To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide that the increase of $250 per month in the rate of monthly dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) payable to a surviving spouse of a member of the Armed Forces who dies on active duty or as a result of a service-connected disability shall be paid for so long as there are minor children, rather than only for two years.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4843) to increase, effective as of December 1, 2006, the rates of disability compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for survivors of certain service-connected disabled veterans, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4843, as amended, is one of the more important bills the committee brings to the floor each year.

On April 6 of this year, the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, chaired by Mr. Miller of Florida, took testimony on H.R. 4843. The subcommittee then marked this bill on June 8 and reported the bill favorably to the full committee by unanimous voice vote. The full committee reported the bill, as amended, on June 22.

H.R. 4843, as amended, would provide a cost-of-living adjustment, a COLA, to disabled veterans and certain survivors in the same amount given to Social Security recipients. All veterans who receive disability compensation and qualified survivors would receive the adjustment beginning December 1 of this year. Congress has acted on COLA legislation every fiscal year since 1976.

More than 2.6 million veterans receive service-connected disability compensation. These benefits are paid monthly and range from $112 for a 10 percent disability to $2,393 for a 100 percent disability. Additional monetary benefits are available for our most severely disabled veterans, as well as those with dependents.

Spouses of veterans who died on active duty or as a result of a service-connected disability may also be entitled to monetary compensation. The amount of the dependency and indemnity compensation is $1,033.

Additional amounts are paid to survivors who are housebound or in need of aid and attendants or have minor children. Currently, about 340,000 surviving spouses and children are receiving survivors' benefits.

The amendment to the bill by Ms. Berkley would also provide a COLA to the dependency and indemnity compensation transitional benefit. Established in Public Law 108-454, transitional DIC is a 2-year benefit; and it is intended to ease the family's transition following the death of a service member or veteran.

The Congressional Budget Office is projecting a 2.2 percent COLA increase, but it may be higher or lower depending upon the changes in the Consumer Price Index. The exact percentage will be calculated as of September 30, 2006.

The cost of providing a COLA is assumed in the administration's budget baseline; therefore, it will be budget neutral. Additionally, H.R. 5385, the Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill of 2007 fully funds a veterans' COLA effective December 1, 2006.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks and that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4843, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like the Members to note that last year when we came to the floor, we thought that the COLA was going to be about 2.7 percent. Once they did the adjustment on the CPI, it ended up being about 4.1 percent. I don't know what it is going to be this year. That was a huge change. Even though we are saying approximately 2.2, I don't know what it is going to be.

I would like to thank Lane Evans and Bob Filner for their work. I would also like to thank Mr. Miller and Ms. Berkley. I would like to thank Mr. Udall and Ms. Brown. Also, I thank them in appreciation for the timely fashion in which they moved this bill through the committee and now onto the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2006.

I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss the roundtable discussion held today that brought together representatives of Veterans' Widows International Network, Gold Star Wives, National Association of Uniformed Services, Military Officers Association of America, Vietnam Veterans of America and other veteran survivor organizations.

I made this statement to them today:

I want to thank Edmee Hills, Ron Armstead and the entire VWIN for organizing this 2nd Annual Conference on widow, survivors and family members.

I believe that June 28 should be made into a National Day of Recognition. for all Veterans Survivors.

As you say in your proposed proclamation--since the days more than 200 years ago, servicemen's spouses have followed their husbands from place to place within the United States as well as overseas. These women, who during their husbands' active duty career, unselfishly made great sacrifices to insure the support and welfare of our armed forces on the local and national levels.

These women, and today, the men who are here on the homefront, are the mental lifeline today's soldiers need to stay grounded in an insane situation: WAR.

Gone are the days, or they should be, when a soldier's usefulness ended when his service ended. The families are great resources and should be treated as such.

I am a cosponsor of two bills regarding the Survivors Benefit Plan.

H.R. 808, the Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act, which repeals provisions to require the offset of amounts paid in dependency and indemnity compensation from Survivor Benefit Plan annuities for the surviving spouses of former military personnel who are entitled to military pay or retired pay.

H.R. 968, to change the effective date for paid-up coverage under the military Survivor Benefit Plan from October 1, 2008. It should be covered now. Survivors should not have to deal with the bureaucracy and their grief.

In addition, I am a cosponsor of H.R. 1573, a bill to provide that the increase of $250 per month in the rate of monthly dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) payable to a surviving spouse of a member of the Armed Forces who dies on active duty or as a result of a service-connected disability shall be paid for so long as there are minor children, rather than only for two years.

I am glad you are all here to discuss the many issues of concern to survivors and I am willing to listen to your suggestions.

