WASHINGTON \u2014 A plan to extend disability benefits to nearly 100,000 war veterans potentially exposed to Agent Orange on ships off the Vietnam coastline were sidelined Thursday over the ongoing dispute about how to pay for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The failure again raises problematic questions for lawmakers about how to balance federal costs with government responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Critics noted that on the same day lawmakers offered a massive tax reform measure expected to cost $5.8 trillion over 10 years, they could not find a way to cover a small fraction of that total to help sick veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely appalled at Congress\u2019 inability to reach bipartisan support to take care of it\u2019s blue water veterans,\u201d said Mike Little, director of legislative affairs at the Association of the United States Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At issue is a change in VA policy 15 years ago that excluded veterans serving on ships off the coast of Vietnam \u2014 known as \u201cblue water Navy veterans\u201d \u2014 from being included in a class of former servicemembers presumed to be exposed to Agent Orange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troops who served on the ground in Vietnam or patrolled inland rivers are given special status, simplifying the process to receive disability benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the blue water veterans still must prove they were directly exposed to Agent Orange for their illnesses to be labeled as service-connected. In many cases, collecting scientific evidence of the presence of the chemical on or near the ships is impossible, given the decades that have passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A House bill to restore that status to the Vietnam War sailors has 317 co-sponsors, more than enough to advance the legislation if it reaches the House floor. But leaders on the House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee haven\u2019t moved the legislation there because of disagreements over how to pay for the change \u2014 expected to total about $1.1 billion over 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a hearing Thursday, Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tennessee. the committee chairman, proposed rounding down veterans\u2019 cost-of-living adjustments to cover the cost. The move would cost individual veterans no more than $12 a year in their benefits, but generate around $2 billion in savings that could be reinvested in other veterans programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But veterans groups \u2014 and committee Democrats \u2014 have opposed the COLA change for a host of veterans proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s bad policy to take from one group of veterans to pay for another,\u201d said Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minnesota, ranking member of the committee. \u201cI think this is the time for us to say, \u2018No, this money isn\u2019t coming from other veterans benefits.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Roe said that without a way to pay for the legislation, he can\u2019t advance the measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUsing the COLA round-down has only recently become an issue for this committee, and it doesn\u2019t make sense to me when weighed against all the good that can be accomplished for veterans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advocates called the funding spat disheartening, especially given that the country loses about 500 Vietnam veterans every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs Veterans Day approaches, it is terrible to think that partisan politics has intervened to deny coverage to sick and dying veterans,\u201d said retired Navy Cmdr. John Wells, executive director of Military-Veterans Advocacy and a longtime activist on the blue water veterans issue<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He believes the COLA round-down is an acceptable compromise to get the benefits problem fixed. AUSN officials said they\u2019re disgusted that some solution can\u2019t be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey have had years to work out the details on this,\u201d Little said. \u201cAs of two weeks ago, they knew this bill was going to come to the committee for a markup and instead of trying to work together they used blue water Navy veterans as a pawn in their political game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His group is also lobbying VA Secretary David Shulkin to restore the benefits under existing VA authorities. Last month, in a hearing before the committee, Shulkin said he is committed to finding an answer but wants to work with lawmakers instead of acting on his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several pending lawsuits could also force a change as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But advocates saw Thursday\u2019s hearing as a chance to jump start the issue. Instead, the problem will drag on past Veterans Day, and possibly into next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Advocates had hoped to advance legislation to help so-called blue water veterans become eligible for disability payouts related to their war service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":73882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":21,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,16,26,21],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3328],"class_list":["post-40748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"JGAIHWMPWNF63EEFZTJ2OU7GO4","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2017\/11\/02\/funding-fight-again-sidelines-proposal-to-expand-disability-benefits-to-more-vietnam-veterans\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n