DEFENSE BILL NIXES CHAPTER 61 CRDP PHASE-IN -- 10-09-2009

Jason Perry

Founder and Leader
Site Founder
Staff Member
PEB Forum Veteran
Lifetime Supporter
Registered Member
Senate conferees concluded it would violate Senate budget rules to take even a first step in Obama's phase-in plan without proper funding.

More...
 
A HUGE SETBACK!!! I am looking into finding further information and will post more later.
 
Well, this stinks.

To quote what someone commented on the article:

how soon they forget the promises made.
 
If it wasn't so tragic it would be hilarious. They're worried about money now when they so casually handed out more than a trillion dollars? :rolleyes:
 
MOAA summed it up well. Mike


New Defense Bill has Pluses and Minuses

There will be plenty of cheers and plenty of jeers, depending on which issues are most important to you, for the final version of the FY2010 Defense Authorization Act announced this week by House and Senate Armed Services Committee leaders.

First the good news. Among other provisions, the legislation will:

Authorize a 3.4% pay raise for active duty, Guard and Reserve members (vs. the budgeted 2.9%)
Bar the Pentagon from implementing any TRICARE inpatient care copay increases for FY2010
Authorize an extra 30,000 troops for the Army (15,000 above the budget request), and an additional 30,000 in FY2011 and FY2012, provided the Pentagon budgets for the increase
Authorize premium-based TRICARE coverage for "gray area" reserve retirees who haven't yet attained age 60
Authorize special compensation on behalf of caregivers of severely wounded warriors while on active duty (tracks with VA "aid and attendance" payments for vets who need caregivers)
Require retention of wounded Guard/Reserve members on active duty through completion of disability determination process, unless they request earlier release
Require a medical examination before administrative separation of members affected by traumatic brain injury or PTSD
Mandate a long list of initiatives to protect absentee voting rights for military members and families
Extend family medical leave rights to employees who are family members of deploying active duty members
Expand the window of active-duty TRICARE eligibility for activating Guard/Reserve members/families
Require a variety of measures to expand beneficiary access to mental health providers
Authorize $49 million to assist school districts with significant populations of military children
Authorize active-duty-level dental coverage for children of members who die on active duty
Establish formal requirements for needs assessment and delivery of assistance to military families with children with special needs
Authorize a pilot program to create federal internships for military spouses
Express the sense of Congress that DoD should authorize Flexible Spending Accounts to let currently serving military members set aside pre-tax dollars to cover out-of-pocket medical and dependent care expenses
Require a DoD plan to improve access of beneficiaries to health care providers
Establish a new DoD Task Force to assess progress on care, management and transition of recovering wounded, ill and injured servicemembers
Unfortunately, the new legislation also produced some significant disappointments in that it:

Dropped the House plan to phase out the disability offset to retired pay for medically retired (chapter 61) members. This is a particularly devastating setback because, for the first time, the President’s budget had included this measure, and House leaders had found funding for the first year. Some in the Senate objected to the specific funding sources identified by the House, and leaders could not find other offsets to comply with Senate budget-scoring rules
Dropped the Senate initiative to repeal the deduction of VA survivor benefits from military SBP annuities, again for lack of funding offsets
Reduced the Senate-approved Army manpower level by 15,000 for FY2010 (though it did provide extra increases in 2011-12). MOAA had urgently supported the extra increase for FY2010 to provide much needed relief for Army families affected by grievous over-deployment of a too-small force
Dropped a Senate-approved provision to authorize retroactive Reserve retirement age credit for active duty service since Sept. 11, 2001 (current law credits only service since Jan. 28, 2008), again for lack of funding offsets
Dropped a House-passed provision to authorize shipment of a second personal vehicle for members on PCS orders to Hawaii, Alaska, or US territories
Authorizes daily proration of combat and hazard pays (under current law, any part of a month in a combat zone triggers pay for the month). MOAA believes this is an over-reaction to reports of abuse (e.g., scheduling two-day in-theater trips starting the last day of the month) that would have been better addressed by a requirement to spend more than 30 days in theater to receive more than one month’s pay credit
Dropped a Senate-passed provision that would have allowed military spouses to choose to establish the same domicile as their servicemember for voting and tax purposes
Dropped a Senate-passed provision expressing the sense of Congress that military retirement and health benefits are the primary offset to the extraordinary demands and sacrifices inherent in a military career, that career members deserve a health benefit commensurate with their sacrifices, and that DoD needs to look at other ways to reduce health care spending than shifting more costs to beneficiaries
MOAA continues to be extremely frustrated by Congress' selective application of budget rules. In recent years, those rules have been routinely waived to pass trillions of dollars in tax reductions, stimulus packages, and bailouts of all sorts (which, to be fair, have included such things as the new GI Bill and military homeowner tax relief), while denying relief to tens of thousands of even more deserving groups whose military service cost them their health, their livelihood and the very lives of their loved ones.

We pledge to continue beating against this arbitrary budget wall until it comes down.

Many in Congress are, in fact, doing their level best to get these things done, and share our frustration at being turned back again and again by budget rules that seem to get tougher each year for our disabled and survivors simply because Congress has kept waiving the rules for so many others that deficits continue to mount ever higher.

That rationale simply doesn't fly when, year after year, so many big-ticket, politically expedient issues continue to be exempted from the so-called rules while disabled retirees, military widows and Guard/Reserve members with multiple combat tours since 9/11 repeatedly get left with the short end of the budget stick.
 
Does this affect crsc in any way and can you tell me exactly how crsc works if you have a 20 years and have combat related compensation from va. It is my understand crsc makes up for the deduction you incurr from your retirement pay or dod retirement.
 
Yep screwed yet again the only two things in the bill that would have helped me are cut out. Injured in Iraq, lost my federal job because of my injury and once again shafted by the government.
 
Injured in Iraq, lost my federal job because of my injury and once again shafted by the government.

How did you lose your federal job? Did your injury prevent you from continuing to do your federal job?
 
Well when the Army put me out because of my injury I was not able to keep my dual status job, I was injured in Iraq but not considered wounded so the new law does not apply to me. So I lost my job, lost my drill check, do not get my full SS because of the the minimal civil service disability check. So I sit here as an injured gray area retiree with no severance, no monthly check, hoping to live to 60 so I can get my retirement. So much for we will take care of you if you are hurt.
 
WHAT THE???? This is absolutely garbage. Mr. President, please ensure those of us whom were retired because of a Disability with less than 20 years in CRDP happens! This is crazy!! Unreal...
 
The Senate (or at least some of its members) are the culprits here.

"Dropped the House plan to phase out the disability offset to retired pay for medically retired (chapter 61) members. This is a particularly devastating setback because, for the first time, the President’s budget had included this measure, and House leaders had found funding for the first year. Some in the Senate objected to the specific funding sources identified by the House, and leaders could not find other offsets to comply with Senate budget-scoring rules."

The President is the first to have asked for this expansion of CRDP, the House agreed, it was a few Senators that had the problem.
 
I would love the names of those Senator's whom voted against this. I have a feeling one of them is the fella from South Carolina I have been hearing a lot about! This is absolutely absurd that the President our advocate wishes were shot down! I will be writing a letter to my Senator's, etc! If I have to march on Capitol Hill I would find a way! This really grinds my gears!!
 
Well, I don't march anymore;), but all for going to Capital Hill. For CRDP and Alternative Medicine!
 
Top