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A controversial veterans benefits bill that is estimated to reduce future disability ratings by nearly $60 billion over a decade to pay for expanded compensation hit a speed bump on Thursday.
The House of Representatives postponed a planned vote on the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, a package of more than 60 legislative proposals. The move came after an effort to send the bill back to the Veterans Affairs Committee failed by just one vote. No information was immediately available on when the bill might come up for a vote again.
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act would implement a previously proposed 2022 rule change on how the Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA, assesses ratings for sleep apnea and tinnitus. A previous vote on the bill that had been expected last month was delayed.
The vote’s postponement came after Politico reporter Leo Shane III first shared on social media on Thursday that the VA plans to make the changes on its own.
When asked about Shane’s post, a VA spokesperson told Task & Purpose on Thursday, “We intend to continue moving forward with the audiology rulemaking originally put forward on this subject.”
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Quinn Slaven, the department’s press secretary, had told Task & Purpose in June that “No changes are planned or imminent,” regarding the proposed 2022 rule change, which has received extensive public comments and “would need to undergo significant changes prior to being finalized.”
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act would replace the standalone 30% disability rating for sleep apnea with a new scale of 0 to 100% to measure “the effectiveness of medical treatment and intervention.” It would also treat tinnitus, which currently has a 10% disability rating, as a symptom of an underlying condition like hearing loss or a traumatic brain injury.
The VA has estimated that the changes to tinnitus and sleep apnea ratings could reduce disability compensation payments by $57 billion over 10 years. The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act would use those savings to fund other legislative proposals contained in the bill, including the Major Richard Star Act, which would allow combat-wounded veterans with less than 20 years of service to collect both disability compensation and retirement pay.
The bill has sharply divided veterans service organizations. Many believe it is the best chance to finally achieve goals for which they have spent years fighting. Others are concerned it would reduce benefits for current and future veterans.
More than 20 veterans service organizations sent a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees to support the bill, noting that if the VA passes the proposed rule on ratings for sleep apnea and tinnitus independently of the legislation, all the savings would go to the U.S. Department of the Treasury instead of funding expanded veterans benefits.
“Given that reality, we believe the practical question before Congress is whether this process should continue so these resources can be reinvested in veterans, caregivers, families, and survivors, or whether the opportunity to enact this package is lost while unresolved funding questions remain,” the veterans advocates wrote in the letter.
But other groups oppose the bill, including Disabled American Veterans, or DAV, which released a statement on Wednesday arguing that the legislation calls for cuts to future disability benefits that would far outweigh any additional compensation it could provide.
The latest news about the VA’s decision on the proposed 2022 rule change has not shifted DAV’s position on the bill, said Jim Marszalek, executive director of the group’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“There were overwhelming comments in opposition made to the proposed rules,” Marszalek told Task & Purpose on Thursday. “VA has to consider those, which is why a VA spokesperson said if they did move forward there would have to be ‘significant changes’ to the proposals.”
Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said he has worked for months with his Senate counterpart to produce legislation that is “both fiscally responsible and can make it to the president’s desk and become law.”
“The changes the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act makes for two conditions: sleep apnea and tinnitus, are based on modern medicine, effective treatment, and recommendations from VA’s own doctors,” Bost said in a statement to Task & Purpose. “The bill does not dismiss these conditions. The bill does not say these conditions can’t be tied to a veteran’s military service. If it did, I wouldn’t support it.”
In a separate effort, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) is seeking to force a vote on the Richard Star Act alone through a parliamentary procedure known as a “discharge act,” which requires the support of 218 lawmakers.
“We are now only three signatures away from a vote on the House floor,” Takano, the ranking member for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, told Task & Purpose. “Instead of cutting veterans’ benefits, we should focus on honoring the contract. I ask my Republican colleagues to do the right thing, sign the discharge petition so combat-injured veterans no longer have to wait for the benefits they are owed.”
No vote on the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act has been scheduled in the Senate, where its prospects are uncertain. A total of 46 Democrats and independents in the Senate sent a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins in June voicing their opposition to the bill and the proposed rule change that it would implement.
“By writing these cuts into statute, the legislation would permanently implement the very policies that veterans, medical experts, and veterans’ service organizations have overwhelmingly opposed,” the senators wrote. “Whether implemented through regulation or enacted by Congress, these cuts would strip disabled veterans of earned compensation and health care benefits — they should be rejected outright.”
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