[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 21, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H2778-H2782]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IMPROVING COMPENSATION BENEFITS FOR VETERANS IN CERTAIN CASES OF
IMPAIRMENT OF VISION INVOLVING BOTH EYES
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 797) to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve
compensation benefits for veterans in certain cases of impairment of
vision involving both eyes, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 797
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. ENHANCED COMPENSATION BENEFITS FOR VETERANS IN
CERTAIN CASES OF IMPAIRMENT OF VISION INVOLVING
BOTH EYES.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``Dr.
James Allen Veteran Vision Equity Act''.
(b) Enhanced Compensation.--Section 1160(a)(1) of title 38,
United States Code, is amended--
(1) by striking ``blindness'' both places it appears and
inserting ``impairment of vision''; and
(2) by inserting before the semicolon at the end the
following: ``, where the impairment in each eye is to a
visual acuity of 20/200 or less or of a peripheral field of
20 degrees or less''.
SEC. 2. USE OF NATIONAL DIRECTORY OF NEW HIRES FOR INCOME
VERIFICATION PURPOSES FOR CERTAIN VETERANS
BENEFITS.
(a) Use of Information in National Directory of New
Hires.--Chapter 53 of title 38, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 5320. Use of National Directory of New Hires for
income verification purposes
``(a) Information From National Directory of New Hires.--
(1) The Secretary shall furnish to the Secretary of Health
and Human Services, on a quarterly basis or at such intervals
as may be determined by the Secretary, information in the
custody of the Secretary for comparison with information in
the National Directory of New Hires maintained by the
Secretary of Health and Human Services pursuant to section
453 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 653), in
[[Page H2779]]
order to obtain the information in such directory with
respect to individuals under the age of 65 who are applicants
for or recipients of benefits or services specified in
subsection (d).
``(2) The Secretary shall seek information pursuant to this
subsection only to the extent essential to determining
eligibility for benefits and services specified in subsection
(d) and the amount of benefits specified in paragraphs (1)
and (2) of that subsection for individuals under the age of
65.
``(3)(A) The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in
cooperation with the Secretary, shall compare information in
the National Directory of New Hires with information in the
custody of the Secretary furnished pursuant to paragraph (1),
and disclose information in that Directory to the Secretary,
in accordance with this subsection, for the purposes
specified in this subsection.
``(B) The Secretary of Health and Human Services may make a
disclosure in accordance with subparagraph (A) only to the
extent that the Secretary determines that such disclosure
does not interfere with the effective operation of the
program under part D of title IV of the Social Security Act.
``(4) The Secretary may use information resulting from a
data match pursuant to this subsection only for the purpose
of determining eligibility for benefits and services
specified in subsection (d) and the amount of benefits
specified in paragraphs (1) and (2) of that subsection.
``(5) The Secretary shall reimburse the Secretary of Health
and Human Services for the additional costs incurred by that
Secretary in furnishing information under this subsection.
Such reimbursement shall be at rates that the Secretary of
Health and Human Services determines to be reasonable (which
rates shall include payment for the costs of obtaining,
verifying, maintaining, and comparing the information).
``(b) Notification to Beneficiaries.--The Secretary shall
notify each applicant for, or recipient of, a benefit or
service specified in subsection (d) that income information
furnished by the applicant to the Secretary may be compared
with information obtained by the Secretary from the Secretary
of Health and Human Services under subsection (a). The
Secretary shall periodically transmit to recipients of such
benefits additional notifications of such matters.
``(c) Independent Verification Required.--The Secretary may
not, by reason of information obtained from the Secretary of
Health and Human Services under subsection (a) , terminate,
deny, suspend, or reduce any benefit or service described in
subsection (d) until the Secretary takes appropriate steps to
verify independently information relating to employment and
employment income.
``(d) Covered Benefits and Services.--The benefits and
services specified in this subsection are the following:
``(1) Needs-based pension benefits provided under chapter
15 of this title or under any other law administered by the
Secretary.
``(2) Parents' dependency and indemnity compensation
provided under section 1315 of this title.
``(3) Health-care services furnished under subsections
(a)(2)(G), (a)(3), and (b) of section 1710 of this title.
``(4) Compensation paid under chapter 11 of this title at
the 100 percent rate based solely on unemployability and
without regard to the fact that the disability or
disabilities are not rated as 100 percent disabling under the
rating schedule.
