GOP Senator Anonymously Blocks COLA Increase for Veterans (UPDATED: Hold removed) [View all]

[WilliamPitt]

Last edited Thu Sep 27, 2012, 07:02 PM - Edit history (7)

Source: VetLawyers

After passing the House of Representatives, the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) increase for VA benefits was blocked in the Senate by an unknown Senator, according to Senate staffers who alerted Bergmann & Moore.

The Veterans COLA affects a number of key benefits for veterans: disability compensation, pension as well as survivor benefits. The uncontroversial bill adjusts VA benefits to keep up with inflation and easily passes Congress each year.

Until now.

Paul Sullivan, a Gulf War veteran and Director of Veterans Outreach for Bergmann & Moore, LLC, a law firm concentrating on VA disability law, said, “This secret hold is unconscionable: it will take up to $500 next year out of the wallets of disabled veterans and their families: money they need to pay their rent and put food on the table for their children.”


Read more: http://vetlawyers.com/vetblog/index.php/2012/09/va-cost-of-living-increase-blocked-in-the-senate/

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Sen. Parry Murray statement on the anonymous block: http://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/newsreleases?ContentRecord_id=65d3f84b-29cb-47c0-ae77-5fea93ea6fcb

Military.com has the story now: http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/09/27/senator-puts-secret-hold-on-veterans-cola-bill.html?comp=7000023317828&rank=1

The Navy Times has the story: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/09/military-senate-delay-could-mean-late-colas-retirees-092712w/

My take: http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17539-the-scum-of-the-earth-gop-senator-blocks-bill-to-increase-benefits-for-veterans

"The Roman method for dealing with corruption was to sew the offender into a sack with a wild animal and have that bag thrown into the river. In these enlightened days, I'd be satisfied to sew whoever blocked this legislation into a sack with five veterans who depend on the benefits earned with their blood and service, and let nature take its course."

UPDATE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/patty-murray-says-gop-senator-blocking-vets-cola-increase/2012/09/27/da47ac88-08cb-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_blog.html

The chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee complained Thursday that an unnamed Republican senator blocked a bill last week to provide veterans with an annual cost of living adjustment, a maneuver that could delay payments for recpients.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) brought the bill to the Senate floor Sept. 21. The bill was cleared by Senate Democrats but was held up by an unnamed Republican, according to her office. The Senate subsequently recessed without passing the bill.

After Murray issued a statement Thursday morning calling the development “stunning,” the office of Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the ranking Republican on the Senate veterans’ committee, said the issue had been resolved.

“It has cleared our side, meaning there is no hold,” David Ward, a spokesman for Burr, said Thursday afternoon.