Editorial: Compromise will kick veterans in the teeth

Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 | 10:07 a.m.

Bowing to President Bush, the House and Senate this week compromised on an issue so important that there should have been no compromise. The issue involves veterans, and their right to collect the retirement pay they earned for 20 or more years in addition to disability pay for service-connected injuries. It's been a long-standing injustice that disabled veterans have had their retirement pay from the Defense Department reduced by the amount of their disability pay from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

President Bush is adamant that the money owed to veterans could be better spent elsewhere. The House and Senate caved in almost completely, agreeing on a plan that will allow only those veterans whose disabilities were incurred in combat to collect both of their benefits. Other veterans, who may have been injured in training or in other service-connected activities, were left out. The compromise means only a fraction of the deserving veterans will at long last receive just compensation. Congress should have passed a bill serving all retired veterans.