WASHINGTON — In the coming weeks, politicians in our nation’s capital will make a decision that will impact the amount of monthly compensation disabled veterans receive and there’s no guarantee they get a single cent more.
“It is something that they greatly use for all of their daily living expenses, not just for themselves, but for their families,” said Shane Liermann, deputy national legislative director at Disabled American Veterans (DAV) .
Like most Americans feeling the pinch of inflation on just about everything, there’s grave concern from within the Erlanger-based DAV that without an increase in cost of living rates, some veterans could face difficult decisions.
“If veterans' cost of living isn't on par with inflation with services, veterans are going to continue to fall behind," Liermann said. "And they are our most vulnerable population of veterans that rely on that compensation for everything to do within taking care of their families, as well as just putting food on the table, paying rent, in some cases even medical expenses — maybe not for themselves, if they're getting through the VA, but their family members."
The decision rests solely with Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. Right now, Senate Bill 4223 and House Bill 7846, the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Act of 2022 are awaiting further action.
“In the VA system, COLA has to be passed annually unlike Social Security,” said Liermann.
He adds that not having it automatically adjust equal to Social Security can be a benefit to veterans.
“What if Social Security doesn't get a very large increase? We can still try to negotiate a larger increase for veterans for a COLA if it's not part of that automatic sort of thing,” Liermann said.
HB 7846 had a committee vote and can now be introduced to the floor. Shane Liermann believes Congress will act on the COLA increase for veterans prior their break.
While it’s more likely than not an increase will be coming to disabled veterans' monthly payments for the next year, there have been a few years where the raise was flat.
Veterans received a 5.9% increase for 2022 and early numbers suggest veterans could see an approximately 9% increase for 2023.
Liermann said that could make a big difference for the 5.2 million veterans who receive disability compensation and the timing of such a vote ahead of an election could play in the veterans' favor.
“Sounds a whole lot better saying, 'Hey, I just voted for a bill that's going to increase your COLA' while you're campaigning instead of, 'Yeah, we decided not to give you one this year,'” he said.
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