[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 125 (Friday, September 29, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H8043-H8044]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
VETERANS' COMPENSATION COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 2006
Mr. BUYER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the
Speaker's table the Senate bill (S. 2562) to increase, effective as of
December 1, 2006, 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, and ask
for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the Senate bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Indiana?
There was no objection.
The Clerk read the Senate bill, as follows:
S. 2562
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 2006''.
SEC. 2. INCREASE IN RATES OF DISABILITY COMPENSATION AND
DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION.
(a) Rate Adjustment.--Effective on December 1, 2006, the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall increase, in accordance
with subsection (c), the dollar amounts in effect on November
30, 2006, for the payment of disability compensation and
dependency and indemnity compensation under the provisions
specified in subsection (b).
(b) Amounts To Be Increased.--The dollar amounts to be
increased pursuant to subsection (a) are the following:
(1) Wartime disability compensation.--Each of the dollar
amounts under section 1114 of title 38, United States Code.
(2) Additional compensation for dependents.--Each of the
dollar amounts under sections 1115(1) of such title.
(3) Clothing allowance.--The dollar amount under section
1162 of such title.
(4) Dependency and indemnity compensation to surviving
spouse.--Each of the dollar amounts under subsections (a)
through (d) of section 1311 of such title.
(5) Dependency and indemnity compensation to children.--
Each of the dollar
[[Page H8044]]
amounts under sections 1313(a) and 1314 of such title.
(c) Determination of Increase.--
(1) Percentage.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), each
dollar amount described in subsection (b) 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.) are increased effective December 1, 2006,
as a result of a determination under section 215(i) of such
Act (42 U.S.C. 415(i)).
(2) Rounding.--Each dollar amount increased under paragraph
(1), if not a whole dollar amount, shall be rounded to the
next lower whole dollar amount.
(d) Special Rule.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may
adjust administratively, consistent with the increases made
under subsection (a), the rates of disability compensation
payable to persons under section 10 of Public Law 85-857 (72
Stat. 1263) who have not received compensation under chapter
11 of title 38, United States Code.
SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF ADJUSTED RATES.
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall publish in the
Federal Register the amounts specified in section 2(b), as
increased under that section, not later than the date on
which 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 2007.
SEC. 4. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.
Section 1311 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by
redesignating the second subsection (e) (as added by section
301(a) of the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2004
(Public Law 108-454; 118 Stat. 3610)) as subsection (f).
Mr. BUYER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the
Speaker's table the bill (S. 2562) the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-
Living Adjustment Act of 2006, and move for its immediate consideration
in the House.
Mr. Speaker, the annual cost-of-living adjustment, S. 2562, as
amended, is one of the more important bills the Congress considers each
year since it was first provided in 1976. Briefly, S. 2562, as amended,
would authorize a cost-of-living adjustment--COLA--to VA's disability
compensation effective December 1, 2006, as well as publication of the
rates.
The Congressional Budget Office currently projects the COLA will be
2.2 percent. However, it may be higher or lower depending on changes in
the Consumer Price Index. The exact percentage will be calculated in
the next few weeks and the COLA will go into effect on December 1,
2006.
The cost of providing a COLA is assumed in the Administration's
budget baseline. Likewise, H.R. 5385, the Military Quality of Life and
Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2007, fully
funds this year's veterans COLA.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Ranking Member Lane Evans for all
his hard work and cooperation this Congress in his advocacy for
veterans on this and other legislation. It has been truly a pleasure to
work with him as Ranking Member this Congress. I do not think he ever
forgot the core values shared by his family, and taught by his parents
where he grew up. These same core values were polished by the United
States Marine Corps. He embraced them and they were enduring and they
helped guide him here in his service to country. Mr. Evans will be
missed on this Committee and in the House.
Mr. Speaker, I hope all Members will support this bill and I ask
unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks and that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks, and include extraneous material on S. 2562, as amended.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S.
2562, as amended, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment
Act of 2006. The House passed a similar measure, H.R. 4843, on July 26,
2006 by a vote of 408-0.
Each year since 1976, Congress has provided a cost-of-living
adjustment (COLA) to the benefits provided to our Nation's disabled
veterans and their survivors.
The purpose of the annual COLA is to ensure that Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) cash benefits retain their purchasing power and
are not eroded by inflation.
The House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees are following their
longstanding practice of setting the COLA by reference to the yet-to-
be-determined Social Security increase.
In February 2006, the Administration projected a 2.6 percent
increase; as of May 2006, the Congressional Budget Office is projecting
the COLA to be 2.2 percent. However, it may be higher or lower
depending on changes in the Consumer Price Index. The exact percentage
will be calculated in the next few weeks and the COLA will go into
effect on December 1, 2006.
As Chairman Buyer indicated, this is one of the more important pieces
of legislation the Veterans' Committee brings to the floor each year,
and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Buyer,
Ranking Member Evans, and our Subcommittee Chairman Miller, as well as
Senator Craig and Senator Akaka on the Senate side, for moving forward
on this bill. Passage of this legislation will assure most of the men
and women currently receiving benefits from the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) receive a well-deserved increase in benefits as of January
1, 2007.
We should never allow the compensation received by veterans, disabled
in service to the Nation to erode in value as the cost of living rises.
S. 2562, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of
2006, will help our service-disabled veterans and their survivors
maintain the purchasing power of their benefits in 2007 by providing
for an increase in benefits.
This bill will help most, but not all, VA beneficiaries maintain the
value of their benefits. Once again, I am disappointed that the bill
does not include funding to allow our widows, widowers and their
children to receive a cost-of-living adjustment for their supplemental
transitional benefits as provided in the House passed bill. As a
result, the value of the $250 transitional benefit paid to surviving
spouses with minor children for their first 2 years of eligibility will
erode in value in 2006.
Mr. Speaker, if we can find millions to maintain the tax cuts
provided to our wealthiest citizens, surely we can find an additional
five or ten dollars a month to maintain the transitional benefit paid
to our surviving spouses with children at its current purchasing power.
Our Gold Star Wives, husbands whose wives have perished in our current
conflict and their children deserve better.
No amount of money can adequately compensate our veterans for the
loss of their health, or families for the loss of a loved one. It is
important that the benefits, which our Nation provides to partially
compensate for such losses, do not lose their value over time.
In 2005, over 29,000 veterans in Nevada received disability
compensation or pension payments from VA and thousands of Nevada family
members and survivors receive VA cash benefits.
The action we are taking here today will help the Nevada veterans and
families who depend on these VA benefits.
I understand the urgency of passing this COLA so that veterans and
their dependents will receive a timely increase in VA benefits. I hope
that before this Congress recesses for the year, the increase in DIC
benefits and other provisions passed by the House and Senate can be
enacted into law. Those who have served this Nation, deserve no less.
S. 2562 will receive my full support and it deserves the support of
all Members of this House.
The Senate bill was ordered to be read a third time, was read the
third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the
table.
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