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INDEPENDENT SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS HAS PLAN TO
HELP PROTECT VETERANS -- "Before you give tax
breaks to
billionaires you take care of the men and women
who have
served our country and put their lives on the
line."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Story here...
http://www.boston.com/news/local/
vermont/articles/2007/05/14/sen_sa
nders_has_plan_to_help_protect_veterans/
Story below:
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Sen. Sanders has plan to help protect veterans
By Wilson Ring, Associated Press Writer
BURLINGTON, Vt. --Vermont's independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders wants
to do more for American veterans who he says are being shortchanged by
the government that asked them to risk their lives.
Last week he introduced legislation that would expand the number of
veterans eligible for assistance, help alleviate a backlog of 400,000
claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs and allow veterans to
receive retirement pay and disability compensation at the same time, he
said.
The "Comprehensive Veterans Benefits Improvement Act" would make 25
separate changes to veterans programs, Sanders said.
Sanders, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said he
didn't know the exact cost of his proposals, although he estimated it
would be more than a billion dollars a year, but the price shouldn't
matter.
"The issue here is getting our priorities right," Sanders said Monday at
a Burlington news conference. "Before you give tax breaks to
billionaires you take care of the men and women who have served our
country and put their lives on the line."
The veterans committee is proposing the largest increase in spending for
veterans in "many, many years," Sanders said.
Sanders' proposal is separate from that and was suggested by veterans
groups and people who work with veterans every day and are aware of the
shortcomings of the current system, Sanders said.
At its broadest, Sanders' measure would make it easier for veterans to
file claims and for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the
Department of Defense to share information.
The act also would focus on the needs of individual veterans. It would
increase the allowance given to disabled veterans who need to adapt
their vehicles to accommodate their special needs. Currently the payment
is $11,000. It would increase to $22,484. And it would increase the
burial allowance from $300 to $745, a figure which would be increased
every year.
Sanders said the increases were good, but the demand for services would
be increasing for years to come. There are an estimated 24,000 wounded
service men and woman from Iraq alone.
Sanders' legislation would:
-- allow so-called "Category 8" veterans to enroll in the VA health care
system. In 2003 the Bush administration stopped allowing "higher income"
veterans to enroll in the system. Sanders said some of those veterans
make as little as $27,000 a year. The VA estimates the change in the
system denied enrollment to 1.5 million people;
-- allow veterans to receive both pension benefits and VA disability
payments. Under the current system, the retirement benefits of some
veterans is reduced by the amount of their disability payments;
-- help alleviate a backlog of more than 400,000 veteran claims to the
VA.
Sanders said he expected the bill would have bipartisan support.
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Larry Scott --
