
rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of
certain disabled veterans.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 2394
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans' Compensation Cost-
of-Living Adjustment Act of 1995''.
SEC. 2. INCREASE IN RATES OF DISABILITY COMPENSATION AND
DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION.
(a) Rate Adjustment.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs
shall, affective on December 1, 1995, increase the dollar
amounts in effect for the payment of disability compensation
and dependency and indemnity compensation by the Secretary,
as specified in subsection (b).
(b) Amounts To Be Increased.--The dollar amounts to be
increased pursuant to subsection (a) are the following:
(1) Compensation.--Each of the dollar amounts in effect
under section 1114 of title 38, United States Code.
(2) Additional compensation for dependents.--Each of the
dollar amounts in effect under sections 1115(1) of such
title.
(3) Clothing allowance.--The dollar amount in effect under
section 1162 of such title.
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(4) New dic rates.--The dollar amounts in effect under
paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 1311(a) of such title.
(5) Old dic rates.--Each of the dollar amounts in effect
under section 1311(a)(3) of such title.
(6) Additional dic for disability.--The dollar amounts in
effect under sections 1311(c) and 1311(d) of such title.
(7) DIC for dependent children.--The dollar amounts in
effect under sections 1313(a) and 1314 of such title.
(c) Determination of Increase.--The increase under
subsection (a) shall be made in the dollar amounts specified
in subsection (b) as in effect on November 30, 1995.
(2) Except as provided in paragraphs (3) and (4), each such
amount shall be increased by the same percentage as the
percentage by which benefit amounts payable under title II of
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.) as increased
effective December 1, 1995, as a result of a determination
under section 215(i) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 415(i)).
(3) Each dollar amount increased pursuant to paragraph (2)
shall, if not a whole dollar amount, be rounded down to the
next lower whole dollar amount.
(4)(A) The old-law DIC rates shall each be increased by the
amount by which the new-law DIC rate is increased as
determined under paragraphs (2) and (3).
(B) For purposes of this paragraph:
(i) The term ``old-law DIC rates'' means the dollar amounts
in effect under section 1311(a)(3)(3) of title 38, United
States Code.
(ii) The term ``new-law DIC rate'' means the dollar amount
in effect under section 1311(a)(1) of title 38, United States
Code.
(d) Special Rule.--The Secretary may adjust
administratively, consistent with the increases made under
subsection (a), the rates of disability compensation payable
to persons within the purview of section 10 of Public Law 85-
857 (72 State. 1263) who are not in receipt of compensation
payable pursuant to chapter 11 of title 38, United States
Code.
(e) Publication of Adjusted Rates.--At the same time as the
matters specified in section 215(i)(2)(D) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 415(i)(2)(D)) are required to be
published by reason of a determination made under section
215(i) of such Act during fiscal year 1995, the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs shall publish in the Federal Register the
amounts specified in subsection (b), as increased pursuant to
subsection (a).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Arizona [Mr. Stump] will be recognized for 20 minutes, and the
gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Montgomery] will be recognized for 20
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump].
General Leave
Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on H.R. 2394.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Arizona?
There was no objection.
Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2394, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living
Adjustment Act of 1995, would authorize the VA to provide the same
cost-of-living adjustment [COLA] payable to Social Security recipients.
However, the bill is consistent with the reconciliation
recommendations recently forwarded by the VA Committee to the Budget
Committee.
Those recommendations include rounding down the 1996 COLA to the next
lower dollar amount for veterans receiving disability compensation and
dependency and indemnity compensation [DIC] recipients.
Additionally, the bill would provide an equal COLA to all DIC
recipients based upon the new flat-rate payment schedule.
The Congressional Budget Office has indicated the bill reduces direct
spending under the pay-as-you-go budget rules.
I believe this bill treats veterans and their survivors fairly while
complying with the budget resolution, and I urge my colleagues to
support the bill.
I want to thank my good friend Sonny Montgomery, the ranking minority
member of the committee for his assistance on this measure.
Before yielding to him I also want to thank Terry Everett, chairman
of the Compensation Subcommittee and Lane Evans, the ranking minority
member on the subcommittee for their efforts on this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman
from Alabama [Mr. Everett] for an explanation of the bill.
Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2394 is a cost of living adjustment
bill which will increase the rates of compensation for service
connected disabled veterans along with the rates of dependency and
indemnity compensation [DIC] for survivors of certain disabled
veterans. The rate of increase will match that set by the Social
Security Administration and will become effective on December 1, 1995.
In 1993, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee approved a measure
that granted a one-half COLA based on the new-law benefit amount for
all DIC recipients.
This year, however, despite some COLA provisions to help meet the
committee's reconciliation targets, we will be able to improve on OBRA
93 and give a full rate increase to all DIC recipients based on the
new-law benefit amount of $790.
This bill would also provide for a round down to the next lower
dollar amount for all compensation and DIC benefits when the amount is
not a whole dollar. While we have not studied all cost of living
adjustments, according to the congressional research service, a major
portion of Federal programs made COLA round downs permanent in the
1980's, including military retirement, aid for dependent children,
supplemental security income, Social Security, railroad retirement,
civil service retirement, and food stamps.
This is a good bill. If the letters from your constituents are
anything like the ones I have been receiving, you know that a full DIC
COLA is not something a lot of surviving spouses are expecting. This
year, the administration's budget request and the budget resolution
both suggested a half COLA. With a bipartisan effort, we are able to
provide a full rate increase to help ensure an adequate standard of
living for the 2.23 million veterans receiving disability compensation,
in addition to the almost 313,000 surviving spouses and children of our
veterans whose lives were shortened by service-connected illness or
injury.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to add to what has been said about my
good friend the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Montgomery]. I came to
this Congress 2\1/2\ years ago. He was one of the first men I met here.
I have great admiration for him. I also have many people in my district
who know him and love him, think the world of him.
I would just echo what was said. If all Members of this Congress
operated the way that Sonny Montgomery operates, this Congress would
have a much different reputation.
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Alabama, the chairman
of the Subcommittee on Compensation, Pension Insurance and Memorial
Affairs of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for the kindness he
said. If I have done that well, maybe I should not leave, but I know it
is time to go.
I enjoy working with the gentleman from Alabama. Our districts join
in the two States. We are very close friends. I commend the gentleman
from being the chairman of the subcommittee and taking an interest in
the compensation, in working in certain areas that need to be done,
such as the computer area, which has saved the taxpayers some money. I
want to commend the gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, I am in strong support of the last bill on the calendar
for today, H.R. 2394. It will provide for a cost-of-living adjustment
for disabled veterans and their survivors.
The bill, I want to express this, Mr. Speaker, calls for the
increases to be effective December 1, 1995. It is my understanding also
that this will be around 3 percent. I wanted to also say that it does
go and help the disabled veterans. I urge my colleagues to support this
measure.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oregon [Ms.
Furse].
Ms. FURSE. Mr. Speaker, this bill we are considering today--to
provide disabled veterans the same cost-of-living-adjustment as we give
Social Security recipients--represents one of the most important
contracts we must honor.
That contract is the one we have with disabled veterans of our
military services to enable their COLA's to keep up with the consumer
price index. In my view, simply keeping up with inflation as this bill
does, is only a bare minimum of what we owe our disabled veterans. They
deserve more.
[[Page H 9764]]
As disabled veterans age, their disabilities often cause problems at
an increasing rate. Therefore, we absolutely must increase their COLA's
with the rate of inflation and we really should do more for them.
I believe our priorities are wrong when we are spending $15 billion
more on airlift than necessary by buying the enormously expensive C-17
air cargo plane. Our priorities are wrong when we are signing up for 20
more B-2 bombers that the Department of Defense does not even want at
an eventual cost of at least $30 billion.
Rather than waste more taxpayer dollars on these outmoded cold war
systems, it is far more important for us to attempt to repay the debt
we owe our disabled veterans and their survivors. They have made
tremendous sacrifices on our behalf and we do not do enough for them.
Before I close, I want to pay tribute to my colleague, Mr.
Montgomery. He has worked incredibly hard on behalf of our Nation's
veterans for many, many years. We all appreciate the contributions you
have made and I look forward to working with you throughout the
remainder of this Congress.
I urge my colleagues to support the veterans disability compensation
cost of living adjustment.
Mr. MONTGOMERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Oregon. She has
been very supportive of veterans' programs. She has always been there
when we have asked for her support. She has never voted against one of
the veterans' bills. I look forward to working with the gentlewoman for
14, 15 more months. I thank the gentlewoman for talking on this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump] that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 2394.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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