Gus Bilirakis: “some military retirees, individuals who are eligible for military retirement benefits as a result of a full-service…”

“some military retirees, individuals who are eligible for military retirement benefits as a result of a full-service career, are also eligible for disability compensation from the VA based on a medical problem they incurred while in the service. Due to a 19th Century law, these service-disabled retirees must surrender a portion of their retired pay if they want to receive the disability compensation to which they are entitled. Nationwide more than 550,000 disabled military retirees have been required to give up their retired pay in order to receive their VA disability compensation. For nearly 2 decades, Madam Speaker, I have introduced legislation to correct this longstanding problem, commonly known as concurrent receipt, in the House of Representatives. Last year our Republican Congress and President George W. Bush reached an historic agreement that changes the 100-year-old practice of having disabled veterans pay for their VA disability out of their military retirement.”