A battle in Congress has sparked a fierce debate among veterans groups about whether legislation that would expand benefits for veterans, caregivers, and survivors is worth the price of reducing future disability ratings for sleep apnea and tinnitus.
Many of the more than 60 bills that are bundled in the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act are legislative proposals that veterans service organizations have long fought for, such as the Major Richard Star Act, which allows veterans with fewer than 20 years of service to collect both disability compensation and retirement pay at the same time.
But to pay for it all, the bill calls for implementing a previously proposed 2022 rule change for how the Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA, would assess sleep apnea and tinnitus disability ratings. The VA has estimated that the change would reduce disability compensation payments by $57 billion over 10 years.
Congress is presenting the bill to veterans groups as the only way to pass measures for which they have spent years advocating “to quash the public dissent about it,” said Ryan Gallucci of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, or VFW.
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“No matter everything that’s in the bill that people support, it’s still a net loss for the veteran community, and that loss is the most substantial cut to veterans’ benefits since the Great Depression,” said Gallucci, executive director of the VFW’s office in Washington, D.C.
The legislation would replace the standalone 30% disability rating for sleep apnea with a new scale of 0 to 100% to measure “the effectiveness of medical treatment and intervention.” It would also treat Tinnitus, which currently has a 10% disability rating, as a symptom of an underlying condition like hearing loss or a traumatic brain injury.
These changes would particularly affect the Post-9/11 generation of veterans and currently serving troops, many of whom are in the process of having their disability ratings determined and could apply for compensation in the future, said Kyleanne Hunter, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. She added that conditions such as sleep apnea can worsen with age.
“Through saying that in order to get the Major Richard Star Act — for example — passed, you have to cut benefits from future veterans, that’s Congress being disingenuous,” Hunter said. “That’s Congress pitting one group against another, and that’s not how we should be making legislation.”
‘Best and only shot’
Despite their concerns about changes to disability ratings included in the bill, a group of 23 veterans service organizations, including the American Legion and the Wounded Warrior Project, recently submitted a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees in support of the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act.
“The bill represents a net expansion of benefits and support for the veteran community and contains protections intended to prevent reductions for current beneficiaries,” the groups wrote. “The goodness and positive impact of this package should not be lost in the debate over its financing.”
For the American Legion, the bill represents a chance to have Congress finally vote on many of its legislative priorities, said Matthew Jabaut, chairman of the American Legion’s legislative commission.
“I think it’s the best and only shot that we have right now,” Jabaut told Task & Purpose. “While it may not be perfect, I don’t know that any deal is. It’s the best opportunity we have right now to do a lot of good for the veteran.”
The Wounded Warrior Project decided to support the bill in part because it would make important changes, including expanding mental health services, improving healthcare for spinal cord injuries, and increasing support for military families and survivors, retired Army Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, the group’s CEO, said in a recent statement.
“Wounded Warrior Project recognizes that this legislation has generated differing views across the veterans community,” Jose Ramos, the group’s vice president of government affairs, told Task & Purpose. “Our priority remains ensuring that any policy changes ultimately strengthen support for veterans and their families.”
One question looming over the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act is whether the VA plans to implement the changes to disability ratings for sleep apnea and tinnitus regardless of whether the bill passes. The veterans groups supporting the bill have called for President Donald Trump’s administration to clarify whether the changes will go forward “independently” of the legislation.
VA officials did not respond to phone calls and emails requesting comment for this story. In June, Quinn Slaven, the department’s press secretary, told Task & Purpose that “No changes are planned or imminent,” regarding the proposed 2022 rule change, which has received extensive public comments and “would need to undergo significant changes prior to being finalized.”
Cuts or no cuts?
In a sign of how contentious the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act is, lawmakers disagree on the most basic issue of whether the bill would reduce disability compensation for veterans.
Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), who introduced the bill in the House of Representatives, told Task & Purpose that the legislation would not cut disability payments for sleep apnea and tinnitus.
“The proposed change, that was suggested by VA’s own doctors under the Biden administration and now the Trump administration, would simply allow VA’s disability ratings schedule to reflect the effective medical treatment that is associated with sleep apnea and the modern medicine that shows that tinnitus is linked to another medical disorder,” said Bost, who is also chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) sees things much differently, telling Task & Purpose unequivocally that the bill would cut disability benefits by changing the rating schedule.
“A veteran who files tomorrow for the same tinnitus or the same sleep apnea requiring a [Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine] as a veteran who filed today will receive less compensation, and in many cases none at all,” said Takano, the ranking member for the House Veterans Affairs Committee. “That is a cut.”
The bill, which was first introduced in June, had been expected to be voted on by the House of Representatives last week, but that was delayed. Bost is working with House leadership to bring the bill to a vote in the coming weeks, said Kathleen McCarthy, a spokesperson for the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The Senate has not yet scheduled a vote for the legislation.
