Disabled Military Retirees

Concurrent Receipt, aka Restoration of Retired Pay (CR/RRP), refers to an effort in Congress to allow Disabled Military Retirees to receive both their Service Connected Disability Pay and their Military Retired Pay. A century old law currently requires disabled military retirees to pay for their own disability compensation from their earned military retired pay, dollar for dollar. However, if a disabled military retiree chooses to work in the Congress or in the Federal Government as a Civil Servant and converts his or her military retirement into the Congressional or Civil Service retirement, then there is no deduction at all to fund their disability compensation.

Of 1.4 million military retirees, approximately 500,000 have been categorized as disabled by the Veterans Administration. These disabled military retirees receive $2.2B/year from the VA in disability compensation and must pay for it out of their earned military retirement pay. Many of these disabled retirees, particularly Noncommissioned Officers and Warrant Officers, are forced to forfeit their entire military retired pay and have nothing to show for a career of service to their nation except a disability and its small compensation. Those in the enlisted or warrant officer ranks who are retired with 100% disability face an additional hardship. Not being allowed to work for additional compensation, they are reduced to living only on their disability compensation. For those with several family members this means life at almost a poverty level or forcing other members of the household to seek employment to assure any quality of life. A veteran, who serves at least 181 days and is classified with the same disability, receives the same pay as the disabled military retirees who served their country for 20-30 years.

This year the Senate introduced S 170 and voted unanimously, in the 2003 Defense Authorization Bill, to restore 100% of all of the disabled military retirees retired pay in 2003. The House introduced HR 303 that restores the retired pay for disabled military retirees with disabilities of 60% or higher phased in over five (5) years. The House action was included in both the 2003 Defense Authorization and Appropriations Bills. Although the Defense Appropriations Bill passed both houses of Congress without including any provisions for CR/RRP, the Defense Authorization Bill was sent to conference with each house’s provisions included.

On October 10, 2002 the House, by a vote of 391-0, moved to instruct the House Conferees to recede to the Senate version of the Defense Authorization Act with respect to CR/RRP, i.e., 100% restoration of retired pay immediately. Following that vote by the House, the House Conferees never again met with the Senate Conferees before the Congress adjourned for the elections. Additionally, Section 114 was added to the VA/HUD 2003Appropriations Bill. HR 5605 prohibits any VA appropriations from being used to fund VA Disability Payments for new military retirees classified with a disability if the CR/RRP is passed into law in 2003.

Those in the Administration who are vocally opposed to CR/RRP are all political appointees. These appointees have alleged that the cost of the CR/R of RP for disabled military retirees would cost $58B over 10 years. This cost estimate was admittedly based on disabled military retirees increasing from the current 500,000 to 1.2M (an increase of 140%) should the legislation be enacted. This presumes that 85% of all military retirees would be classified as disabled by the Veterans Administration. Further, some appointees have argued the fact that there is no financial need and later admitted that the most severely disabled military retirees were left out of the financial needs analysis.

Over fifty (50) Military Associations representing more than five (5) million retirees, veterans, and serving military members have made the passage of CR/RRP for disabled military retirees their #1 issue. Many of these organizations have created Political Action Committees (PACs) and the Veterans Voting Block

(V V B) has been created in just the last year to insure veterans and military retirees fully participate in the political process, especially where it concerns their rights and future.

Simply put, it is an equity issue. VA disability payments and military retired pay are two separate pays for two separate situations. Retired pay is earned for a career of service and sacrifice in uniform. The other is compensation for the impact of a service-connected disability on future life and earning power. There are those who argue Concurrent Receipt (CR/RRP) was never promised to any living military retiree. This may be true. However, every person who served twenty or more years of active military service was promised at minimum, 50% of his or her earned base pay upon retirement. By withholding dollar per dollar, retirement pay for like amounts of disability compensation received, that promise is being violated.