Reed Condemns House Republican ‘Sneak Attack’ on Veterans Benefits

WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, as America celebrated Veterans Day by saluting those who served, House Republicans tried to pull a fast one on veterans across the country by slashing their benefits. Republican leaders used a “voice vote” – with no roll call indicating who supported or opposed the measure – to try to sneak through Republicans’ so-called Take Care of America's Veterans Act (H.R. 9237). This highly partisan and controversial bill would actually cut $57 billion from the disability benefits of future veterans – the largest veterans’ benefits cut in American history. U.S. Senator Jack Reed, a member of the Appropriations Committee, who graduated from West Point and served in the U.S. Army, says he will do everything he can to block the bill in the U.S. Senate in order to prevent the drastic cuts to veterans, which would nearly triple the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) streamlined refinancing fee. “Our veterans fought honorably to serve the entire country and they deserve our best. You don’t expand benefits for a few by taking away benefits from disabled veterans who earned them and depend on them. It is a shame so-called Republican leaders tried to use procedural gimmicks to cloak their action, but Democrats and independent members of the media exposed this attempted betrayal. Our nation’s veterans made incredible sacrifices on our behalf, and we must thank them with more than words, but with deeds. That means keeping the promise to ensure they have access to health care, opportunity, and the benefits they earned,” said Senator Reed. According to The Hill newspaper , House Republicans departed from standard House procedures to pass the bill, which House Democrats labeled ‘dirty pool’: “Democrats opposed the GOP’s Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (TCAVA), saying it would expand some veterans’ benefits by slashing others. In her daily whip notice, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) urged House Democrats to vote no. “Yet when Rep. Addison McDowell (N.C.), the Republican lawmaker presiding over the House chamber Wednesday afternoon, brought the bill up for consideration, no one on the Democratic side demanded a recorded vote — a curious silence given that Democrats were whipping against the bill. That allowed McDowell to declare the bill passed instantly, by voice vote. “Furious Democrats accused Republicans of playing “dirty pool.” They said Republicans pulled Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, away from the podium, where he was leading the Democratic side of the debate, in order to discuss changes to the bill. It was during that parley — while Takano was away from his microphone — that McDowell fast-tracked the proposal, they said. “After publicly announcing a recorded vote on the TCAVA legislation, House Republicans asked if RM Takano and Democrats would agree to last minute engrossment corrections,” a Democratic leadership aide said.” Senator Reed noted that the bill still must pass the U.S. Senate before it can become law and vowed to prevent it from being enacted as is. Reed says while he supports some provisions in the bill that would benefit veterans and caregivers, he strongly opposes the changes to tinnitus and sleep apnea ratings that would reduce compensation for many affected veterans. “I support balanced, fiscally responsible solutions. Let’s end the war in Iran. That would save billions. But I have little respect for those who repeatedly vote to send troops off to war and then balk at paying to care for our veterans when they return home,” said Senator Reed. In a scathing rebuke of House Republicans, the VFW issued a press release: VFW Condemns Cowardly and Dishonorable House Passage of Benefit Cuts on Veterans Day noting that “House shirks accountability and quickly claims to pass controversial and unprecedented benefit cuts by voice vote.” The VFW release states: “The VFW has repeatedly raised concerns about Section 108 of the legislation, which would, for the first time ever, write changes to the VA disability rating schedule into law to generate budget savings. Beyond its immediate implications for veterans' disability compensation, the VFW believes this approach creates a roadmap for future Congresses to target veterans’ earned benefits as a budgetary gimmick or to cut benefits out of political convenience.” Senator Reed stated: “The bottom line is, we should treat all our veterans with respect instead of trying to help one veteran by taking away assistance from others who served our nation in uniform. I hope we can find a principled compromise to uphold our nation’s promise to our veterans. You don’t do that through political tricks and gimmicks; you did it through hard work and by working across the aisle.”