[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 135 (Thursday, September 26, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11460-S11462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      VETERANS' COMPENSATION COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 1996

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of calendar No. 585, S. 1791.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1791) to increase, effective as of December 1, 
     1996, the rates of disability compensation for veterans with 
     service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency 
     and indemnity compensation for survivors of such veterans, 
     and other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the bill?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, it is a pleasure for me, as chairman of 
the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, to request Senate approval 
of S. 1791. This legislation, Mr. President, would grant to recipients 
of compensation, and dependency and indemnity compensation [DIC] 
benefits, from the Department of Veterans Affairs [VA] a cost of living 
adjustment [COLA] increase to take effect at the beginning of next 
year.
  This legislation is appropriate and warranted--even as we continue to 
work diligently to achieve deficit reduction. We can balance the 
budget, and simultaneously treat our veterans, and their survivors, 
with fairness and compassion.
  This bill is simple and straightforward. It would grant to recipients 
of certain VA benefits--most notably,

[[Page S11461]]

veterans with service-connected disabilities who receive VA 
compensation, and the surviving spouses and children of veterans who 
have died as a result of service-connected injuries or illnesses, who 
receive dependency and indemnity compensation or DIC--the same 
percentage COLA that Social Security recipients will receive in 1997. 
So, for example, if Social Security recipients receive a 2.8-percent 
adjustment at the beginning of next year--the percentage of increase 
that the Congressional Budget Office now estimates will be 
forthcoming--then so too would the beneficiaries of VA compensation and 
DIC.
  Last year, the committee's COLA bill put into effect certain 
modifications, as approved by the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, on 
how COLA's are computed. For example, our 1996 COLA contained a ``round 
down'' feature--that is, a provision that required that monthly whole 
number benefit amounts be ``rounded down'' in all cases when they are 
recomputed. Under normal practice--and under this bill--benefit checks, 
which are paid in whole dollar amounts, are ``rounded up'' when the 
benefit recomputation yields a fractional dollar amount of $0.50 or 
more and rounded down when the computation yields a fractional dollar 
amount of $0.49 or less.
  It may happen, Mr. President, that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs 
will again elect to direct that VA ``round down'' as part of a package 
of measures approved to reach budget reconciliation targets. That 
action, however, will be taken--if it needs to be taken--as part of a 
coordinated package of deficit reduction measures. For now, we request 
Senate approval of a ``clean'' COLA bill to assure enactment with no 
controversy before our adjournment.
  I do take this opportunity to mention ever so briefly my continued 
strong commitment to moving toward a balanced budget. We can do it. And 
I hope we will attempt to make real progress to do it during the time 
still remaining in the 104th Congress.
  The ``round down'' provision also serves as an instructive example of 
the sorts of things that can be done--if we have the vision to act 
now--to achieve that end without causing any needy or deserving person 
any real pain. To round down a VA beneficiary's monthly check might 
cause some beneficiaries to lose one dollar per month of the COLA 
increase that will be forthcoming. Those COLA increases will range up 
to $50 per month and more. One dollar lost of the $50 increase is not a 
life-threatening hardship, I submit, to any person. Yet such a measure 
would result in savings of $500 million over a 6 year period. Such 
savings opportunities can be--and must always be--considered. To fail 
to do so will require much more drastic measures later.
  Please notice, Mr. President, I am talking about a measure that 
reduces ever so slightly a significant increase in benefits that would 
still be received by a VA beneficiary. I am not talking about cuts in 
veterans benefits. Despite what some so-called veterans advocates 
continue to say, I have never--ever--talked of any real cuts. Nor does 
anyone talk of actual cuts in veterans benefits as a route to a 
balanced budget--except, that is, one man: the President of the United 
States. President Clinton has proposed that VA health care spending be 
actually and truly cut from $16.9 billion to $13.0 billion in the year 
2000. And yet he seems to have gotten a free pass on that one from the 
so-called veterans advocates. Why that is, I have not been able to 
figure out. But I have a hunch that will be a topic of a different 
speech.
  For now, I just say again to my colleagues as I start to approach the 
final days of my final Congress: We must face up to the deficit and the 
national debt. And I say to the young people of this great land: Wake 
up. See what is happening. You must get involved--before your elders 
carelessly spend your legacy. If you do not force elected officials to 
act, in not too many years from now there will be nothing left in the 
Federal budget for you to spend on yourselves after Social Security, 
Medicare, Medicaid, Federal retirement, service on the debt and, yes, 
veterans benefits, are paid. Nothing left. That will be it. And that 
will be a tragedy. We can avoid it--but the Congress cannot wait. It 
must act now.
  I thank the Chair for the time to address this subject. And I yield 
the floor.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, as the ranking minority member of the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I urge the Senate to pass the pending 
legislation, S. 1791, the proposed Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-
Living Adjustment Act of 1996.
  Mr. President, effective December 1, 1996, this bill would increase 
the rates of compensation paid to veterans with service-connected 
disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation 
[DIC] paid to the survivors of certain service-disabled veterans. The 
rates would increase by the same percentage as the increase in Social 
Security and VA pension benefits for fiscal year 1997. The 
Congressional Budget Office currently estimates that rate of increase 
will be 2.8 percent.
  Mr. President, in my State of West Virginia, there are over 23,400 
service-disabled veterans and almost 7,500 survivors who depend on 
these compensation programs. Nationwide, the numbers are 2.2 million 
service-disabled veterans and 300,000 survivors. For many of the more 
seriously disabled individuals, this compensation is their primary 
source of income; this is certainly the case in my home State. Even 
small changes in the daily cost of living can produce hardship as they 
struggle to make ends meet, to put food on the table and to clothe and 
house their families.
  That is why the cost-of-living adjustment in the rates of VA 
compensation that we are now considering is so important. This 
adjustment is not a luxury--it is a necessity to protect the income of 
service-disabled veterans and their families from the continual erosion 
of inflation, thereby ensuring a standard of living that is decent and 
fair.
  Mr. President, these families have already sacrificed several fold 
for our country. First, they disrupted their lives, leaving behind the 
comforts and security of home, the companionship of family, friends, 
and loved ones, to go to strange places, live in cramped and difficult 
circumstances, and place themselves in harm's way. Then, they returned 
with disabilities that changed the course of their lives forever, and 
the lives of the family members who live with them.
  Truly we can never fully repay these veterans and their families for 
the sacrifices they have made. But we have a fundamental obligation to 
try to meet the financial needs of those who became disabled as the 
result of military service, as well as the needs of their families. And 
once we have put in place a compensation program, we have an equal 
obligation to periodically review that program to make sure that it 
remains adequate to meet those needs. This bill fulfills that 
obligation.
  Since 1976, Congress has consistently acted to safeguard the real 
value of these benefits by providing an annual COLA for compensation 
and DIC benefits. Most recently, on November 22, 1995, Congress enacted 
Public Law 104-57, which provided for a 2.6-percent increase in these 
benefits, effective December 1, 1995. The bill we currently consider 
carries on that proud and fitting tradition.
  Mr. President, I urge all of my colleagues to support this vitally 
important measure.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
deemed read a third time and the Veterans' Committee be immediately 
discharged from consideration of H.R. 3458; further, all after the 
enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 1791 be inserted in lieu 
thereof, the bill be read a third time and passed, the title amendment 
be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any 
statement relating to the bill be printed at the appropriate place in 
the Record, and that S. 1791 be placed back on the calendar.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 3458), as amended, was deemed read the third time and 
passed, as follows:
       Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives 
     (H.R. 3458) entitled ``An Act to increase, effective as of 
     December 1, 1996, 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.'', do pass with the following amendments:
       Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

