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Disability and Military Retirement Benefits
During the past few years, Congress has passed legislation to increase benefits for veterans and military retirees.
On November 24, 2003, the President signed the "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004." Among its provisions, this law will extend dual military retirement and disability benefits to National Guard, reserve members and military retirees with more than 20 years of service and who are considered at least 50 percent disabled. According to the guidelines issued by the Department of Defense, this restored pay will be phased in over a 10-year period that began January 1, 2004.
I have long believed that retired military personnel with service-connected disabilities are entitled to receive their benefits in full. While this law was not perfect, it served as a significant step toward ensuring concurrent receipt for veterans.
Recently, new legislation has been introduced to ensure that veterans receive the compensation they deserve more quickly. S. 558 was introduced by Senator Harry Reid on March 8, 2005 and seeks to eliminate the phase-in period that exists under current law with respect to concurrent receipt. As a cosponsor of S. 558, the companion legislation to H.R. 303, I will continue to stand behind the veterans of Alabama.
In addition, S. 185, the Military Retiree Survivor Benefit Equity Act of 2005, was introduced on January 26, 2005, by Senator Bill Nelson. This legislation seeks to amend Title 10 of the United States Code to repeal the requirement for the reduction of certain Survivor Benefit Plan annuities by the amount of dependency and indemnity compensation and to modify the effective date for paid-up coverage under the Survivor Benefit Plan.
I will make sure that the voices of Alabama�s veterans are heard when these bills come before the full Senate during the 109th Congress.
Click here to read Senator Shelby's newsletter about supporting our nation's veterans.
Click here to read Senator Shelby's newsletter about financial relief for military Reservists.
Congressional Research Service Issues Briefs
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is part of the legislative branch of the federal government. CRS, which is a department of the Library of Congress, works exclusively as a nonpartisan analytical, research, and reference arm for Congress.
The following files are in PDF format. In order to view these files, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your PC. You can download the free Reader from the following website: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
For more information on this issue, please view the following CRS report:
Military Retirement: Major Legislative Issues.
More information on Senator Shelby's activities regarding veterans' affairs:
Chemical Weapons Disposal at Anniston
Department of Homeland Security
Disability and Military Retirement Benefits