On July 26, 2024, seven (7) Senators banned together and introduced the bipartisan legislation, the Veterans Supplemental Appropriations Act, to ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has sufficient funds to pay veterans’ earned benefits.
This proposed bill would allow the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) to continue to pay disability compensation, pension payments and education benefits to veterans and their survivors, after September 30, 2024.
If the proposed bill is not passed by the House and Senate and signed by the President by September 20, 2024, over seven (7) million disabled veterans and their survivors disabled veterans will not receive their earned and anticipated financial benefits on October 1, 2024.
The situation is extremely compounded because both the House and the Senate are on recess until September 9, 2024.
The Senators spearheading this urgent legislation are: John Boozman; Sherrod Brown; Susan Collins; Jerry Moran; Patty Murray; Kyrsten Sinema; and Jon Tester.
The urgency of the situation arose on July 15, 2024, when the VA first notified Congress that it needed $2.9 billion in mandatory spending for veterans’ pensions and other benefits to cover a shortfall for the remaining months of the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024.
The VA contended it would need another $12 billion in medical care funds for the next year in addition to what was previously appropriated in a March 2024 appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2025.
The VA explained that the benefits funding shortfall was caused largely by an increase in disability claims initiated by the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promises to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.
The PACT Act expanded VA eligibility and benefits to millions of veterans exposed to toxins during their military service. The shortfall, according to the VA, is being caused by the higher-than-expected usage of GI Benefits.
“The VA is delivering more care and benefits than ever before,” according to VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes. “These results are life-changing for veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors, and VA will continue to push to make sure that they get the care and benefits that they deserve.”
Many of the elected officials in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees indicated that the VA should have projected and anticipated the PACT Act cost-related increases.
“I am gravely concerned that the administration misled Congress for months about the state of affairs at VA,” said Senator Moran, “and the level of resources that are actually needed to care for veterans and their survivors. Congress has no choice but to act to ensure veterans and their survivors do not suffer.”
The proposed Senate Bill would not address the $12 billion needed in medical care funds requested for Fiscal Year 2025, but it would focus on funding the $2.9 billion shortfall in disability compensation and veteran pensions.
In addition, according to Senator Sherrod Brown’s Senior Veteran and Military Liaison Anthony Eliopoulos, a total of $597 million would be directed to readjustment benefits, which directly help veterans and families transition to civilian life.
“We fought to make the PACT Act law to expand the care and benefits millions of veterans earned when they served our country, and because of it more veterans than ever are getting the care they deserve,” said Senator Brown.
“We must ensure VA can continue to implement the PACT Act – we can’t deny the brave veterans who sacrificed to protect our country the benefits they earned, because VA doesn’t have the resources,” explained Brown.
My Opinion: For over eighteen (18) months, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been promoting the PACT Act and signing up veterans for their medical care benefits. Everyone apparently forgets, including all the members of Congress, that the PACT Act was to be a phased-in program.
By adopting a phased-in approach, meant that some veterans would not be eligible for PACT Act benefits until later in 2025. The VA moved at a rapid pace to enroll all veterans. Over one (1) million PACT Act claims were processed, and determined eligible veterans started receiving their earned benefits immediately.
The VA should not be penalized for staging an aggressive campaign to make veterans aware of their earned PACT Act compensation benefits. The VA’s PACT Act outreach awareness campaign was outstanding.
Because the VA did such an outstanding job in getting veterans their earned benefits, now they are being criticized for not projecting the magnitude of their success.
If Congress does not take action to pass the Veterans Supplemental Appropriation Act by September 20, 2024, disabled veterans could have their disability compensation payments delayed until later in the year.
Veterans, caregivers, and survivors, who depend on receiving their benefits on time, would have to make tough spending choices at the beginning of October, to avoid overdraft fees, or the potential of services being cut-off.
The time for Congress’ establishing “blame” for the $15 billion shortfall should be put off until the Veterans Supplemental Appropriation Act is passed and disabled veterans receive their compensation on time and on October 1.
BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a retired 32-year Army veteran, who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio’s Hospital Chairman and Adjutant of Chapter #63 (Clermont County). He can be reached at: plahovinsak@msn.com.