House Veterans’ Affairs Committee voiced sharp disagreement over how to pay for the expansion, which is projected to cost $10 billion over the next decade.
Legislation to increase compensation for severely injured veterans and their survivors received unanimous support from lawmakers Wednesday at a hearing of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
But committee members voiced sharp disagreement over how to pay for the expansion, which is projected to cost $10 billion over the next decade.
The Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act, led by Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., the committee chairman, would award an additional $10,000 each year to veterans with traumatic brain injuries, paralysis and other serious disabilities connected to their military service.
The bill also would increase benefits by 1% a year for the next five years for the spouses of service members who were killed in the line of duty or who died from their injuries.
But the revenue to pay for the increases would come from a fee on second home loans that would be levied against some disabled veterans — which prompted sharp dissent from Democratic lawmakers.
“I cannot allow those benefits to be paid for on the backs of other veterans, even though there is a fierce urgency that this [legislation] is long overdue,” said Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill.
Under the bill, veterans with a disability rating of 70% or below who use their VA home loan benefit a second time for a new primary residence would be charged a fee. It would be collected as revenue to fund the expansion of benefits.
The VA funding fee is a government fee already required for many borrowers of VA-backed home loans. But disabled veterans who receive compensation for a service-connected disability are now exempt. Funding fee amounts vary based on loan type, prior VA loan use and other factors.
“That’s an average of $35 a month,” Bost said. “Opening the funding fee is a realistic way to get this done.”
But Budzinski said requiring a funding fee would make it more difficult for disabled veterans to buy a home when home-buying costs already are out of reach for many Americans. She said the average fee would run from $13,000 to $17,000.
“This is about mortgages of primary residences — not about vacation homes,” Budzinski said. “I can’t support it.”
But Bost said the proposed funding fee for some disabled veterans is “the same rate that all other veterans currently pay.”
Ed Edmundson, the parent of a severely disabled Army veteran, said the compensation increase is critical to families caring for seriously disabled veterans.
He urged the committee to find a funding solution that everyone agrees on and endorse the bill.
“We can come up with a number of reasons not to pass this legislation,” said Edmundson, who was accompanied by his son, Eric Edmundson, who requires round-the-clock care from injuries in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq 20 years ago.
“But this committee needs to come together in a bipartisan way and come up with a mechanism to get it passed. It has been ignored for too long,” said Edmundson, as he looked over at his son, who uses a wheelchair and is nonverbal.
Rep. Mark Takano, of California, the top Democrat on the committee, assured Edmundson and other families at the hearing that “no one is trying to derail the legislation.” “We want to see the benefits increase as much as anyone,” Takano said.
But Bost warned Takano that Democratic committee members need to work with Republicans on finding an alternative funding source. He accused Democrats of ignoring requests to collaborate.
“Understand we will continue to work to give veterans the support they need. We are moving forward with the bill, and if we have to drag your side kicking and screaming we will,” Bost said.
Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., a physician who has worked as a medical missionary, reminded committee members that they need to work together to advance the legislation to the full House for adoption.
“I hope we can sit down like adults and figure this out,” Murphy said.
- Veterans Benefits