Congress Plans to Pay for Veterans Programs by Cutting Disabled Veterans Benefits – GreaterGood

Congress Plans to Pay for Veterans Programs by Cutting Disabled Veterans Benefits  GreaterGood

A single provision buried in a sweeping veterans bill would cut $57 billion in disability compensation from 1.5 million veterans — to pay for other veterans programs. Here is what is at stake. Congress is working on legislation called the Take Care of America's Veterans Act, or TCAVA — a sweeping bill designed to expand support for the nation's veterans. Most of what's in it is uncontroversial. But buried inside is a single provision, Section 108, that has united veterans service organizations across the political spectrum in opposition. The reason is straightforward: Section 108 would pay for new veterans programs by reducing disability compensation for roughly 1.5 million veterans in the future.

Under current law, veterans who receive VA disability compensation and also collect military retirement pay or Social Security can, in some cases, receive both. Section 108 would change the formula used to calculate concurrent receipt, effectively lowering monthly disability payments for a large category of future beneficiaries. According to DAV (Disabled American Veterans), the cumulative reduction over time would reach $57 billion — a figure representing real money taken from veterans who were promised those benefits when they served. The rationale from supporters of the provision is that the savings offset the cost of other veteran-focused programs in the same bill. But that framing itself is what alarms