vetpawns1

So THIS is how they honor our Veterans

and pay for their tax cuts for the rich !

This program is to buy congress off to allow the Republican led assault on Veteran's benefits, particularly non-combat related health care for retired Veterans who have had those benefits for a LONG time.

----- Original Message -----

From: [92nd Assault Helicopter Company Member]

To: [92nd Assault Helicopter Company Group]

Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 12:46 PM

Subject: Combat-Related Special Compensation Program.

CRSC Update 4: The Department of Defense, working together with the

Department of Veteran Affairs, announced the start of a new compensation

program for many disabled military retirees referred to as "Combat-Related

Special Compensation (CRSC)". The new special compensation becomes

effective May 31, 2003, for qualified combat-related disabled retirees.

Payments for qualified retirees will accrue beginning June 1, 2003, with

first payments possible on 1 JUL 03. Eligible Members are those retirees

who have 20 years of service for retired pay computation and who either

have disabilities because of combat injuries for which they have been

awarded the Purple Heart or who are rated at least 60 percent disabled

because of armed conflict, hazardous duty, training exercises, or mishaps

involving military equipment. Payments will equal the amount of VA

disability compensation for combat-related disabilities, but will be

reduced for those retirees whose retired pay exceeds what they would have

received for length of service. Payments are limited to the amount of the

retired pay reduction resulting from receipt of VA disability compensation.

The payments are considered to be tax exempt pending a review by the Armed

Forces Tax Council.

Members must apply to their own branch of service using DD form 2860,

Application for Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) which can be

found at https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/crsc/dd2860.pdf . The CRSC web site

https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/crsc provides details on where and how to

apply. Each Uniformed Service will review the applications of their own

retirees, with the Department of the Navy reviewing applications for both

the Navy and Marine Corps. Payments will be retroactive to June 1, 2003,

for all approved applications, no matter when received, to the extent

otherwise allowed in law, providing the applicant is otherwise qualified.

Service reviews will determine which disabilities, if any, are

combat-related or are the result of an injury for which the member was

awarded a Purple Heart. Combat-Related includes those disabilities that are

the direct result of armed conflict or from conditions that simulate

combat, or that result from the performance of uniquely hazardous military

duties, or caused by an instrumentality of war. Services will presume that

disabilities awarded VA disability compensation based on service-connected

exposure to hazards, which are clearly combat-related, are combat-related

for the purpose of CRSC. These include Agent Orange, Gulf War illnesses ,

Radiation Exposure, Mustard Gas and Lewisite. Post-Traumatic Stress

Disorder (PTSD) will require combat-related documentation. Retirees will be

informed of denied applications and the reason for denial. They may reapply

later if they are able to show they meet the program criteria or appeal the

decision if they believe their disabilities were combat-related, but were

denied compensation by their Service. [Source:

https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/owa/crsc/pkg_crsc.page1?p_sid=bilbzsmxnyvf 23 MAY 03]

--------------------oOo--------------------

Other rather pointed Veterans developments in the republiakan camp.

Concurrent Receipt Update 10: On May 23, 2003, Congressman Jim Marshall

(D-GA), a combat disabled veteran of the Vietnam War, filed a discharge

petition regarding H.R. 303. This is a bill to permit retired members of

the Armed Forces to receive both military retirement pay and disability

compensation [i.e. Concurrent Receipt] from the Department of Veterans

Affairs. A discharge petition is an official motion to relieve a committee

of its responsibilities over a given piece of legislation. Essentially, the

bill is taken out of committee and forced to the floor of the full House

for a vote. Congressman Marshall's discharge petition would take H.R. 303

from the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and require the full House to

vote on concurrent receipt. To succeed, a discharge petition requires the

signatures of a majority of members of the House or 218 out of the 435

representatives. To date, 292 members of the House (143 Democrats, 148

Republicans, 1 Independent) have cosponsored H.R. 303. It would appear that

if sincere support for concurrent receipt exists, Congressman Marshall's

discharge petition should pass. However, disabled military retirees carry

the bitter knowledge that, in the past, such apparent support has instantly

withered when called upon.

Meanwhile, in the Senate the Senate parliamentarian ruled that

concurrent receipt was not relevant to the National Defense Authorization

bill and removed the amendment to end the offset. Senators taking

exception to the ruling found that a special rule had been inserted in the

dead of night last week severely limiting floor amendment options for the

FY2004 Defense Authorization Bill. At 2:30 AM last Friday morning, after

the final action on the tax cut bill, Senate leaders asked "unanimous

consent" that only "relevant" amendments would be considered for action on

the defense bill. Under unanimous consent rules, a proposal is adopted by

the Senate if there is no objection from any senator, and none of the few

remaining senators on the floor at the time did so. Under arcane Senate

rules, the "relevancy" test requires that the amendment must relate

specifically to a provision already in the bill under consideration. The

rule was aimed at blocking the expected flood of amendments and ensuring

that the full Senate would wrap up its version of the bill before the

Memorial Day recess. Unfortunately, it also effectively barred

consideration of much-needed improvements for survivors and disabled

retirees, since the defense bill did not already contain provisions on

those issues. Among the amendments that failed the so-called relevancy rule

were:

n Sen. Harry Reid's (D-NV) amendment to end the disability offset to

retired pay;

n Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) proposal to make otherwise-qualifying

combat-disabled Guard. and Reserve retirees eligible for the new

combat-related special compensation; and

n Sen Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) initiative to phase out the SBP benefit

reduction for military survivors age 62 and older.

