Disabled Military Retiree Relief Act
by Joe Wilson on June 25, 2009FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2009
WASHINGTON – Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) delivered the following remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives this morning during debate on H.R. 2990, the Disabled Military Retiree Relief Act.
*To View Congressman Wilson’s Floor Speech, Click Here*
“Madame Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 2990, the Disabled Military Retiree Relief Act of 2009.
“This bill has a number of good provisions dealing with military and civilian personnel which I appreciate as a 31-year Army National Guard veteran representing Parris Island, the Marine Corps Air Station at Beaufort, the Beaufort Naval Hospital, and Fort Jackson. I want to focus on one section of the bill that would provide concurrent receipt of Department of Defense disability pay and Veterans Administration disability pay to a small number of people discharged from the services with less than 20 years’ service because of injuries sustained while in service.
“This section, which is but a ghost of the proposal submitted by President Obama, is a small, but important step in expanding the population eligible for full concurrent receipt. I am glad that some progress is being made.
“What troubles and disappoints me most, however, is that this bill, which will be attached to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010, could have done so much more had the Democratic leadership of the House made elimination of concurrent receipt and elimination of the widow’s tax a priority from the beginning of this Congress.
“Instead, we were unable to even debate my amendment at the full committee markup of the Defense Authorization dealing with concurrent receipt, the elimination of the Survivor Benefit Plan and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation offset as a widow’s tax, the extension of health care to early retiring reserve component members, and the use of the misnamed Reserve Fund in the Budget Resolution.
“I would note that since the introduction of my amendment, the Democratic leadership has found a way to fund H.R. 2990, using resources and dollars outside the House Armed Services Committee jurisdiction to provide for just nine months – a very limited concurrent receipt for disabled military retirees.
“While that is a step forward to eliminating some of the injustice inflicted on disabled retirees, it does nothing to cure the injustice still being suffered by most persons losing their rightly earned benefits because of the remaining concurrent receipt prohibitions.
“Had the House leadership seen eliminating these injustices as a priority, they could have allocated the small percentage – less than one percent – necessary in the $15 trillion they provided for government spending in 2010 to 2014. Or, they could have used the Reserve Fund authority as proposed in my amendment.
“Instead we must settle for a small pittance for a small group of retirees.
“I hope that since the authority for this limited concurrent receipt is for only nine months, that the Democratic leadership makes resolving all the concurrent receipt and SBP-DIC offset injustices a real, not a symbolic priority, next year.
“As a nation, we owe more than our gratitude to the brave men and women in uniform and their families, past and present, for the sacrifices they make to protect our freedoms. I know firsthand of the courage of our troops. My late father-in-law Julian Dusenbury, a dedicated Marine, was awarded the Navy Cross for leading the capture of the Japanese headquarters of Shuri Castle on Okinawa. He was shot by a sniper resulting in his being in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He was grateful to have served America.”
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8 Responses to “Disabled Military Retiree Relief Act”
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I think it is interesting to see this bill, which still leaves most of us without our retirement. I was put out of the Navy on TDRL for 5 years. During that time, I couldn’t get a job because I was disabiled. The VA took forever to find me service connected. Then after my 5 years I was put out of the Navy on PDRL (Chap 61). However, when on TDRL you get no time in service, no advance in rank, you just sit there, and no retireement. Waiting. Like I will do now. I have yet to receive one dime of my earned retirement. I was retired as 80% service disabled from the Navy on PDRL. I was supposed to receive my full retirement. Lucky for me, the VA found me service connected 18 months after I was put on TDRL. That 18 months was hell, living off my family’s good intentions. Thank You Congress for making it so easy for us Chap 61 retirees to mooch off society, lose all of our dignity, and our families respect. You have not served the Military Men and Women who have put themselves in harms way well.
Dear Mr. Wilson,
I am a Medically Retired Marine Vietnam Veteran who was retired after 3 years of military service. I was 10 1/2 months in country when I stepped on a land mine. I spent almost a year in Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, enduring 13 surgeries. I lost half of my foot and multiple other injuries. What troubles me about all the Chapter 61 Veteran legislation that comes from Washington DC is the money saving aspect of it all. What bothers me most is the Concurrent Receipt laws that pass are all based on 2 1/2% to what ever years of service. President Bush signed the 2008 NDAA bill with the CRSC component in it. I was pretty excited that I would finally get my due after 37 years of waiting. As you have stated in your news statements, it is only affecting a small group of Veterans, estimated at about 40 K Chapter 61 Vets in the whole country with combat injuries. After DFAS computed my 3 years of service and WOW, I was going to receive a whopping $128 per month. I was devastated. It’s up to $135 this year. My DFAS retirement statement says my retirement pay should be $805. and that is not including my 4 dependents, which I should also should get paid for. Now I know that when I was medically retired in 1972, the Marine Corps computed my retirement pay and was paid that for about 8 months, until my VA rating came in and then I had to waive one or the other, which I was really pissed about back then. I thought I deserved both back then. Then to find out it was based on a 100 year + legislation back from the Civil War. Now that is pathetic that up till now, not one Congress has fixed this injustice. Now, Mr. Wilson, I know that your colleagues will probably say you can’t double dip and get paid for your disabilities twice. But that is bull, I am 100% + SMC from the VA and receive Social Security disability after a 3 year fight to get it. If I worked in the real world and was injured on the job, I would still be receiving my VA pay and getting paid for being injured on the job by State Workers Compensation Program. Why is that any different than what I went through in the Marine Corps and getting injured on the job in Vietnam. Why is the federal government limiting my ability to receive what I earned because I only was in the Marine Corps for 3 yrs of service. I didn’t ask to quit. It happened and I would have traded my injuries for a career as a Marine as my brother did for 26 yrs. To get paid $135 per month is an insult and I am ashamed of my government for putting me through this. Government employees can receive there civil service retirement pay and VA disability. What is the difference? For the past 37 yrs, I have had 15 more surgeries because of my accident and that is not including what my family has gone through during it all. I have another surgery to go. That is 28 surgeries all because of my Vietnam experience. So you legislators should think about what me and my family have gone through after the Marine Corps said goodbye to me in 1972. It is not 3 years of service, it is 39 years of hell and pain for me and my loved ones. So if you folks pass the Concurrent Receipt law this year it will not be any different than the $135 per month for CRSC based on 3 years of service. I should be getting $805 per month as my retirement statement says, plus money for my dependents. I know that I deserved it, as probably all my Chapter 61 Bretheran do too. We all go through a lot more than just our short careers in the military because of our injuries, physically and mentally. Their should be an Amendment that says; You Chapter 61 Veterans should get paid whatever your earned retirement is, as stated on your statement. It was already computed by whatever Military Branch of service you were in when medically retired. Based on yrs of service, rank, disability %. It was all done before. That is what I earned and deserve. I am a Veteran of Mexican decent and live in Auburn, Ca. I lost my managerial job six years ago, after 13 years, because of all my surgeries. We foreclosed on our house two years ago. It has been rough financially and medically. Congressman Wilson I know that you will do the right thing with Concurrent Receipt. It should never be based on money and Veterans issues should never be partisan. Please pass that on to your Armed Service committee members. We did our jobs and now it is you folks who need to do yours.
Thank You for listening,
Steve Heredia USMC Ret.
Semper Fi
Thank You Congressman Joe Wilson for your support
as a Vietnam Vet who lost his leg while serving with the 1st Air Cav
I was 19 yrs old at the time and was ownly E-4 I was regular army and
would have stayed in service but the loss of my left leg and other injuries
from a landmine prevented me from doing so. Thank you again Sir
Frederick Johnson
Ret. U.S. Army
Congressman Joe Wilson,
Thank you for your support in this matter. I am retiring from the Army and am very concerned about what I may be able to do physically. I suffered a broken back and had surgery on it so I could walk again; a broken neck which is such that I am not a candidate for surgery so I must do a daily regimen of traction; a blown ACL which was repaired this past year after 8 years; and several other afflictions. I don’t believe my retirement will suffice and am not sure of my marketability. I had hopes of working for myself after retirement, but that hope is fading with all the issues I must deal with daily. Again, Thank you for your efforts on our behalf and God bless.
Ron Lampman
Thank You Congressman Joe Wilson for getting this very long over due legislation passed. I greatly appreciate your efforts with helping us chapter 61 retirees.. I am very pleased with your great service.. Thanks.
Congressman Wilson,
Will you please identify “specific” budget cuts to pay for the improvements in vets benefits you advocate? You know under House PayGo rules, you cannot add to the deficit, but you can get your bill through if you find wasteful offsets (pork) to cut. There must be plenty — but submitting a bill that you know is against the rules only serves to grandstand. Please tell us which offsets you support and how you will achieve them. Thank you for your service.
medically retired from the Navy in sep 2007 due to an acute stroke in April 2007. If the President and the rest of the government cannot fulfill it’s promise for us who served, perhaps, he may send Michelle obama and his children to combat. What a shame America. God bless us all.
Hey could I quote some of the content here in this entry if I link back to you?