A bill in Congress would significantly increase the amount of disability compensation awarded to veterans with catastrophic injuries and survivors, but lawmakers are sparring over how to cover its estimated $7 billion cost.
The Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act, HR 6047, would raise the amount of disability compensation provided to these families by $10,000 a year and increase payments for survivors by 1% each year for five years.
According to bill sponsor Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., the boost would be the first non-inflation-related increase for these families since 1993 and would help families whose lives were upended by combat deaths or life-changing injuries.
“This bill is something that is long overdue and something we are going to continue to work on. Families like yours get left behind,” Barrett told survivors at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday. “This bill represents a shift, trying to do something that’s never been done.”
The bill could affect more than 500,000 veteran families. To cover the estimated $7 billion cost, House Republicans have proposed that veterans who purchase a second home through the VA’s mortgage program and have a 70% disability rating or lower pay a loan funding fee.
These veterans would not be required to pay the fee on their first VA home loan but would do so on subsequent loans.
Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., said in the hearing that the funding proposal represents a path toward passing the bill into law.
“That’s an average of $35 a month. No changes would be made to a veteran’s first home buying experience,” Bost said. “Opening the funding fee is a realistic way to get this done.”
Ranking Democrat Rep. Mark Takano of California said, however, that while he agrees additional support is vital for caregiver families and survivors, he won’t support the legislation as written.
“The aims of this bill are noble. Its potential to help survivors and catastrophically disabled veterans is real. But I can’t support the mechanism chosen to pay for it. … Charging disabled veterans thousands of dollars in new fees to access their earned VA home loan benefit. This is a choice I can’t accept,” Takano said.
The bill is named for Sharri Briley, the widow of an Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot killed in Somalia in 1993, and Eric Edmundson, a former Army sergeant who suffered a grievous brain injury following a roadside bomb attack in Iraq in 2005.
Eric Edmundson, who can no longer speak and uses a wheelchair, sat next to his father Edgar Edmundson as the elder Edmundson gave a tearful testimony about his family’s post-injury life.
“It took away his ability to speak, to walk, to live independently. It took away the future and it placed our family on a path to 24-hour care that has now lasted 20 years,” Edgar Edmundson said.
He added that additional funding would give his son continued access to quality caregivers, additional respite care, adaptive equipment, transportation and support for staying engaged in the community.
“Catastrophic injuries do not get easier with age. They get harder. The original support, while appreciated, was never designed for round-the-clock care,” he said. “Today my son is 45. He cannot speak for himself anymore. I am here to speak for him and I am asking you to work together now to find a mechanism to ensure that the time he has — that all severely injured veterans have — is filled with care and support they need.”
Sharri Briley testified that since the death of her husband, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Donovan Briley, in the Battle of Mogadishu, survivors’ benefits have not been “meaningfully increased,” even as the cost of housing, food and child care has climbed.
“A modest but consistent increase is a step in the right direction. It could help families manage groceries and medical expenses. Most importantly, it would signal that our government acknowledges and honors the ongoing sacrifices our spouses live with every day,” she said.
A Veterans Affairs official who testified at the hearing said the department supports the intent of the legislation and would work with Congress to implement it. She added, however, that the VA is reviewing the proposed structure to cover the legislation’s cost.
Kristina Keenan, director of the Veterans of Foreign War’s national legislative service, said the VFW appreciates the sentiment behind the bill but is “very concerned for how this legislation would be financed.”
“Through the 80-year history of the program, disabled veterans have always been exempted from the funding fee. They earned that exemption through their service and their injuries. HR 6047 would break that longstanding promise,” Keenan said. “The VFW opposes reducing benefits of one group of veterans to expand those of another.”
The bill must be voted on by the committee before it is forwarded to the full House for consideration. The Senate currently does not have its own version of the legislation.
Patricia Kime is a senior writer covering military and veterans health care, medicine and personnel issues.
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