VFW IL District 17

In This Issue:
1. Senate Passes Large Benefits Bill
2. House VA Committee Bills
3. Senate Hearing on VA/DOD Improvements
4. OIF/OEF Campaign Stars

1. Senate Passes Large Veterans Bill: The Senate passed 96-1 a large veterans' package that improves a wide-array of benefits, including life insurance, burial allowance and adaptive equipment grants. The package now moves to the House. Some of the VFW-supported provisions in S. 1315 would:
• Increase the maximum amount of supplemental Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance from $20,000 to $30,000.
• Expand eligibility for home improvement and structural alteration assistance to include permanently disabled servicemembers.
• Provide a specially-adapted housing grant to veterans and qualified servicemembers with severe burn injuries.
• Extend authority of the VA to assist individuals living temporarily in residences owned by family members.
• Provide automobile and adaptive equipment assistance to disabled veterans and servicemembers with severe burn injuries.
• Increase to $445 from the current $300 allowance for veteran burial plots.
• Provide a presumption of service-connection for osteoporosis for former POWs with post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Increase cost-of-living for additional dependency and indemnity compensation paid to certain surviving spouses with minor dependent children.
• Expand retroactive traumatic injury protection under SGLI (TSGLI) to include all servicemembers, not just those injured in Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.
For a complete listing of S. 1315 provisions, visit the Thomas website at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.01315: