RSS
Home
Disabled veterans get bayoneted by Congress and President Obama
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
American Legion
HR 2647 has good points for our current military personnel. Known as 'The 2010 National Defense Authorization Act' http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h2647enr.txt.pdf this legislation was signed into existence by President Obama in October. It raises the basic pay (for all sections of the military; including Guard and Reserve). It also freezes co pay for the Tricare inpatients. But a few pieces of the bill were dropped before the signing.
The American Legion http://www.legion.org/homepage.php representatives are taken aback by the removal of a few of the provisions. The dropped provisions include; the ending of the widow's death tax, the phase out of the Disabled Veterans' Tax and the halt of increases of TriCare fees.
The National Commander, Clarence Hill, said this to the Hoosier Legionnaire, in the Sept/Oct 2009 issue. "For more than a century, disabled military retirees had to unfairly forfeit portions of their retirement pay to offset their disability, even though they were the only Americans required to do this. Finally, after way too long, Congress and the White House promised to correct this injustice. The President's promise, at least for Chapter 61 medical retirees, is now being broken".
Although there are some provisions of the Defense Authorization Act that the American Legion fully supports. Commander Hill promised to use the Legion's resources to reinstate the scheduled phase out of the Disabled Veterans' Tax, also called concurrent receipt.
Commander Hill gave this statement about the needs of financial protection in healthcare for disabled veterans. " These are not second class citizens, but rather America's heroes. It is time for a new bill to be introduced - Lest We Forget Act - to address the nation's unfinished business concerning the military community".
Join the Legion
Related Articles:
Comments