``(e) Limitation With Respect to Individual Unemployability
Cases.--In the case of compensation described in subsection
(d)(4), the Secretary may independently verify or otherwise
act upon wage or self-employment information referred to in
subsection (c) of this section only if the Secretary finds
that the amount and duration of the earnings reported in that
information clearly indicate that the individual is not
qualified for a rating of total disability.
``(f) Opportunity to Contest Findings.--The Secretary shall
inform the individual of the findings made by the Secretary
on the basis of verified information under subsection (c),
and shall give the individual an opportunity to contest such
findings, in the same manner as applies to other information
and findings relating to eligibility for the benefit or
service involved.
``(g) Source of Funds for Administration of Section.--The
Secretary shall pay the expenses of carrying out this section
from amounts available to the Department for the payment of
compensation and pension.
``(h) Termination of Authority.--The authority of the
Secretary to obtain information from the Secretary of Health
and Human Services under subsection (a) expires on September
30, 2012.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the
beginning of such chapter is amended by adding at the end the
following new item:
``5320. Use of National Directory of New Hires for income verification
purposes.''.
(c) Effective Date.--Section 5320 of title 38, United
States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall take effect
270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS TO PROVIDE AN EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
ALLOWANCE TO PERSONS PERFORMING QUALIFYING
WORK-STUDY ACTIVITIES.
Section 3485(a)(4) of title 38, United States Code, is
amended by striking ``June 30, 2007'' each place it appears
and inserting ``June 30, 2012''.
SEC. 4. PROVISION OF BRONZE REPRESENTATIONS OF THE LETTER
``V'' FOR GRAVE OF ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL BURIED
IN PRIVATE CEMETERY IN LIEU OF GOVERNMENT-
PROVIDED HEADSTONE OR MARKER.
Section 2306(d) of title 38, United States Code, is amended
by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(5) In lieu of furnishing a headstone or marker under
this subsection, the Secretary may furnish, if requested, a
bronze representation of the letter `V' to be attached to a
headstone or marker furnished at private expense. The
Secretary shall make available two sizes of such
representations for such purpose.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Filner) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
to include extraneous material on H.R. 797, as amended.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Salazar). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I would yield myself such time as I may
consume.
As noted, this bill is ``as amended.'' And I want to thank the
members on my committee on both sides of the aisle, particularly Mr.
Boozman of Arkansas and Mr. Lamborn of Colorado, for their very
constructive amendments. Mr. Boozman will talk later on what he did,
but we have extended the authorization for the work/study program at
his request for 5 years, so thank you for your amendments to that. And
we thank Ms. Baldwin, who has brought this to our attention and is very
committed to the health care of our veterans of this Nation.
So we are glad all to work together to get this to the House floor
today. This has been introduced in previous Congresses, but we are glad
it is on the floor now. It would allow veterans who receive veterans
disability compensation for impairment of vision in one eye to be
eligible to receive additional disability compensation for impairment
of vision in the eye that is not service connected, where that
impairment in each eye is to a visual acuity of 20/200 or less, or of a
peripheral field of 20 degrees or less.
Suffice it to say that there was a great blind spot in the law that
did not cover our veterans who would need the help.
It would direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary
of Health and Human Services to match and compare VA needs-based
pension benefits data, parents' dependency and indemnity compensation
data, health care services data, and unemployability compensation data
with the National Directory of New Hires, maintained by the Department
of Health and Human Services, for the purpose of determining
eligibility for such benefits and services.
{time} 1600
It would extend authorization of the veterans work/study program
until 2012 at the suggestion of Mr. Boozman, and allows for a bronze
``V'' marker in lieu of a government-provided headstone or marker for
burials in a private cemetery, at the suggestion of Mr. Lamborn.
It would affect an estimated 5 percent of the 13,000 veterans who
have service-connected blindness or loss of vision in one eye. As of
April 2006, the Walter Reed Medical Center alone has treated 140
returning OEF/OIF servicemembers for visual injuries.
I urge Members to support the bill. It is the least we can do for our
veterans.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise in strong support of H.R. 797, as amended, the Dr. James Allen
Veteran Vision Equity Act. I thank my colleagues, Mr. Hall of New York,
the chairman of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs
Subcommittee, and Mr. Lamborn of Colorado, the ranking member of that
subcommittee.
[[Page H2780]]
I also thank the chairman, Mr. Filner, and the ranking member, Mr.