[[Page S11462]]

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans' Compensation Cost-
     of-Living Adjustment Act of 1996''.

     SEC. 2. INCREASE IN COMPENSATION RATES AND LIMITATIONS.

       (a) In General.--(1) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
     shall, as provided in paragraph (2), increase, effective 
     December 1, 1996, the rates of and limitations on Department 
     of Veterans Affairs disability compensation and dependency 
     and indemnity compensation.
       (2) The Secretary shall increase each of the rates and 
     limitations in sections 1114, 1115(1), 1162, 1311, 1313, and 
     1314 of title 38, United States Code, that were increased by 
     the amendments made by the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-
     Living Adjustment Act of 1995 (Public Law No. 104-57; 109 
     Stat. 555). This increase shall be made in such rates and 
     limitations as in effect on November 30, 1996, and shall be 
     by the same percentage that benefit amounts payable under 
     title II of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.) 
     are increased effective December 1, 1996, as a result of a 
     determination under section 215(i) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
     415(i)).
       (b) Special Rule.--The Secretary may adjust 
     administratively, consistent with the increases made under 
     subsection (a)(2), the rates of disability compensation 
     payable to persons within the purview of section 10 of Public 
     Law 85-857 (72 Stat. 1263) who are not in receipt of 
     compensation payable pursuant to chapter 11 of title 38, 
     United States Code.
       (c) Publication Requirement.--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 1996, the Secretary 
     shall publish in the Federal Register the rates and 
     limitations referred to in subsection (a)(2) as increased 
     under this section.
  The title was amended so as to read:

       To increase, effective as of December 1, 1996, the rates of 
     disability compensation for veterans with service-connected 
     disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity 
     compensation for survivors of certain service-connected 
     disabled veterans, and for other purposes.

                          ____________________