[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 31, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1411-S1413]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REID (for himself, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Biden, Ms. Mikulski, 
        Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Salazar, and Mr. Brown):
  S. 439. A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to permit 
certain retired members of the uniformed services who have a service-
connected disability to receive both disability compensation from the 
Department of Veterans Affairs for their disability and either retired 
pay by reason of their years of military service or Combat-Related 
Special Compensation; to the Committee on Armed Services.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we are going to have a debate on Iraq, and 
it will be a historic debate about that war, a war that has demanded 
unparalleled sacrifices from our men and women in uniform.
  While we have our disagreements with the President's conduct of the 
war, all 100 Senators stand side by side in supporting our troops. They 
have done everything asked of them, carrying out a difficult mission 
with honor and skill. We as a country owe the brave men and women in 
our military a debt of gratitude and have responsibility to ensure our 
veterans receive both the thanks of a grateful nation and the benefits 
they have earned,

[[Page S1412]]

and that is a subject I would like to discuss briefly this morning.
  About 8 years ago, one of my staff came to me and said: Senator, do 
you realize that if a person is disabled in the military and retires 
from the military, they cannot draw on both their benefits? I said: 
What? And he repeated that. If you are in the military and you become 
disabled and you retire, you cannot draw both your benefits. I thought 
my staffer didn't know what he was talking about, but he did. That was 
the law in our country and had been for many years, and it was a wrong 
law. That law is still mostly in effect, and that is too bad.
  When someone who is disabled retires from the U.S. military, he or 
she cannot draw on both their benefits. If you retire from any other 
branch of the Federal Government, such as the Bureau of Land 
Management, you can draw both your disability pay and your retirement 
pay but, no, not if you are in the military. These people have been 
robbed of their benefits, in my opinion, and I refer specifically to 
thousands of men and women who have been denied their retirement 
because of an unfair policy referred to as concurrent receipt.
  By law, disabled veterans, as I have said, cannot collect disability 
pay and retirement pay at the same time. What does this mean? It means 
for every dollar of compensation a disabled veteran receives as a 
result of their injuries, they must sacrifice a dollar of their 
retirement pay they earned in the service of our Nation. In many cases, 
this ban takes away a veteran's full retirement pay, wiping away the 
benefits he or she earned in 20 or more years of service. That is 
wrong.
  Concurrent receipt is a special tax on the men and women who keep us 
safe. Few veterans can afford to live on their retirement pay alone. 
Those burdened with disability face an even greater struggle, often 
denied any postservice work. They receive disability compensation to 
pay for pain, suffering, and loss of future earnings caused by a 
service-connected illness or injury. No other Federal retiree is forced 
to make forfeit of their retirement--only our disabled military 
retirees. This is not just an error, it is a disgrace.
  Of course, concurrent receipt is not a new problem. I hope most 
everyone in the Senate knows about it. This is the seventh year I have 
introduced legislation to give disabled veterans the support they have 
earned, and I will continue fighting until we succeed, ending this 
unacceptable policy.
  I first of all want to suggest that the two managers of the Defense 
bill, every year since I have worked on this, have been Senator Warner 
and Senator Levin, and they have helped me. I appreciate that very 
much. They have been thoughtful and understanding in their approach to 
this issue. What has happened these past 7 years is good but not really 
good. We have chipped away at this unfair policy of concurrent receipt.
  In 2000, I introduced legislation to eliminate this unfair policy for 
the first time. I did it at the end of the 106th Congress. This 
legislation passed the Senate but was removed by the House during 
conference. So I reintroduced the legislation in the 107th Congress, in 
both 2001 and 2002. Unfortunately, it was once again adopted by the 
Senate but removed in conference.
  In 2003, I proposed legislation to allow disabled veterans with at 
least a 50-percent disability rating to become eligible for full 
concurrent receipt over a 10-year phase-in period. Despite veto threats 
from the Bush administration, Congress passed this very important 
version of concurrent receipt.
  In 2004, I took it a step further. I introduced legislation to 
eliminate the 10-year phase-in period for veterans with a 100-percent 
disability. The motivation here was to get concurrent receipt to the 
most severely disabled veterans. We thought many of these veterans 
would never see the benefits with a 10-year phase-in. They are old 
World War II veterans, where the average age is well over 80 now, and 
to think they would have to wait 10 years for a phase-in isn't very 
fair.
  In 2005, we focused on the most severely disabled veterans and 
successfully eliminated the 10-year phase-in for veterans listed as 
unemployable. I was pleased with the passage of that 2005 amendment but 
disappointed that the conference committee chose not to enact this 
valuable legislation for veterans rated as unemployable until 2009. So 
in 2006, I sought to get unemployable veterans immediate relief, but we 
didn't act. Congress didn't act.
  So here we are in 2007, back at it again. Today, concurrent receipt 
remains one of my highest priorities. It is a priority, I believe, in 
fairness. We need to continue to chip away at this policy, and I am 
committed to that goal 100 percent, so that 100 percent of disabled 
veterans get the money they earn in being part of the great fighting 
force of this Nation.
  We are blessed in this country to be defended by an All-Volunteer 
Army. These patriots put their lives and safety on the line because 
they love this country. I believe it is time for this country and this 
Congress to repay their service and sacrifice, and that is why I am 
reintroducing today the Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2007.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of this 
legislation be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 439

       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 ``Retired Pay Restoration Act 
     of 2007''.

     SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENT OF BOTH RETIRED PAY AND 
                   VETERANS' DISABILITY COMPENSATION FOR CERTAIN 
                   MILITARY RETIREES WITH COMPENSABLE SERVICE-
                   CONNECTED DISABILITIES.

       (a) Extension of Concurrent Receipt Authority to Retirees 
     With Service-Connected Disabilities Rated Less Than 50 
     Percent.--
       (1) Repeal of 50 percent requirement.--Section 1414 of 
     title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking 
     paragraph (2) of subsection (a).
       (2) Computation.--Paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of such 
     section is amended by adding at the end the following new 
     subparagraph:
       ``(G) For a month for which the retiree receives veterans' 
     disability compensation for a disability rated as 40 percent 
     or less or has a service-connected disability rated as zero 
     percent, $0.''.
       (b) Repeal of Phase-In of Concurrent Receipt for Retirees 
     With Service-Connected Disabilities Rated as Total.--
     Subsection (a)(1) of such section is amended by striking 
     ``except that'' and all that follows and inserting ``except--
       ``(A) in the case of a qualified retiree receiving 
     veterans' disability compensation for a disability rated as 
     100 percent, payment of retired pay to such veteran is 
     subject to subsection (c) only during the period beginning on 
     January 1, 2004, and ending on December 31, 2004; and
       ``(B) in the case of a qualified retiree receiving 
     veterans' disability compensation for a disability rated as 
     total by reason of unemployability, payment of retired pay to 
     such veteran is subject to subsection (c) only during the 
     period beginning on January 1, 2004, and ending on December 
     31, 2007.''.
       (c) Clerical Amendments.--
       (1) The heading for section 1414 of such title is amended 
     to read as follows:

     ``Sec. 1414. Members eligible for retired pay who are also 
       eligible for veterans' disability compensation: concurrent 
       payment of retired pay and disability compensation''.

       (2) The item relating to such section in the table of 
     sections at the beginning of chapter 71 of such title is 
     amended to read as follows:

``1414. Members eligible for retired pay who are also eligible for 
              veterans' disability compensation: concurrent payment of 
              retired pay and disability compensation.''.
       (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall take effect on January 1, 2008, and shall apply to 
     payments for months beginning on or after that date.

     SEC. 3. COORDINATION OF SERVICE ELIGIBILITY FOR COMBAT-
                   RELATED SPECIAL COMPENSATION AND CONCURRENT 
                   RECEIPT.

       (a) Eligibility for TERA Retirees.--Subsection (c) of 
     section 1413a of title 10, United States Code, is amended by 
     striking ``entitled to retired pay who--'' and inserting 
     ``who--
       ``(1) is entitled to retired pay, other than a member 
     retired under chapter 61 of this title with less than 20 
     years of service creditable under section 1405 of this title 
     and less than 20 years of service computed under section 
     12732 of this title; and
       ``(2) has a combat-related disability.''.
       (b) Amendments To Standardize Similar Provisions.--
       (1) Clerical amendment.--The heading for paragraph (3) of 
     section 1413a(b) of such title is amended by striking 
     ``rules'' and inserting ``rule''.
       (2) Qualified retirees.--Subsection (a) of section 1414 of 
     such title, as amended by section 2(a), is amended--

[[Page S1413]]

       (A) by striking ``a member or'' and all that follows 
     through ``retiree')'' and inserting ``a qualified retiree''; 
     and
       (B) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(2) Qualified retirees.--For purposes of this section, a 
     qualified retiree, with respect to any month, is a member or 
     former member of the uniformed services who--
       ``(A) is entitled to retired pay, other than in the case of 
     a member retired under chapter 61 of this title with less 
     than 20 years of service creditable under section 1405 of 
     this title and less than 20 years of service computed under 
     section 12732 of this title; and
       ``(B) is also entitled for that month to veterans' 
     disability compensation.''.
       (3) Disability retirees.--Subsection (b) of section 1414 of 
     such title is amended--
       (A) by striking ``Special Rules'' in the subsection heading 
     and all that follows through ``is subject to'' and inserting 
     ``Special Rule for Chapter 61 Disability Retirees.--In the 
     case of a qualified retiree who is retired under chapter 61 
     of this title, the retired pay of the member is subject to''; 
     and
       (B) by striking paragraph (2).
       (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall take effect on January 1, 2008, and shall apply to 
     payments for months beginning on or after that date.
                                 ______