Buyer, for bringing this important legislation to the floor; and the
prime sponsor, Ms. Baldwin.
This bill would, in fact, allow veterans who receive a disability
compensation for impairment in the vision of one eye to be eligible to
receive additional disability compensation for impairment of vision in
the eye that is not service connected.
This eligibility includes situations where the impairment in each eye
is to a visual acuity of 20/200 or less, or a peripheral field loss of
20 degrees or less. This is the same definition of ``legal blindness''
adopted by all 50 States and the Social Security Administration.
The New Hires Act would save the government money by allowing the
Secretary of the VA to consult with the Secretary of Health and Human
Services regarding unemployment compensation data in order to determine
the eligibility for VA needs-based pension benefits.
Also, CBO estimates that this section of H.R. 797, as amended, would
save the taxpayers $15 million over 10 years. Also included in H.R.
797, as amended, is a provision that extends the types of work study
jobs found in section 3485(a)(4) for 5 years through June 30 of 2012.
Current law allows work study recipients to perform a variety of
duties throughout VA, as well as veteran-related paperwork at their
schools.
We also extend the provision for 6 months in Public Law 109-461 to
prevent canceling benefits in the middle of a school year. I am pleased
we are able to extend this provision even further in this bill.
The last provision of this bill provides families with the option of
choosing a bronze ``V'' denoting veteran status, in lieu of a VA
headstone by graves already marked by a private marker. Many private
cemeteries do not allow a second marker on a grave because it
complicates routine maintenance. Therefore, that bronze ``V'' would
identify a veteran's grave in a manner that is universally acceptable,
and meet the family's desire to honor the deceased veteran.
The bronze ``V'' would also be readily identifiable to anybody
visiting the cemetery, and a standard way to identify veterans who
choose not to use a VA-provided headstone.
Once again, I express my strong support for H.R. 797, as amended.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Nevada (Ms. Berkley) who is an aggressive advocate for the veterans not
only in Las Vegas but across the Nation.
Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Filner and Mr. Miller
for their steadfast support for this legislation, and Ms. Baldwin for
bringing this to our attention for quite awhile now, waiting for us to
act, and act we should.
As Mr. Filner is well aware, having been to my congressional
district, southern Nevada has one of the fastest growing veterans
populations in the country, with nearly 218,000 veterans living in
Clark County. And when I first started serving in Congress, I only had
160,000 veterans, so our veterans population has increased quite
dramatically. It is even more important that former service men and
women have the health care and benefits that they have earned.
I am a cosponsor of this legislation which would allow veterans who
have complete loss of sight in one eye due to a service-connected
injury to receive increased disability compensation if they lose sight
in the other eye, regardless of whether that loss of sight is service
connected.
For some reason, and I don't understand why, the VA has a higher
threshold for determining blindness than any of the States and for the
Social Security Administration. Because of this, veterans like my
constituent, retired Army Major General Roy Kekahuna, are not covered
for deteriorating vision in both eyes, even though they are considered
legally blind.
Let us through this legislation demonstrate our true appreciation to
our veterans for their sacrifice on behalf of this Nation by meeting
our promise to provide them with proper health care and by passing this
important piece of legislation.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Boozman), the ranking member of the
Economic Opportunity Subcommittee.
Mr. BOOZMAN. First of all, I would like to associate myself with the
remarks that were said in the previous bill regarding the Suicide
Prevention Act. Again, I just appreciate, being a member of the
Veterans' Affairs Committee, I appreciate the hard work on that. It
really does make us all proud.
Mr. Speaker, for years the VA has awarded service-connected
disability ratings, including increased ratings for the loss of use for
paired organs, such as hearing, when only one organ was affected by
military service. The exception is the body's visual sensory organs and
it is time to remove that inequity. This brings the VA in line with eye
disability as done by everyone else in figuring eye disability.
As an optometrist and as an eye doctor I am very, very familiar with
this and used to help figure these things all of the time, the loss of
visual acuity in one eye on the other eye and the long-term effects of
that stress. To me, ignoring any loss of visual acuity due to
nonservice-connected causes just isn't rational.
I would like to thank Congresswoman Baldwin for her excellent work in
bringing this forward to the full House, and for her advocacy. She has
been a real bulldog, and I mean that in a very nice way, in just really
staying after this. And due to her efforts, she has been instrumental
in highlighting this problem. I have very much enjoyed working with her
to improve the law to better serve veterans with visual impairments.
