Congress Proposes Sweetened COLA for Veterans

May 31, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Veteran Benefits

The United States Senate recently held hearings on pending benefits legislation. During these hearings on May 9th Daniel Akaka (D-HI), the Committee on Veteran Affairs chairman, made the opening statement in which he proposed a number of positive changes for veterans benefits.

The first of which was S. 423, better known as the Veterans’ Compensation Cost of Living Adjustment of 2007. This bill that Senator Akaka introduced with Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) will increase the rates and benefits for veterans with service related disabilities as well as the survivors of veterans with certain disabilities. The bill will affect over three million veterans who depend on these benefits to provide for themselves and their families. Without adjusting veterans’ benefits for cost of living increases they will quickly become irrelevant.

Akaka also summarized four other bills he had recently introduced with other members of his committee. The Blinded Veterans Paired Organs Act would change the requirements for specific benefits that would help veterans with service related blindness. Two of the introduced bills pertained to Veterans Insurance and increasing the maximum total supplemental life insurance available to veterans and raising the cap on the Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance. His final bill would make numerous small changes to sweeten benefits for veterans in adjustment with cost of living increases.