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VFW Washington Weekly - September 12, 2008

Friday, September 12, 2008 at 08:35 PM

by dist6

In This Issue:
1. COLA Passes House
2. House VA Committee Hearings
3. FY2009 NDAA
4. Wounded Warrior Resource Center Established


1. COLA Passes House: The House cleared a cost-of-living bill Wednesday that would provide an increase for veterans with service-connected disabilities, as well as dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) for families of deceased veterans.

The Senate passed the veterans' COLA measure in July. The COLA bill, S 2617, provides for a Dec. 1 increase in disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, and pensions that will match whatever increase is provided in Social Security benefits. The increase, which applies to about 2.8 million veterans and survivors, would first appear in January paychecks. The Social Security increase won't be known until mid-October, but is expected to be a minimum of 6 percent. The Social Security COLA automatically applies to military and federal civilian retired pay, but veterans' disability and survivor benefits and pensions increase only through the enactment of new legislation. The COLA bill now awaits the President's signature.

2. House VA Committee Hearings On Tuesday, the Subcommittee on Health held a legislative hearing to review three bills. VFW provided testimony for the record and supported HR 3051, The Heroes at Home Act and HR 6153, The Veterans' Medical Personnel Recruitment and Retention Act.

-HR 3051 would provide much needed relief for those suffering from TBI by creating a family caregiver program to train families or friends of veterans suffering from the effects of severe brain injuries. It also requires VA to conduct outreach to educate veterans and the public about PTSD and TBI, as well as promoting the range of services VA can provide for their treatment.

-HR 6153 would improve VA's ability to recruit and retain nurses and other health care practitioners by improving pays for various health care specialties. VFW has called on VA to improve and adapt its policy in order keep up with the ever competitive and changing marketplace of high-quality health care providers.

To read our testimony, visit the House VA website at: http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/hearing.aspx?newsid=299

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