Gallego Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Veterans’ Disability Pay

WASHINGTON — Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) introduced the Restore Veterans’ Compensation Act, legislation that protects veterans who receive disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from having their separation pay unfairly recouped. “It is ridiculous to claw back money from a veteran who has put life and limb on the line, just because later in life they qualify for disability benefits,” said Senator Gallego. “Separation pay and disability compensation serve two entirely different purposes—one honors time served, while the other addresses workplace injuries sustained. My bill ensures we stop unfairly penalizing our heroes and guarantees that Arizona veterans keep every dollar of the benefits they have rightfully earned.” Separation pay can be given to service members when they depart the military for several reasons. For example, when members of the Armed Forces with more than six years of service meet reenlistment requirements but are not allowed to reenlist, they are eligible for separation pay. Separation pay is also used to incentivize service members to depart the military when the Pentagon is working to downsize the force. Currently, outdated policies prohibit veterans from receiving concurrent receipt of unrelated benefit payments. Therefore, veterans who receive separation pay who later qualify for VA disability benefits have their separation pay recouped. Read more on the issue from Military.com: Senator introduces bill to stop VA from recouping military separation pay from disabled vets. The Restore Veterans’ Compensation Act would fix this unwarranted policy through several key provisions. Specifically, the bill would: No longer allow for the recoupment of separation pay from veterans who later become eligible for VA disability benefits because the two compensate for different things—workplace injuries (disability benefits) versus time served (separation pay); Ensure veterans who later qualify for military retirement pay only have to repay the net amount of separation pay instead of the gross amount to prevent the federal government from recouping more than the veteran received; and, Change the recoupment rate for retired military veterans to 25 percent of those same veterans’ paycheck instead of the current 40 percent. The bill is endorsed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). Click here to read the bill.