[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 165 (Friday, November 6, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2744]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REINTRODUCING THE BRAVE ACT

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                         HON. JOHN P. SARBANES

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, November 6, 2009

  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I rise today to reintroduce the Benefit 
Rating Acceleration for Veterans Entitlements Act of 2009 or BRAVE Act. 
The BRAVE Act will cut through unnecessary red tape so that our most 
disabled veterans receive the benefits they deserve. It would make a 
common sense change to allow veterans receiving a rating of total 
disability from the Veterans Administration to also receive Social 
Security disability benefits without going through a separate and 
duplicative medical evaluation process, a process that can take years 
to navigate.
  In early 2007, when I was first elected to Congress, a veteran-
constituent contacted my staff to obtain assistance with his 
application for social security disability benefits. This veteran had 
already received a 100 percent disability rating from the Veterans 
Administration but had been waiting for more than a year to be approved 
for benefits at the Social Security Administration.
  The Social Security Act states that disability means the ``inability 
to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any 
medically determinable physical or mental impairment.'' By regulation, 
the Veterans Administration defines total or 100 percent disability as 
``any impairment of mind or body which is sufficient to render it 
impossible for the average person to follow a substantially gainful 
occupation.'' Despite the fact that these definitions are virtually the 
same, many veterans including my constituent endure two complicated and 
time consuming processes to prove the same condition.
  The Commission on Veteran's Disability Benefit found that only 61 
percent of those granted Individual Unemployability and 54 percent of 
those rated totally disabled by the Veterans Administration are 
receiving Social Security Disability Insurance. The Commission further 
explained that ``it is apparent that that either these veterans do not 
know to apply for SSDI or are being denied the insurance.'' The 
Veterans Disability Benefits Commission concluded that ``increased 
outreach should be made and better coordination between VA and Social 
Security should result in increased mutual acceptance of decisions.''
  It is for these reasons that I first introduced the BRAVE Act, with 
broad bipartisan support, in the 110th Congress. The legislation was 
supported by a range of veteran service organizations including the 
American Legion, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and the 
Paralyzed Veterans of America. The bill is all the more important at a 
time when we face significant increases in Social Security applications 
as a result of the aging baby boomer generation and as veterans of the 
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come home.
  Madam Speaker, our Nation's veterans don't deserve a bureaucratic 
runaround when they return home. I hope my colleagues will join me in 
support of the BRAVE Act.

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