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Full House Vote Expected Next Week
on Committee's Second Benefits Bill of the Year
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The House Veterans' Affairs Committee reported out its
second benefits bill of the year Thursday, a package that would expand the
definition of illnesses for Persian Gulf War veterans and grant a
cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to the compensation of disabled veterans
and their survivors.
In introducing the Veterans Benefits Act of 2001 (H.R. 2540), Chairman
Chris Smith (NJ-4) stressed the importance of the COLA and described the
bill as a companion to the Veterans Opportunities Act of 2001 (H.R. 801),
which has already been signed into law.
The VA estimates the COLA will be
2.5 percent.
H.R. 2540 would authorize the VA Secretary to provide disability
compensation to Persian Gulf veterans whose claims for chronic fatigue
syndrome, fibromyalgia, or other "hard-to-diagnose" illnesses
have previously been denied.
The bill would also authorize the VA Secretary to continue disability
payments to a Persian Gulf War veteran who participates in VA-sponsored
medical research and who is subsequently diagnosed with a specific
disease. Other provisions of the bill would:
· Add Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2) to the list of service-connected
benefits presumed for Vietnam Veterans
· Authorize the VA Secretary Authorize to pay unclaimed National Service
Life Insurance and U.S. Government Life Insurance proceeds to an alternate
beneficiary when the first beneficiary cannot be located within three
years of the insured's death;
· Extend to 2005 the VA's direct loan language program for Native
American veterans living on tribal trust lands;
· Modify the requirement for loan assumption language in home loan
documents;
· Require the VA Secretary to establish a two-year pilot expansion of the
available hours of the VA's 1-800 toll-free information service, and to
assess the demand for the service.
The bill's provisions would complement those of H.R. 801 (now Public Law
107-14), which increased insurance coverage to veterans and their
dependents and expanded health insurance for survivors of veterans who die
of a service-connected
disability.
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