In addition, I would like to acknowledge the participants in this year's roundtable discussion:

Ron Armstead, Anthony Hawkins, Edmee Hills, Sharon Hayes, Kathleen Moakley, Deerdre Parke Hollowman, Joyce Karas, Eva Golleher, Dorothy Eng, Rose Lee, Marianne Nugent, Patricia Sharp, Regina Matson, Etta McAfee, Eunice Luke, Patricia Kreigel, Cynthia Dawkins, Leslie Tjarks, Elsie Ryan and Suzanne Melin.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would like to thank Chairman Buyer, Ranking Member Lane Evans, subcommittee Chairman Jeff Miller and our subcommittee Ranking Member, Ms. Berkley, for their work on this bill. In particular, I want to thank Ms. Berkley for her amendment, which was offered during our markup and which received unanimous bipartisan support.

H.R. 4843, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2006, will help our service-disabled veterans and their survivors maintain the purchasing power of their benefits in 2007. Ms. Berkley's amendment assures our Gold Star Wives with young children that the value of their benefit will not continue to erode as it did during this current year.

Unfortunately, many do not fully recognize that the benefits we pay to men and women who have borne the battle, their widows, widowers, and children are a continuing cost of war. Indeed, the VA is currently paying benefits to survivors of Civil War veterans. We have a moral obligation to the men and women who put on the uniform and are harmed in the service of the Nation that we will compensate them for the harm which occurs. We have many examples where this is not being done, because, although costs increase, the benefit has remained static. The least we can do for the young families of our deceased veterans is to provide them the full value of the 2-year transitional benefit they receive.

Although we will not know the exact percentage by which the benefit is to be increased until the Consumer Price Index is calculated in October, I expect this bill will help VA beneficiaries maintain the value of their benefits.

No amount of money can ever compensate our veterans for the loss of their health or the families for the loss of a loved one. Nonetheless, it is critical that the monetary value of these benefits, which partially compensate for such losses, is not reduced merely by the passage of time.

In 2004, over 28,000 veterans in New Mexico received disability compensation or pension payments from the VA. Many New Mexico family members of veterans and their survivors also receive VA cash benefits. The action we are taking here today will help the veterans in my congressional district who depend on these VA benefits.

H.R. 4843, as amended, will receive my full support; and it deserves the support of all Members of the House.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown), a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee who has been a fighter for our Nation's veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4843, as amended, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2006.

On March 2, 2006, as Chairman on the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, I introduced H.R. 4843 with Shelley Berkley, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, and Steve Buyer and Lane Evans, Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. On June 22, 2006, the full Committee adopted an amendment offered by Ms. Berkley to provide the annual adjustment to a two year transitional benefit offered under the dependency and indemnity compensation program.

Each year since 1976, Congress has provided a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to the benefits provided to our Nation's disabled veterans and their survivors. The purpose of the annual COLA is to ensure that Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) cash benefits retain their purchasing power and are not eroded by inflation.

The Committee is following its longstanding practice of setting the COLA by reference to the yet-to-be-determined Social Security increase. In February 2006, the Administration projected a 2.6 percent increase; as of May 2006, the Congressional Budget Office is projecting the COLA to be 2.2 percent. However, it may be higher or lower depending on changes in the Consumer Price Index. The exact percentage will be calculated as of September 30, 2006, and the COLA will go into effect on December 1, 2006.

As Chairman Buyer indicated, this is one of the more important pieces of legislation the Veterans' Affairs Committee brings to the floor each year, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4843, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2006.

This is a good bipartisan bill.

It will help to ensure that the real value of the benefits earned by our veterans does not decrease as prices rise.

These benefits are critical for many veterans and their families to help make ends meet.

Veterans and their families need to know that the purchasing power of their earned benefits will not decrease over time.

This legislation also includes a provision similar to my bill, H.R. 1573.

Last Congress, in response to a VA evaluation, we passed legislation to provide an increase of $250 to the monthly DIC, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, benefit for surviving spouses with children under 18 for the first 2 years of eligibility.

While I believe that we should make this benefit permanent, especially in light of the brave men and women giving their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan; the provision in today's bill is extremely important and will ensure that this benefit maintains its value over time.

I want to thank Ms. Berkley for her amendment in Committee to include this provision.

This is a good bill that will help veterans and their families across the country and I urge my colleagues to support it.

I hope that this is the first of many bills that we will now move forward to improve the benefits and quality of care provided to our veterans and their families.

I congratulate Chairman Miller of Florida for introducing this important bill, and I thank full committee Chairman Steve Buyer and full committee Ranking Member Lane Evans for moving this legislation forward.