It is apparent that congressional leaders' reluctance to address what they

see as expensive benefit changes that the Bush Administration doesn't

support is taking its toll on veterans benefits and that President Bush

will continue to maneuver to kill these issues.

[Source: DAV msg 23 May 03, MOAA Leg UP 23 MAY 03, & FRA NEWSBYTES 23 May 03]

--------------------oOo--------------------

Bush Launches Reelection Campaign: President Bush launched his re-election

bid on 16 MAY by formally filing papers to seek a second term. On orders

issued by the president late last week, a White House clerk hand-delivered

and filed the formal notice of Bush's intentions at the Federal Election

Commission. The step allows the president to raise money, hire staff and

open a campaign headquarters. Final details are being made on a campaign

headquarters in northern Virginia. Ken Mehlman, White House political

director and a Rove protege, will be campaign manager.

Bush expressed his concern for veterans in his 2000 campaign. He

said, "To the veteran, we owe gratitude -- shown not just in words of

tribute, but in acts of care and attention. ... As president, I will work

with Congress to raise the standard of service -- not just for veterans,

but for our military retirees. All of them must be treated with the care

they have been promised and the dignity they have earned." Then Governor

Bush spoke those words to the American Legion in Milwaukee WI, on Sept. 6,

2000, and replicated them throughout his campaign. At a Memorial Day

breakfast in the East Room on May 28, 2001, he said "America's veterans ask

only that government honor its commitments as they honored theirs. They ask

that their interests be protected, as they protected their country's

interest in foreign lands. In all matters of concern to veterans -- from

health care to program funding -- you have my pledge that those commitments

will be kept. My administration will do all it can to assist our veterans

and to correct oversights of the past." To allow him to fulfill these

promises veterans need to communicate their concerns to his administration

and their congressmen so they will get the priority they deserve.

If vets are unable to convince him otherwise, it is doubtful that

retired disabled veterans will see passage of a Concurrent Pay bill while

he remains in office since he has consistently threatened to veto any bill

containing Concurrent Receipt [CR] benefits. As with most issues elected

officials take the most expedient resolutions if their constituents do not

get their attention. We have obviously failed to do this in regards to

CR. Some other issues his administration to date has allowed, proposed or

introduced follow. While congress has shot some of these down a few are

still open issues that will become reality or return in another

form. Veterans must remain vigilant to ensure their benefits are not

further degraded.

· Proposed Social Security benefits to disabled veterans and the

families of service members killed on active duty to drop as much as 10

percent by eliminating a $1,200 Social Security wage credit for uniformed

service personnel. in a proposal being advanced by the Bush administration.

· Allowed two Air National Guard pilots to be charged as criminals

for mistakenly bombing Canadian troops during the war in Afghanistan.

· Proposed capping active duty, Guard and Reserve members' 2004 pay

raise at 2 percent and shifting to a different standard to cut their raises

in future years.

· Proposed an extension of presidential authority to order Reserve

component members to active duty for natural and manmade disasters and

catastrophes that would circumvent the State or Territory Governor's authority.

· Asked that all eleven judges on a federal appeals court rehear

arguments and reverse a February ruling by a three-judge panel that found

the government illegally breached its promise of lifetime health care to as

many as 1.5 million elderly military retirees.

· During the 107th Congress better than 80% of the House and Senate

co-sponsored legislation to restore full lifetime medical care to former

career military personnel and their families. As a result of a VETO threat

by President Bush, the Speaker of the House refused to permit the

legislation to be voted on.

· Proposed a plan to close down military commissaries.

· Included provisions in his 2004 Budget submission for veterans

whose disabilities are not service connected and who don't pass the "means

test" to face a $250 a year enrollment fee. They also would see

co-payments for outpatient visits jump 33 percent, from $15 to $20, and

find prescription drug co-payments more than doubled, from $7 to $15.

Further, long-term nursing home care would be restricted to veterans with a

disability rating of 70 percent or greater.

· Proposed Medicare payments allocated to hospitals to cover many

drugs and outpatient medical procedures to be reduced sharply.

· Proposed a plan that would force 700,000 military retirees, most of

them disabled, to choose between the VA health care system or the military

medical system but they could no longer use both in the same year.

· Threatened to veto the 2004 NDAA bill if it did not include desired

language on base closure. The Bush administration and DoD want to shut

down about 30% of the bases within the United States during the 2005

closure proceedings which will impact adversely on many veterans.

· [Source: Summary of reported White House events & actions since 2000]

Lt. James "EMO" Tichacek, USN (Ret)

Director, Retiree Activities Office & U.S. Embassy Warden Baguio City RP

PSC 517 Box RCB, FPO AP 96517-1000

Tel: (63-74) 442-7135 or stateside FAX to email service 1-801-760-2430

Email: raoemo@mozcom.com (Primary) & raobaguio@hotmail.com (Alternate)

Web: http://post_119_gulfport_ms.tripod.com/rao1.html

Get paid $300 tax-cut for Standard Membership.

Get paid $3 Million tax-cut for Priveledged Membership.

Special Memberships for people with allot of money, especially low character and will lie for the Amarikan movement without questions.

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