[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 131 (Thursday, September 6, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S11133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         AMENDMENT TO H.R. 2642

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, later on this morning, I will be offering 
an amendment which, frankly, in terms of dollars, is not one of the big 
amendments as part of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs 
bill, which is over $100 billion. This amendment is only $20 million. 
But while it is small in the amount of money it deals with, it is 
enormously significant to the millions of men and women who have served 
our country in war, and it is especially relevant to disabled veterans, 
those people who have given as much as anyone can expect defending 
their country--the people without arms, the people without legs, the 
people in wheelchairs. It is for them I am offering this amendment, and 
I am very pleased that this amendment has the support of the American 
Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans, 
the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and AMVETS.
  The amendment I am offering addresses an ongoing and an emotional 
concern within the veterans community. It is the concern that we in the 
U.S. Government are nickel and diming veterans in an absolutely 
shameful way through the so-called rounding-down process in terms of 
the checks that go to disabled veterans. Some years ago, as a temporary 
budget Band-Aid, the Congress initiated the so-called rounding down of 
veterans disability benefits and a few other categories of benefits 
that affect veterans, their spouses, and their children. Under this 
rounding-down process, every year when we calculate the new disability 
benefits veterans will receive as a result of their COLAs, the 
resulting amount is rounded down to the whole dollar.
  Let me give an example of what I mean. A veteran receives a check, or 
should receive a check, every month for hypothetically $200.99. What we 
have done is say to that veteran: We are taking away, every month, that 
99 cents, and you are going to get a check for $200.
  Now, somebody here may say: Hey, 99 cents is not a lot of money. 
Multiplied by 12 months a year, you are talking about less than $12 a 
year. What is the problem? Well, the problem is, if you are a low-
income veteran, it does matter. But I think even more significantly 
than the dollars, what we are saying to that veteran who opens that 
check, sitting in a wheelchair, we are saving 99 cents a month on you. 
But by the way, we are giving no-bid contracts out in Iraq which cost 
the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, or perhaps billions of 
dollars, and we are going to balance the budget on your 99 cents per 
month.
  So the amount of money we are talking about here is not a whole lot, 
but symbolically, to thousands of disabled veterans, it says something 
about how we in the Congress feel about them. We are saving 99 cents a 
month. Well, I think we can afford to give that 99 cents to those guys 
in the wheelchairs, the people without one arm, the people who are 
blind, the people who can't hear, the people coming home from Iraq with 
traumatic brain injury. I think we can afford to give them that 99 
cents, and that is what this amendment is about. This amendment is 
going to cost all of $20 million--$20 million in a bill which is over 
$100 billion.
  Let me quote from the Independent Budget. I think many Members of the 
Senate know that the Independent Budget is the budget brought together 
by all of the major veterans groups, and this is what they say when 
they describe this process:

       Disability compensation and dependency and indemnity 
     compensation rates have historically been increased each year 
     to keep these benefits even with the cost of living. However, 
     as a temporary measure to reduce the budget deficit,--

  A temporary measure.

     Congress enacted legislation to require monthly payments, 
     after adjustment for increases in the cost of living, to be 
     rounded down to the nearest whole dollar amount.

  And let's remind ourselves what kind of benefits we are talking 
about. Disability compensation benefits are benefits that veterans 
receive if they have a service-related disability and were discharged 
under other than dishonorable conditions.

  Furthermore, this rounding down applies to what is known as the 
clothing allowance. When veterans have prosthetics or orthopedic 
appliances such as a wheelchair, they understandably have a high chance 
of wearing down or tearing clothing at a faster rate than the average 
person. In other words, you are in a wheelchair, it rubs, your clothing 
gets worn out. You get help with that. We are rounding down those 
checks.
  This is not a complicated piece of legislation. This is legislation 
that says to people who have done as much as a human being can do for 
this country that we are no longer going to continue to nickel-and-dime 
you. I hope very much the Members of the Senate will join me and the 
American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Paralyzed Veterans 
of America, the Disabled American Veterans, and AMVETS in supporting 
this legislation.
  I yield my time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Nevada is 
recognized.
  Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, are we in morning business now?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate is in morning business.

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