H.R. 333 – Disabled Veterans Tax Termination Act
Disability compensation is a benefit earned by veterans for their sacrifices. However, under current law, if a disabled veteran chooses to serve in the National Guard or on Active Duty, they must give up their disability compensation by notifying the VA. Thankfully, Congress has proposed a solution. H.R. 333, a proposal to allow concurrent pay for both disability compensation and National Guard pay, requiring only a single form that records a veterans’ disability compensation pay, and marginally reduce their active duty pay with respect to this amount. No need to file multiple forms in multiple departments. No need to coordinate the cessation of disability compensation with slotted active duty pay or worry about changes in scheduling that would cause the loss of livelihood for disabled veterans and their families. We at EANGUS are doing our best to advocate for our nations’ veterans, and to reform the outdated systems that no longer operate in the best interest of our veterans. If you, or a loved one, have a story you would like to share, or are in need of assistance, we are here to help. Please, do not remain silent. Anything you can share will benefit the veteran community.
H.R. 5121 – regarding TRICARE Reserve Select eligibility
As a result of EANGUS members storming Capitol Hill in February, Representative Kelly (R-MS) and Representative Rosen (D-NV) introduced H.R. 5121 to expand TRICARE Reserve Select to eligible federal employees. H.R. 5121 is the House counterpart to S. 1086 introduced by Senator Hatch in 2017. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored those pieces of legislation, and H.R. 5121 and S. 1086 increase direct spending by $241 million. However, it saves the Department of Defense (DOD) $1.5 billion in discretionary dollars that can be reinvested in much needed training and modernization of weapons systems. The most difficult obstacle in the fight is the increase to direct spending, because in order to pay for the $241 million price tag, Congressional rules stipulate that savings must come from other areas funded by direct spending. Therefore, the EANGUS National Office needs your help. Please go to the EANGUS National Office Website, navigate to the Legislative Action Center, contact your delegation. and ask that your elected officials co-sponsor and support H.R. 5121 and S. 1086.
Omnibus Overview
DEFENSE
- The Department of Defense saw huge increases with a total of $654.6 billion in base funding and $65.2 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).
- Research, development, test, and evaluation will receive $88.308 billion, a $16 billion increase from FY17. This 22 percent increase flows mainly to late-stage technology development, prototyping, and testing. Funding for the three early-stage Science and Technology accounts will rise by 6 percent, or about $850 million.
- Procurement saw the largest increase, with $133.87 billion going into the account—a $25.4 billion increase from FY17. The largest procurement increases are for 14 new navy ships and 90 Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
- The Defense Health Program will receive $34.428 billion, a $646.9 million increase from FY17 and $763.7 more than requested with $15 billion going to private-sector care and $9.3 billion for in-house care.
- Medical Equipment Combat Support will increase from $43.343 million to $69.843 million, Medical Advanced Technology (MAT) will increase from $67.780 million to $106.780 million, and Medical Development (MD) will increase from $9.353 million to $37.353 million. Within MAT, funds are dedicated to peer-reviewed neurotoxin exposure treatment Parkinson’s research ($15 million), peer-reviewed neurofibromatosis research ($15 million), and peer-reviewed military burn research program ($8 million). Within MD, funds are dedicated to wound care research ($10 million), military dental research ($10 million), hypoxia research ($5 million), and aircrew mounted physiological sensors ($3 million). The undistributed medical research program which was zero funded in the administration’s budget will rise to $1.386 billion.
VETERANS
- The Veterans Health Administration will receive $70.7 billion, $4.3 billion more than FY2017. It also includes $782 million for the VA to develop a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) system.
