Concurrent Receipt Update

[billr]

This is from the Military Officers Assn. of America (MOAA) web-site:

Legislators Announce Concurrent Receipt Deal
House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA),Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and concurrent receipt champion Rep. Mike Bilirakis (R-FL) met with MOAA and other military and veterans associations today to announce a final concurrent receipt agreement with Senate leaders and the White House.

The proposal will benefit as many as 200,000 disabled retirees in two ways:

First, all retirees with at least 20 years of service and VA disability ratings of 50% or higher will see their military retired pay offsets phased out over a ten-year period starting January 1, 2004.

Second, the recently enacted Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) will be expanded to include all combat- or operations-related disabilities from 10% to 100% ratings, also effective January 1, 2004. Currently, only those with qualifying disabilities rated 60% or higher or who have a disability associated with a Purple Heart are eligible.

In both cases, Guard and Reserve retirees with 20 qualifying years of service (including those with less than 7,200 retirement points) will be eligible.

CRSC payments are in the amount of the VA disability compensation paid for whatever percentage of the members disability rating is due to combat-related disabilities, as determined by the parent service. Retirees must apply to their parent service for CRSC payments, but there is no phase-in period for CRSC. DoD is discouraging all those not currently eligible for CRSC from applying until this provision is signed into law.

Disabled retirees rated 50% and higher who do not elect CRSC payments should start seeing their retired offset phased out automatically, starting January 1, 2004. No application is expected to be required. For 2004, qualifying retirees should see their retired pay increase by a flat amount, depending on disability, as follows:

$750 for 100% disabled;

$500 for 90%;

$350 for 80%;

$250 for 70%;

$125 for 60%; and

$100 for 50%.

The remaining retired pay offsets would then be phased out over the following nine years. In 2005, they would get back another 10% of any remaining offset; in 2006, they would get back 20% of the remaining offset; in 2007, 30% of the remaining offset; and so on. By January 2014, disabled retirees with 50% and higher ratings will be entitled to full concurrent receipt of military retired pay and VA disability compensation.

Disabled retirees who qualify for both programs would have to choose one or the other. Because the CRSC program provides full payment immediately vs. the 10-year phase-in for concurrent receipt, legislators plan to allow an annual election option for CRSC-eligibles. This recognizes that a retiree who is 100% disabled, but only 60% of that is due to combat-related conditions, may find it advantageous to elect full CRSC payments for a few years until the concurrent receipt payment rises to a level that exceeds the CRSC payment. Because CRSC payments are tax-free and nondisability retired pay is not, this could also figure into qualifying retirees election decisions.

Designing specific procedures for retirees to make such elections is but one of the many administrative challenges the Defense Department will have to address in implementing the new authority.

The new agreement also calls for the formation of a special commission to review the VA disability system and recommend any needed changes. Of its 13 commissioners, at least seven will have to be highly decorated veterans. Four will be appointed by the House, four by the Senate, and five by the Pentagon and/or the VA.

"This is an extremely gratifying victory for disabled retirees," says VADM Norbert R. Ryan, Jr. (USN-Ret), President of MOAA. MOAA is extremely pleased that years of lobbying efforts by MOAA and others have paid such great dividends for thousands upon thousands of disabled servicemen and women. This new legislation wont solve the whole concurrent receipt problem, but its a giant step forward that will mean as much as $25,000 a year or more for 100% disabled retirees. We deeply appreciate the efforts of legislators who have fought so hard on this issue.

There certainly is no shortage of heroes who deserve a share of the credit for this historic victory. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) played key leadership roles in negotiations with the White House. Special thanks also go to long-time concurrent receipt champions Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Rep. Mike Bilirakis (R-FL) and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA). Particular appreciation is due Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA), whose discharge petition played a significant role in achieving this victory, and to Reps Thomas Tancredo (R-CO) and Walter Jones (R-NC), who had the courage to buck party guidance and put their names on the discharge petition.

The new agreement will be one provision of the FY2004 Defense Authorization Bill. House and Senate leaders are still conferring on other parts of the bill, but Chairman Hunter expects these negotiations will be complete by the end of October so the bill can be passed and sent to the President. Regardless of other provisions, said Rep. Blunt, who is the third-most senior House Republican, I can guarantee that this concurrent receipt agreement is locked in and will become law before Congress goes home this year.

[BLUEHAWK]

This appears to be at least partially good news Bill... what is your opinion as to anything needing to be done and watched?

[billr]

The new agreement also calls for the formation of a special commission to review the VA disability system and recommend any needed changes. Of its 13 commissioners, at least seven will have to be highly decorated veterans. Four will be appointed by the House, four by the Senate, and five by the Pentagon and/or the VA.

It looks like "they" are still going to go after the current VA disability compensation system. I don't mean to be cynical but, just because someone is a "highly decorated veteran", doesn't mean they can't be led down whatever path the other members of this commission want to lead them. We need to pay close attention to this new commission and not let them just be a rubber stamp for whatever the Congress wants to get through.
I intend to keep following this as best I can and will try an post any developments as I come across them.

[BLUEHAWK]

Thanks, I'll be watching for further installments...

[MORTARDUDE]

I have always wondered what the criteria, by the media, is for the following :

veteran
"decorated" veteran
"highly decorated" veteran
"most decorated" vetreran

( why did the term "decorated" ( like a Christmas tree.. ) come to be used with awards and medals anyway ??? )


and the phrase "won the Congressional Medal of Honor" irritates me as well.. it is not a game show, lottery, or contest...

I have heard Max Cleland referred to as "highly decorated", and of course, Audie Murphy, Col. Hackworth ( USA Ret. ), Lt. Col. Anthony Herbert ( USA Ret. ), Sen. John Kerrey, Sen. Robert Kerry, Sen. John McCain, and many, many others...

At what point, and by what measures or medals, is one just a "veteran", a "decorated veteran", and a "highly decorated veteran".and "most decorated" veteran ..... does it matter ?

( Considering the uneven manner in which medals have and are being awarded....does this really mean anything ? )

and what is the relevance to the issue at hand anyway...

You thoughts appreciated...

Larry

DEO VINDICE

[BLUEHAWK]

Larry -
Yeah, your post made me recall a recent squib by one of the guys, talking about welcoming 39mto39g back...don't remember exacraly who said it, but anyway he was mentioning that 39 (Ron, I think is his name) was real good at sorting out the "wannabe" types on these Forums... which I took to mean those with lots of unearned (and possibly purchased) fruit salad... as diddly as my service was (compared with the real lifers and warrior folks here) I hate those guys who pull that shit, and I ain't too fond of the ones who glorify what they see on a chest or shoulder uncritically either... but there it is... eyewash, lip service service, pig in a poke.

Tell ya what though...if giving it to them would mean it being gotten by the ones who DO deserve VA all the way, then I'd favor just about anything they could do to make that happen, like yesterday! Let the pretenders face their own God their own way when the day comes... I figure he's got it all writ down in the big book.

[Gimpy]

right fellas! This crap can get us in trouble in a hurry if we don't watch our "backs"!

Still "on the road" in northern Virginia-----I'll have more to say about this subject when I get back down to Tampa.