Disabled Veterans Again  Seek End to System of Pay Offsets
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday,  April 4, 2005; Page A19 
www.washingtonpost.com    

Some disabled veterans are upset that their federal disability payments 
continue to be offset by dollar-for-dollar reductions in retirement pay even 
though in recent years Congress has moved to end that trade-off for many  military
retirees.
At issue is whether about 24,000 retired service members whose Department of 
Veterans Affairs doctors have declared them unable to work because of a 
disability -- and who served for at least 20 years -- should have to wait as  long
as 10 years to collect their full VA disability and military retirement 
benefits at the same time.
The fight over what is known as "concurrent receipt" has repeatedly cropped 
up on Capitol Hill. Veterans groups have successfully pushed Congress to
slowly  dismantle a system that dates to the 19th century and that as recently as
two  years ago prevented half a million veterans with disabilities from
claiming  their full disability and retirement benefits. The issue's importance is 
expected to grow as more veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan with serious
injuries that will affect them for a lifetime. 
Backers of changing the system have argued that disability compensation and 
retirement pay address two different issues and that denying veterans the full
benefit of both short-changes their service and sacrifice.
In 2003, lawmakers agreed to eliminate the offset over a 10-year period for 
about 200,000 veterans who have 50 percent or higher disability ratings from
the  VA and served for 20 years or more. Then last year, as part of the Defense
Department authorization bill, Congress decided that the most severely
injured  among that group, those rated 100 percent disabled by the VA, should not
have to  wait. They began collecting their full disability and retirement pay
in January  2005. 
But another group of veterans with similar medical problems and years of 
service apparently was left out. The 24,000 or so members of this group have 
formal VA disability ratings as low as 60 percent, but their VA doctors say 
their service-related health problems render them unemployable. This group,  known
as "individual unemployable" (IU) retirees, must wait out the 10-year  period
before collecting their full compensation. Many veterans and advocacy  groups
say that is unfair.
"We worked hard thinking we would have our retirement after serving for 20 
years only to find out that we would not be getting our retirement because we 
were disabled," said retired Lt. Col. Claude "Link" Braley, 54, who served 24 
years in the Air Force and now suffers from degenerative hip and back
problems.  " . . . This may not be illegal, but it sure as heck is not fair."
Braley, of Orlando, said he would get an additional $1,400 a month if the 
offset were eliminated.
For many disabled veterans in similar circumstances, removing the offset 
requirement would mean an extra $1,950 a month, said Steve Strobridge, director 
of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America.
Sympathetic lawmakers in the Senate and House have introduced legislation to 
provide such veterans the full benefit of their disability and retirement 
compensation without one reducing the other. 
"We don't subject any other federal retiree to this kind of offset, only our 
disabled military retirees," Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.)
said  on the Senate floor last month, in support of legislation that would
greatly  expand the number of disabled veterans who are not subject to the offset.
"So  this policy amounts to a special tax on our disabled veterans."
Rep. Michael Bilirakis (R-Fla.), who for 18 years has worked to eliminate the
offset requirements, has introduced similar legislation in the House. "We
must  send a signal to these brave men and women that our government takes care
of  those who make sacrifices for our Nation," Bilirakis said in a written 
statement.
Defense Department officials also have said they want to provide full 
compensation to the "unemployable" retirees. In December, Charles S. Abell, 
principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, informed  the
Office of Management and Budget that, starting in January, the Pentagon 
intended to provide full military retirement pay to such veterans in addition to 
disability compensation. Abell wrote that doing so would cost about $1.3
billion  over 10 years.
"Please advise us if the administration has any differing views," Abell said 
in his Dec. 21 letter to a top OMB official. 
But the payments never began, and Pentagon officials say the Office of 
General Counsel is examining whether the law would permit them. No date has been 
set for concluding the legal review, said Maj. Michael Shavers, a Pentagon 
spokesman.
Strobridge, of the officers' association, said OMB has told the Pentagon not 
to pursue the plan because of the cost at a time of rising federal budget 
deficits.
"Of course, it's all money," Strobridge said, adding that Defense officials 
"haven't said one way or the other what they are going to do."
An OMB spokeswoman declined to say what the OMB's response was to the 
Pentagon letter. "As with all agency-specific policy decisions, we support such 
decisions being made in a fiscally responsible manner," the spokeswoman  said.
Retired Maj. Melvin Kloor, 63, a Vietnam-era veteran who served in the Navy 
for more than 20 years, said many disabled veterans cannot afford to wait for 
relief. Kloor, who has back, shoulder and knee problems that require surgery,
pointed to VA statistics that more than 1,000 veterans are dying every day.