On November 13, the Senate approved a 1.7% cost of living adjustment for veterans and their survivors receiving disability compensation and benefits. This adjustment, effective as of January 1, 2013, is expected to affect approximately 3.9 million veterans and their survivors by offsetting inflation and other factors.
The bill containing the cost of living adjustment, HR 4113, was passed by the House of Representative in July. It needed to pass the Senate by November 13 in order to take effect by January 1, 2013.
While a bill approving a cost of living adjustment for veterans generally passes Congress each year without incident, this year the bill was blocked by an unnamed Republican senator on September 21. As Senate rules require unanimous consent, a single senator can block legislation. With literally no time to spare, the single senator on November 13 changed his vote to allow the bill to pass.
A freshman lawmaker, Republican Jon Runyan of the House of Representatives Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s disability assistance panel, has proposed legislation to make veterans’ compensation automatically increase at the same time as Social Security, without the need for congressional involvement. His proposal passed the veterans’ committee in 2012 but has not passed the full House. At this rate, it seems unlikely to become law before the current session of Congress ends.
It does seem that a bill such as Mr. Runyan’s would ease the pressure of making sure that this adjustment takes effect every year as it should. Granted, a cost of living adjustment bill has always passed both Houses by the November 13th deadline, but why risk the monies used to pay for groceries and electricity for veterans and their survivors?
