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The American Legion: Defense Bill Benefits Veterans, Troops.

American Legion National Commander John Brieden praised Congress and President Bush for enacting legislation today that strengthens the nation’s defense and improves the quality of life for troops and veterans. The president signed the FY-2004 National Defense Authorization Act.

“The men and women of The American Legion should be proud that Congress passed, and President Bush signed into law, a lot of measures we fought for,” Brieden said, “Those provisions include military pay raises, authority to spend nearly three and half percent of GDP on defense, reasonable environmental regulations that do not interfere with military training, and access to health insurance for Guard and Reserve personnel and their families who lack coverage.

“For generations, the retired pay of more than a half-million military retirees with service-connected disabilities has been taxed the amount of their disability compensation. I am not disappointed that this measure will provide relief to some service-disabled military retirees. I welcome helping some of the service-disabled military retirees, although many who are covered under this concurrent-receipt compromise will pass on before they receive their full benefit, because it will be phased in over 10 years. The American Legion will continue to fight to expedite the benefit and to provide it to all service-disabled military retirees.

“We deeply appreciate members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, for making long-overdue progress on this issue, especially longstanding concurrent-receipt champion Rep. Mike Bilirakis and the 375 co-sponsors of his bill, especially Reps. Chris Smith, Walter Jones, Rob Simmons and Rick Renzi. I further congratulate Rep. Jim Marshall, and the 203 signers of his discharge petition, and I commend his legislative initiative. On the Senate side, I thank Sen. Harry Reid, who has fought hard on behalf of service-disabled military retirees, and the 69 co-sponsors of his concurrent-receipt bill.

“For sending President Bush a defense authorization that otherwise underscores a commitment to military readiness and gratitude to our troops and their families, I congratulate conference-committee negotiators, including Representatives Duncan Hunter, Ike Skelton, Roy Blunt, Steny Hoyer, Tom DeLay, Nancy Pelosi, as well as Senators John Warner, Carl Levin, Ted Stevens, and Bob Byrd. This is another non-partisan problem that requires a bi-partisan solution.”

The 2.8 million-member American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans organization, supported numerous provisions that were enacted today with the stroke of the president’s pen:

— Authority to spend up to 3.4 percent of GDP on defense (The Legion has been fighting for at least 3.5 percent);

— Regulatory reform to balance, rather than place at odds, military training and environmental protection;

— An average military pay raise of slightly more than 4 percent;

— A $100 raise in military family-separation allowance to $250 per month through 2004;

— A $150 raise in imminent-danger pay to $225 per month through 2004;

— A cut in the average amount of housing expenses paid by service members from the current 7.5 percent to 3.5 percent in fiscal year 2004 and elimination of the out-of-pocket expense completely by FY-05;

— Tricare access for Guard and Reserve personnel and their families who lack health insurance; and

— Full commissary privileges for drilling and retired service members of the Guard and Reserve.

A “tax” on the retired pay of military retirees with service-connected disabilities rated 50 percent to 100 percent by the Department of Veterans Affairs would be phased out over 10 years. Under existing law, military retirees are the only federal retirees who are “taxed” a dollar of their retired pay for every dollar they receive in disability compensation. Further, a special Defense Department pay created last year would be expanded to cover all military retirees (including Guard and Reserve) with Purple Heart-related, combat-related or combat training-related disabilities, instead of merely those with disability ratings of at least 60 percent. A commission comprised of congressional and administration appointees would study the entire disability- and death-compensation programs and other assistance provided to veterans and their survivors.

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