[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 22, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E57]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ``RETRO PAY'' FOR DISABLED RETIREE VETERANS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 22, 2008

  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, I wish to submit to the Congressional 
Record an article dated December 19, 2007 summarizing the plight of 
many of our Nation's veterans as they wait for their benefits.

                 [From the Plain Dealer, Dec. 19, 2007]

  DFAS Says Hiring To Clear Backlog of Disabled Vets' benefits Claims

                           (By Sabrina Eaton)

       Washington.--The federal agency that processes pay for 
     military retirees pledged Tuesday that its contractor will 
     hire an extra 61 workers in Cleveland to clear a backlog of 
     more than 48,000 benefit claims from veterans who are 
     disabled by combat injuries.
       The director of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service 
     promised Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich that the 
     backlog of claims--some of which date to 2003--will be 
     eliminated by April with the extra push from contractor 
     Lockheed Martin.
       ``Federal benefits are meaningless if the intended 
     beneficiaries do not receive them,'' said Kucinich, who 
     called it a ``tragedy'' that so many veterans have waited for 
     years to get money they're entitled to under a pair of 
     programs for disabled veterans.
       The payments stem from a law enacted in 2003 that ended a 
     ban on veterans simultaneously receiving military retirement 
     pay and disability compensation for health problems traceable 
     to military service. Before 2003, veterans had to choose.
       Disabled veterans have to apply for the simultaneous 
     payments under the ``Combat-Related Special Compensation'' 
     and ``Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay'' programs. 
     After they are approved, veterans can get back pay to the 
     date their eligibility began.
       DFAS and the Department of Veterans Affairs have already 
     processed more than 130,000 of the cases and paid out more 
     than $220 million, says DFAS spokesman Thomas LaRock. Average 
     payments to veterans under the program have been $1,700, he 
     said.
       LaRock said the easiest claims were handled first. The 
     more-complex cases were delayed because they require manual 
     computations. He said many of them are affected by special 
     circumstances, like changes in the veterans' disability 
     level.
       ``These are complicated cases that are left, and we are 
     processing them as soon as we can,'' agreed Lockheed Martin 
     spokeswoman Emily Simone.
       One of the many veterans who has been lobbying DFAS, 
     retired Army pilot Wavie Sharp of San Antonio, Texas, says 
     payments have been handled in a ``painfully slow manner,'' 
     and he noted that some older veterans have died waiting for 
     their money. He blames the problems on DFAS for failing to 
     demand progress from Lockheed Martin until Kucinich 
     intervened.
       ``I'm angry,'' said Sharp, who figures he is personally 
     owed between $10,000 and $31,000. ``They've been dragging 
     their feet for four years. This is a long time to ask for 
     patience. Thank God for Mr. Kucinich. Everyone else gave us 
     lip service.''

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