I am also pleased that the bill contains an amendment which was
offered during the full committee markup to extend the VA work/study
allowance benefits for 5 years. This is a follow-on to a short-term, 6-
month extension we passed late last year, and will enable student
veterans the ability to continue in a wide variety of work/study
positions that directly benefit veterans while easing the workload on
the Federal staff at VA and DOD.
Current law allows work/study participants to work up to 20 hours per
week. Participants perform a variety of duties such as veteran-related
paperwork at schools or VA offices. Some participants perform outreach
services under the supervision of a VA employee. Others perform
services at VA medical facilities or the offices of the National
Cemetery Administration.
The VA work/study allowance is available to Americans training under
many programs, such as the Montgomery GI bill, as well as the program
for Vocational Training and Rehabilitation for Veterans with Service
Connected Disabilities, and several other programs.
The work/study portion of H.R. 797 allows us to extend the work/study
program without violating the PAYGO rules by using the offsets found
elsewhere in the bill.
I really want to thank Chairman Filner and Chairman Buyer for working
together. This was a difficult thing to get all of the needs crafted
together so we could kill two birds with one stone and rectify the
visual impairment part.
Mr. Speaker, this is an excellent bill. I urge my colleagues to
support H.R. 797.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Boozman, thank you again for having the initiative to
extend the work/study program. You took the creativity of Ms. Baldwin
who was able to save money in this bill, not only meeting the needs of
veterans, but by introducing a section to compare data which I hope you
will explain, saved us money which can now be used to extend the work/
study program for 5 years. Thank you for your amendment
Mr. Speaker, I am honored to yield such time as she may consume to
the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin), the author of this bill,
who not only solved a problem but found some money.
Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 797, the Dr.
James Allen Veteran Vision Equity Act.
This bill fixes an inequity that has resulted in the denial of
appropriate disability compensation to blinded veterans.
I wanted to share, first of all, the story of Dr. James Allen after
whom
[[Page H2781]]
this legislation is named. Dr. Allen is a distinguished, caring
professor of ophthalmology at the University of Wisconsin School of
Medicine. He has worked at our veterans hospital for nearly 33 years
and treated countless eye patients, including many veterans who are
blind.
One such patient is a Mr. Donald May. Don is a World War II veteran
who lost his right eye in a hand grenade explosion. A few years ago,
Mr. May began losing vision and ultimately became legally blind in his
other nonservice-connected eye. He applied to the Department of
Veterans Affairs for help, but was denied further benefits. He was told
that the current law in regard to paired organs did not apply to him
even though he was legally blind in both his service-connected right
eye and his nonservice-connected left eye.
After Dr. Allen brought the plight of Don May and many other patients
to my attention, I began to research why these veterans were being
denied the benefits that I felt they deserved, benefits that I believed
Congress intended to grant them. Through my work with the Blinded
Veterans Association, we discovered that while the current paired organ
statute covers blindness in theory, in practice few if any veterans
have been able to qualify for the additional disability compensation
under its terms.
Congress has rightly recognized that some human organs and limbs are
designed to work in pairs: our legs, our kidneys, our lungs, our ears,
and of course our eyes. In the instance of eyes, blindness in one eye
profoundly affects depth perception, even if sight is fully retained in
the other eye.
The paired organ statute was written to assist those veterans who
experience a service-connected loss of a paired organ or limb. This
statute recognizes the interdependency of paired organs, and endeavors
to treat the combined disability created by a nonservice-connected loss
and injury or degeneration of the remaining paired organ or limb as
though it, too, were the result of a service-connected disability. In
general, the paired organ statute accomplishes this task except its
treatment of loss of sight.
With regard to eyesight, the statute does not adequately define the
term blindness, nor is any provision made for the impairment of vision
in the nonservice-connected eye short of blindness.
Rather than using a visual acuity of 20/200 or a loss of field of
vision 20 degrees, as is the definition of legal blindness that has
been adopted by all 50 States and the Social Security Administration,
the Department of Veterans Affairs uses a much more restrictive 5/200
rating for legal blindness. I was asked to describe exactly what that
5/200 means. Really, in layman's terms, it is the equivalent to having
light perception only, but the specific definition is somebody with the
ability to see at 5 feet what most of the rest of us could see at 200
feet.
As a result, few if any blinded veterans are able to qualify for
additional compensation under the paired organ statute.
