[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 41 (Monday, March 9, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S2911]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REID:
  S. 546. 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, I take a great deal of pride in the work 
done by the 110th Congress to fulfill our Government's obligations to 
our Nation's veterans. Our legislative accomplishments in those 2 years 
were significant.
  We significantly increased funding for the Department of Veterans 
Affairs; we enacted a comprehensive program that provides tuition and 
benefits to every veteran who serves after 9/11; we refused to allow 
our wounded warriors to fall through the cracks, remedying the 
substandard care that many were receiving, and broadening eligibility 
for treatment programs to address the war's physical and psychological 
toll; we brought attention and funding to veterans' mental health 
issues, improving the level of care and access to treatment for both 
veterans and their family members; and we added provisions to the 
Housing and Economic Recovery Act to help protect our veterans from 
becoming victims of the housing crisis.
  Indeed, we can be proud of these accomplishments, but I rise today to 
bring to light one area in which Congress can and must do more. For 
eight years I have been working to eliminate an unconscionable policy 
under which a veteran who is classified as `disabled' by the Veterans 
Administration is required, in essence, to pay his or her own 
disability compensation out of retirement pay received from the 
Department of Defense.
  As it stands now, a disabled veteran is, by law, prevented from 
collecting both disability pay and retired pay. Despite the fact that a 
veteran is eligible for each for a different reason, the law prohibits 
receiving both. The end result of this prohibition known as 
``Concurrent Receipt'' is that for every dollar a veteran receives as 
disability compensation, a dollar is deducted from his or her 
retirement pay. In some 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.
  Since 2000, I have been working to end this absurd policy. In 2003, 
Congress passed the first legislation in this vein, which allowed 
veterans with at least a 50 percent disability rating to become 
eligible for concurrent receipt of benefits over a 10-year phase-in 
period. The following year we successfully eliminated the ten year 
phase-in for those veterans with a 100 percent disability rating. In 
2005, we passed legislation that permitted the concurrent receipt of 
retired and disability compensation to veterans who have been 
classified by the VA as ``unemployable,'' however this group of 
veterans has had to wait until this year to receive the benefit of this 
legislation. Our Nation's veterans should have to wait no longer.
  It is past time to eliminate the remaining bar to concurrent receipt 
of disability compensation and military retirement pay. I am proud to 
introduce the Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2009.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill 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. 546

       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 2009''.

     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) Clerical Amendments.--
       (1) The heading of 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.''.
       (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall take effect on January 1, 2009, 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) Amendments To Standardize Similar Provisions.--
       (1) Qualified retirees.--Subsection (a) of section 1414 of 
     title 10, United States Code, as amended by section 2(a), is 
     amended--
       (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 by reason of 
     section 12731b of this title); and
       ``(B) is also entitled for that month to veterans' 
     disability compensation.''.
       (2) Disability retirees.--Paragraph (2) of subsection (b) 
     of section 1414 of such title is amended to read as follows:
       ``(2) Special rule for retirees with fewer than 20 years of 
     service.--The retired pay of a qualified retiree who is 
     retired under chapter 61 of this title with fewer than 20 
     years of creditable service is subject to reduction by the 
     lesser of--
       ``(A) the amount of the reduction under sections 5304 and 
     5305 of title 38; or
       ``(B) the amount (if any) by which the amount of the 
     member's retired pay under such chapter exceeds the amount 
     equal to 2\1/2\ percent of the member's years of creditable 
     service multiplied by the member's retired pay base under 
     section 1406(b)(1) or 1407 of this title, whichever is 
     applicable to the member.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall take effect on January 1, 2009, and shall apply to 
     payments for months beginning on or after that date.
                                 ______