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DAV CONCURRENT RECEIPT UPDATE October 18, 2002 |
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Veterans seeking justice on the concurrent receipt issue have united like never before to press for real legislation to end this indefensible law against disabled military retired veterans. Despite passage by a unanimous vote in the Senate to authorize concurrent receipt for disabled longevity retired veterans rated from 10% to 100% and despite a unanimous vote recently in the House to instruct House conferees to agree to the Senate’s provisions, concurrent receipt provisions are the sticking point that has kept House and Senate conferees from agreement on the defense authorization bill where the provisions are contained. How can that be, if both chambers have voted unanimously to support the Senate provisions? The sad truth is unavoidable. Some politicians really do not support this legislation. Who are these politicians? We know that only House members in powerful positions could keep this legislation from passing despite the wide bipartisan support it enjoys. Strong forces have stalled this extremely important legislation. This and other desperate moves to defeat concurrent receipt legislation reveal the success and strength of the unified effort of veterans pushing for an end to this injustice. We just saw a move by the House VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee to block concurrent receipt if it is enacted. If the opponents of concurrent receipt see that they are suffering substantial political consequences in an election year because of their opposition to this popular legislation, they may try other ploys to deflect criticism, such as they did last year by passing only symbolic legislation, which the DAV strongly opposed. We might expect an offer to pass some minimal concurrent receipt legislation that only benefits some portion of disabled military retirees. If we agreed to the House-passed provision that would cover only those rated 60% and higher, opponents may be emboldened and pass legislation that includes even fewer veterans than those 60% and higher. For example, they may include only those 100%. It would be a mistake for our movement to be deceived by such a “divide-and-conquer” strategy of giving the benefit to a few in the hope that they will abandon the cause for the others. Until the prohibition against concurrent receipt is removed for all longevity retired veterans, the injustice remains. We must remind House members that they voted unanimously to instruct their conferees to agree to the Senate concurrent receipt provisions. If that vote was honest and sincere, no excuse exists for any other action by the House and its conferees on this issue than passage of the Senate provisions that would remedy the injustice for all who are affected by it. Send a clear message to House members today that veterans remain united and insist on decisive, prompt, and responsible action to end this injustice now. Telephone or e-mail your House member immediately. If you elect to e-mail your member, compose your own message or use the one we have prepared for your convenience. If you have not already done so, send e-mail messages associated with the other alerts regarding concurrent receipt on this website titled “Take Action Against New Threat to Concurrent Receipt ” and “Concurrent Receipt Update as of October 17, 2002.” |
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