The Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013 (S. 893) is a bill that would increase the disability compensation rate for American veterans and their families. The rate would increase by the same amount as the cost of living increase that is applied to Social Security. The bill passed the United States Senate during the 113th United States Congress.
Video Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013
Background
A similar bill (H.R. 569) was introduced in the House. There was no cost of living adjustment in 2010 or 2011.
Maps Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013
Provisions of the bill
This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Research Service, a public domain source.
The Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013 would direct the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to increase, as of December 1, 2013, the rates of veterans' disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, the clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans, and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children.
The bill would require each such increase to be the same percentage as the increase in benefits provided under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act, on the same effective date.
Congressional Budget Office report
This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Budget Office, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs on July 24, 2013. This is a public domain source.
S. 893 would increase the amounts paid to veterans for disability compensation and to their survivors for dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) by the same cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) payable to Social Security recipients. The increase would take effect on December 1, 2013.
The COLA that would be authorized by this bill is assumed in the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) baseline, consistent with section 257 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act. Because the COLA is assumed in the CBO's baseline, the COLA provision would have no budgetary effect relative to the baseline. Relative to current law, the CBO estimated that enacting this bill would increase spending for those programs by $0.9 million in fiscal year 2014. This estimate assumes that the COLA effective on December 1, 2013, would be 1.5 percent. (The annualized cost would be about $1.2 billion in subsequent years. The CBO previously estimated that the COLA change relative to current law would be about $2.6 billion on an annualized basis in contrast to that corrected figure of about $1.2 billion.)
Procedural history
The Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013 was introduced on May 8, 2013 by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I, VT). It was referred to the United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. It was released from the Committee alongside Senate Report 113-87. On October 28, 2013, the Senate voted by Unanimous consent to pass the bill.
The Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013 was received in the United States House of Representatives. It was referred to the United States House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. On November 8, 2013, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced that H.R. 2871 would be considered under a suspension of the rules on the House floor on November 12, 2013. The bill would be considered along with five other bills, starting after the House opened for the day at 2pm.
Debate and discussion
The Hill reported that the bill "passed easily in the Senate at the end of October, and is expected to pass just as easily in the House."
See also
- List of bills in the 113th United States Congress
Notes/References
External links
- Library of Congress - Thomas S. 893
- beta.congress.gov S. 893
- GovTrack.us S. 893
- OpenCongress.org S. 893
- WashingtonWatch.com S. 893
- Congressional Budget Office's report on S. 893
- Senate Report 113-87
- House Republican Conference's legislative digest on S. 893
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Government.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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