Issues Veterans Benefits
Concurrent Receipt
I strongly support legislation to allow
military retirees with service-connected disabilities to concurrently
receive military retirement pay and disability compensation
from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
I was pleased to support a phased-in concurrent receipt benefit
in 2003 for all military retirees whose disabilities are combat
related. The law also implemented a ten year period, ending
in January 2014, to phase in full concurrent receipt for other
retirees with a non combat related VA disability rating of
50 100 percent. I supported a provision in the fiscal year
2006 defense authorization bill which changed the effective
date for full concurrent receipt for military retirees with
a 100% VA unemployability rating but less than a 100% disability
rating to October 2009 instead of January 2014. However, the
current benefit does not provide everything that veterans
deserve, and more needs to be done.
In addition, veterans with all percentages of disability can
consider the existing Combat Related Special Compensation
program (CRSC), which may provide some retirees with a better
concurrent receipt benefit than the new phased-in concurrent
receipt program. CRSC, which was created in 2002, is open
to military retirees with 20 or more years of service who
incurred a qualifying combat-related disability. You can learn
more about this program here.
The men and women of our Armed Forces have made great sacrifices
for our nation. Congress must provide full concurrent receipt
benefits and ensure that our veterans and military retirees
have a good standard of living.
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