COLA

Senate Passes COLA Bill: This week, the Senate passed legislation that would

increase the rates of VA disability compensation and dependency and indemnity

compensation for surviving spouses and children. S. 894, The Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act authorizes the increase which is based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index. As in the past, Congress must pass a bill allowing the increase to ensure disabled veterans and their families are also included in the COLA raise Social Security and military retirees receive.

  Protect benefits

Advocates Called on to Protect Benefits: The VFW launched a call to action this

week to counter serious threats to military and veterans programs. Last Friday, the

leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee and both House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees wrote the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to support or suggest possible ways to eliminate or further reduce military and veteran quality of life programs and benefits. While the joint House/Senate VA committee letter was short on specifics, the individual letters sent by SASC Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Ranking Member John McCain (R-Ariz.) were far more ominous, because they offered more ways to cut quality of life programs. In his call to action, VFW National Commander Richard DeNoyer said "It is critical that our voices not be lost in the ongoing budget debate that seems to now equate national service and sacrifice with the size of healthcare premiums."