COLA bill signed into law

On Nov. 21, President Barack Obama enacted Public Law 113-52, the Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013. This law directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to increase – effective December 1, 2013 – the rates of veterans’ disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans, and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children. It further requires each such increase to be the same percentage as the increase in benefits provided under Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance of the Social Security Act, on the same effective date.