Bills call for action on disability systems

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Bills call for action on disability systems
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 16:59:45 EST

The ranking Republicans on the House and Senate veterans’ affairs committees introduced legislation Thursday to overhaul the military and veterans’ disability systems, saying they fear that continued study of and debate over the changes could lead to a missed opportunity.

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said he understands that some people want to wait while details become clear — such as how much money should be paid if benefits were revised to account for factors such as income loss, reduced quality of life and the age at which a service-connected disability is incurred.

But such delay can be the death of new ideas, he said.

“This town has a rich history of eating good initiatives,” Burr said. “Now is the time to tackle this.”

There are slight differences between Burr’s bill, S 2674, and the bill introduced by Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., HR 5509, but they have a similar overall goal: a fundamental overhaul of service-connected disability benefits.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_disabilitybill_022808w/