{time} 1615
H.R. 797, the Dr. James Allen Veteran Vision Equity Act, fixes this
problem. It defines blindness as impairment of vision where the
impairment is to a visual acuity of 20/200 or less or a peripheral
field loss of 20 degrees or less. This change in the law would only
affect a small percentage, estimated to be roughly 5 percent, of the
13,000-plus veterans who are service-connected for loss of vision in
one eye.
Yet, such a change would send a powerful signal to our Nation's
blinded veterans that their hardships are not forgotten. Indeed, our
Nation's blinded veterans face significant challenges in the labor
market.
The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
found that for individuals with visual impairments, to the extent they
are unable to read letters, that the employment rate is only 30.8
percent compared to 82.1 percent for people without disabilities. Given
this employment trend, and the unique socioeconomic experiences of our
veterans, it is even more urgent that Congress correct this one last
inequity in the current paired organ statute and address the life-
altering impact of blindness on our veterans.
I want to mention also that in compliance with our pay-as-you-go
rules, section 2 of H.R. 797 fully offsets the cost of additional
vision benefits. It directs the Veterans Secretary and the Secretary of
Health and Human Services to match and compare VA needs-based pension
benefits data, parents' dependency and indemnity compensation data,
health care services data and unemployment data with the National
Directory of New Hires maintained by HHS for the purpose of determining
eligibility for such benefits and services. According to the GAO, the
General Accountability Office, such data-matching project would help
reduce fraud and waste within the VA system as it determines
eligibility and benefits to those veterans thought to be unemployable,
but who are indeed working.
I would like to thank Chairman Filner, Subcommittee Chairman John
Hall, as well as Congressman Boozman, Congressman Snyder and
Congressman Miller for their unwavering support of this bill. I also
want to thank the staff of the Veterans' Affairs Committee for helping
advance this legislation.
H.R. 797 is a modest but very important step in restoring fair
treatment to those blinded due to their service to our country and to
further our commitment to them. Their sacrifices and service to this
Nation should be matched by our desire to improve the quality of life
for them and for their families.
I want to note that the Blinded Veterans Association has identified
over 200 soldiers returning from Operation Enduring Freedom in
Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom who are blinded in one eye due
to service-related injuries and could perhaps in the future benefit
from this legislation.
I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R. 797.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the prime
sponsor again of the piece of legislation she has. As my colleague Mr.
Boozman said earlier, she worked many long hours to bring this piece of
legislation to the floor. I wish we could have done it sooner. I am
glad to see it is moving forward at this time.
With that, I would like to recognize a new member to our committee. I
yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn).
(Mr. LAMBORN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I rise today in support of H.R. 797, the Dr. James Allen Veteran
Vision Equity Act. I would like to thank Chairman Filner, Ranking
Member Buyer and my colleague Mr. Hall for their help in bringing this
important legislation to the floor.
Mr. Speaker, I offered an amendment to this bill which would provide
families the option of choosing a bronze V in lieu of a VA headstone
for graves already marked by a private marker. I am happy to say that
this amendment was accepted with bipartisan support during committee
markup.
Many private cemeteries do not allow a second marker on a grave, but
a bronze V would be accepted by all cemeteries and would identify a
veteran's grave in the same manner as a VA headstone.
While not the intent of the amendment, it may also lead to a decrease
in costs for the Veterans Affairs Department. The average cost of a VA
headstone is about $100. Last year, the VA provided 6,534 second
markers for a total cost of about $650,000 plus shipping. The cost for
the same number of bronze V markers would have only been between
$148,000 and $184,000.
Mounting of these second markers is at the family's expense, usually
several times the cost of the stone. The bronze V, however, will avoid
the need for professional mounting, thus reducing significant expenses
for the veterans' families.
This amendment not only distinguishes our Nation's veterans on their
headstones, but it also allows families to demonstrate their loved
one's selfless service to our Nation in an efficient and cost-effective
manner.
It provides a great solution to an unfortunate problem with the added
bonus of saving money for veterans' families and the VA.
Mr. Speaker, this bill will help our veterans, and I urge my
colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 797.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, again, I would like to thank Mr. Lamborn for
[[Page H2782]]
this very important addition. It will give families added consolation,
of course, on the burial of a loved one. So we thank you
I have no further requests for time.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, we have no further requests for
time, and we yield back the balance of our time.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, we urge support for H.R. 797, as amended,
and I yield back our time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Salazar). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 797, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will
be postponed.
____________________