Steve Buyer: “This bill contains several notable provisions that will enhance a wide variety of benefits and will spend about $229…”

“This bill contains several notable provisions that will enhance a wide variety of benefits and will spend about $229 million over the next 6 years to increase veterans benefits. The remaining $56 million will go to deficit reduction. I would like to take a moment and say what we really seek to do is override the Court of Veterans Appeals decision in Davenport versus Brown. It will clarify the causal relationship required between a veteran's service-connected disability and an employment handicap, for purposes of determining eligibility for vocational rehabilitation. It is my understanding in the Davenport versus Brown, Mr. Davenport, an attorney, with a 10-percent service-connected disability for a foot fungus wanted both rehabilitation in the form of a master's degree program in cinema so he could move to California for work in the movie industry. The VA denied the claim, saying that the fungus did not cause him an employability problem.”