Concurrent Receipt

[Pete]

For any retired military with disability:
This from Retired Officer mag tonight just recd:

Issue 1    Legislators Announce Concurrent Receipt Deal

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Veterans Affairs Committee
Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and concurrent receipt champion Rep. Mike Bilirakis (R-FL) met with MOAA and other military and veterans'
associations today to announce a final concurrent receipt agreement with Senate leaders and the White House.

The proposal will benefit as many as 200,000 disabled retirees in two ways:

* First, all retirees with at least 20 years of service and VA disability ratings of 50% or higher will see their military retired pay offsets
phased out over a ten-year period starting January 1, 2004.

* Second, the recently enacted Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) will be expanded to include all combat- or
operations-related disabilities-from 10% to 100% ratings, also effective January 1, 2004.  Currently, only those with qualifying disabilities
rated 60% or higher or who have a disability associated with a Purple Heart are eligible.

In both cases, Guard and Reserve retirees with 20 qualifying years of service (including those with less than 7,200 retirement points) will
be eligible.

CRSC payments are in the amount of the VA disability compensation paid for whatever percentage of the member's disability rating is due
to combat-related disabilities, as determined by the parent service.  Retirees must apply to their parent service for CRSC payments, but
there is no phase-in period for CRSC.   DoD is discouraging all those not currently eligible for CRSC from applying until this provision is
signed into law.

Disabled retirees rated 50% and higher who do not elect CRSC payments should start seeing their retired offset phased out
automatically, starting January 1, 2004.  No application is expected to be required.  For 2004, qualifying retirees should see their retired
pay increase by a flat amount, depending on disability, as follows:

$750 for 100% disabled;

$500 for 90%;

$350 for 80%;

$250 for 70%;

$125 for 60%; and

$100 for 50%.

The remaining retired pay offsets would then be phased out over the following nine years. In 2005, they would get back another 10% of any
remaining offset; in 2006, they would get back 20% of the remaining offset; in 2007, 30% of the remaining offset; and so on.  By January
2014, disabled retirees with 50% and higher ratings will be entitled to full concurrent receipt of military retired pay and VA disability
compensation.

Disabled retirees who qualify for both programs would have to choose one or the other.  Because the CRSC program provides full
payment immediately vs. the 10-year phase-in for concurrent receipt, legislators plan to allow an annual election option for
CRSC-eligibles.  This recognizes that a retiree who is 100% disabled, but only 60% of that is due to combat-related conditions, may find it
advantageous to elect full CRSC payments for a few years until the concurrent receipt payment rises to a level that exceeds the CRSC
payment.  Because CRSC payments are tax-free and nondisability retired pay is not, this could also figure into qualifying retirees' election
decisions.

Designing specific procedures for retirees to make such elections is but one of the many administrative challenges the Defense
Department will have to address in implementing the new authority.

The new agreement also calls for the formation of a special commission to review the VA disability system and recommend any needed
changes.  Of its 13 commissioners, at least 12 will have to be highly decorated veterans.  Four will be appointed by the House, four by the
Senate, and five by the Pentagon and/or the VA.

"This is an extremely gratifying victory for disabled retirees," says VADM Norbert R. Ryan, Jr. (USN-Ret), President of MOAA.  "MOAA is
extremely pleased that years of lobbying efforts by MOAA and others have paid such great dividends for thousands upon thousands of
disabled servicemen and women.  This new legislation won't solve the whole concurrent receipt problem, but it's a giant step forward that
will mean as much as $25,000 a year or more for 100% disabled retirees.  We deeply appreciate the efforts of legislators who have fought
so hard on this issue."

There certainly is no shortage of heroes who deserve a share of the credit for this historic victory. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO)
and Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) played key leadership roles in negotiations with the White House.
Special thanks also go to long-time concurrent receipt champions Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Rep. Mike Bilirakis (R-FL) and Senate
Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA).  Particular appreciation is due Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA), whose discharge
petition played a significant role in achieving this victory, and to Reps Thomas Tancredo (R-CO) and Walter Jones (R-NC), who had the
courage to buck party guidance and put their names on the discharge petition.

The new agreement will be one provision of the FY2004 Defense Authorization Bill.  House and Senate leaders are still conferring on other
parts of the bill, but Chairman Hunter expects these negotiations will be complete by the end of October so the bill can be passed and
sent to the President.  "Regardless of other provisions," said Rep. Blunt, who is the second-most senior House Republican, "I can
guarantee that this concurrent receipt agreement is locked in and will become law before Congress goes home this year."