VCS in the News: Committee Approves HR 952 – Bill to Streamline PTSD Claims

Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) was formed in August 2002 as a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization by war veterans who believe that we, the people of the United States of America, are most secure when our country is free, strong, and responsibly engaged with the world. Our mission, based on the pragmatic ideals of the American patriot Thomas Paine, is to raise the unique and powerful voices of veterans so that our military, veterans, freedom, and national security are protected and enhanced, for ourselves and for future generations.

"We owe a debt to all who served and when we repay that debt to those bravest Americans among us, then we are investing in our future."
~ Barack Obama, August 3, 2009

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VCS in the News: Committee Approves HR 952 – Bill to Streamline PTSD Claims

Written by Rick Maze

Tuesday, 16 June 2009 14:45

June 22, 2009 - A House Committee a bill making it easier for women and support troops in combat theaters to be approved for service-connected disabilities, but the measure may go nowhere.

The problem facing HR 952, a bill that clarifies the definition of combat to make it easier to prove a physical and mental condition is service-connected is the $4.8 billion cost estimate put on it by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

While the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee approved June 10 by voice vote, it will not be taken up by the full House until supporters come up with a way to pay for it.

Representative John Hall (D-NY), chief sponsor of the bill that he calls the “Compensation Owed For Mission Based Activities in Theater” Act – the COMBAT Act – said that he is committed to finding the money and believes he can make a case that providing disability and health benefits to people who served in a combat theater is a war-related cost that the government must cover.

Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense said that nearly $5 billion price tag seems too high considering that most claims that would be processed under the relaxed rules for combat “are going to be paid anyway. This [bill] just has them paid a little faster.”

Sullivan he thinks in the end that the money will be provided. “Americans are going to pay for this,” he said.

Some lawmakers, however, wouldn’t mind were derailed, including Republicans Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL) before it passed.

Rep. Lamborn said he fears that relaxing rules for people who don’t fit the traditional definition of combat veteran would result in cutting benefits for other veterans who did see combat.

Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), the Committee Chairman, says that is untrue. “It is not required that we reduce the benefits of other veterans,” Filner said.

Rep. Stearns raised a more fundamental issue, saying that easing the rules for receiving benefits is a disservice who people who saw direct combat. “I think we need to be careful out of respect to veterans who were actually in combat,” he said.

He cited one example of potential unfairness: a supply clerk suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome would end up getting the same preferential treatment as a combat veteran with a bullet wound.

Army Times