[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 158 (Thursday, October 18, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S13134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      VETERANS' COMPENSATION COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 2007

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Veterans' 
Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 
1284, and the Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 1284) to increase, effective as of December 1, 
     2007, 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.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, as chairman of the Senate Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs, I am speaking in support of Senate passage of S. 
423, the ``Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 
2007.'' This measure, which I introduced earlier this year and which 
the Committee on Veterans' Affairs reported on July 24, would direct 
the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs to increase, effective December 1, 
2007, the rates of veterans' compensation to keep pace with the rising 
cost-of-living in this country. The rate adjustment is equal to that 
provided on an annual basis to Social Security recipients and is based 
on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index.
  Congress regularly enacts an annual cost-of-living 
adjustment,''COLA,'' for veterans' compensation in order to ensure that 
inflation does not erode the purchasing power of the veterans and their 
families who depend upon this income to meet their needs. This past 
year Congress passed, and the President signed into law, Public Law 
109-361, which resulted in a COLA increase of 3.3 percent for 2007. The 
cost-of-living adjustment for 2008 will be 2.3 percent.
  As I have stated many times, it is important that we view veterans 
compensation, including the annual COLA, and all benefits earned by 
veterans, as a continuing cost of war. Unfortunately, it seems highly 
likely that the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will continue 
and this in turn will result in injuries and disabilities that will 
yield an increase in claims for compensation. One million, six hundred 
thousand servicemembers have deployed in support of Operations Enduring 
and Iraqi Freedom, and studies by VA indicate that the most significant 
predictor of new claims activity is the size of the active force.
  The COLA affects, among other benefits, veterans' disability 
compensation and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving 
spouses and children. Many of the more than 3 million recipients of 
those benefits depend upon these tax-free payments not only to provide 
for their own basic needs, but those of their spouses, children and 
parents as well. Without an annual COLA increase, these veterans and 
their families would see the value of their hard-earned benefits slowly 
dwindle, and we, as a Congress, would be in abandonment of our duty to 
ensure that those who sacrificed so much for this country receive the 
benefits and services to which they are entitled.
  Disbursement of disability compensation to our nation's veterans 
constitutes a core responsibility of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs. It is a necessary measure of gratitude afforded to those 
veterans whose lives were irrevocably altered by their service to this 
country.
  I urge all of our colleagues to support passage of this COLA 
increase. I also ask our colleagues for their continued support for our 
Nation's veterans.
  Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third 
time, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and any 
statement be printed in the Record.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 1284) was ordered to be read a third time, was read 
the third time, and passed.

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