Provision of bill on U.S. spending shields veterans

Boozman measure expands law, protects benefit funding

Included in the government spending bill making its way through the House and Senate is a provision co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. John Boozman that shields the Veterans Benefits Administration from government shutdowns and budget battles.
Included in the government spending bill making its way through the House and Senate is a provision co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. John Boozman that shields the Veterans Benefits Administration from government shutdowns and budget battles.

WASHINGTON -- Included in the government spending bill making its way through the House and Senate is a provision co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. John Boozman that shields the Veterans Benefits Administration from government shutdowns and budget battles.


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The provision expands current law to fund the agency one year in advance. The Benefits Administration administers compensation, pensions, readjustment benefits and insurance.

Boozman said in a statement that such benefits shouldn't be part of congressional arguments over funding.

"Preventing disability compensation, pension and GI Bill benefits from being used as a political football during budget fights is the right thing to do for our veterans so interruptions in services can be avoided," he said.

It was originally proposed as the Putting Veterans Funding First Act sponsored by Boozman, a Republican from Rogers, and U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska.

"Essentially veterans wouldn't have to worry about their benefits if we have another government shutdown," Boozman said by phone. "It really makes a lot of sense. These are things we are going to fund anyway."

Begich said in a statement that funding the benefits a year in advance means the country can keep the commitments it made to its service members.

"The Senate has done the right thing for veterans and included this measure to shield them from harmful effects of a government shutdown, like delays in the processing of disability, pension and survivor benefits," Begich said.

Dan Hall, commander of Disabled American Veterans' Arkansas department, said his group and other veterans organizations have pushed for the change for years to guarantee stability for veterans.

In October 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, which shielded the VA health care system from budget stalemates, continuing resolutions and government shutdowns.

The legislation funded the health care side of the VA a year in advance so that if a government shutdown occurred the department could continue to care for wounded, ill or injured veterans; it didn't include funding for the administrative side of the agency.

Hall called it an oxymoron.

"You can't get to the medical part without the administrative part that makes the appointments and gets you there," Hall said. "It's just unacceptable."

When the federal government partially shut down for 17 days in October 2013, workers stopped processing hundreds of thousands of veteran disability claims and concerns rose that if the shutdown lasted a month that disability compensation checks would not be issued on time. Hall said during the shutdown veterans also couldn't make appointments or arrange for transportation to appointments.

"That's when the advocacy groups really pushed for a full advanced budget, not just the medical part," Hall said.

Several people called Boozman's office on the topic while the government was shut down, the senator said.

"We had a number of constituents that were very concerned that they weren't going to get their veterans benefits," he said.

A section on 12/11/2014

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