Reid upset by White House stance on vets’ benefits legislation

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002 | 9:37 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- White House officials have irked Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., by rejecting legislation that would allow veterans to simultaneously collect full disability pay and military pensions.

Reid has led efforts to pass "concurrent receipt" bills in recent years. This year marks a "unique opportunity" to pass the legislation as Congress and President Bush prepare to send soldiers into Iraq, Reid said.

Reid said he could not tolerate another year's delay of the plan.

"I can't accept that," Reid said during a speech on the Senate floor Monday.

By law, injured veterans must waive the amount of their retirement pay equal to the amount they receive in disability. Reid, and Nevada's other lawmakers, have endorsed a plan that would allow them to receive both in full.

Critics call it "double dipping." Reid's response: "C'mon, let's get real." Reid has argued that veterans deserve both because military pensions are for years of service; disability pay is for pain and suffering.

Reid argued that a disabled veteran who later retired from Sears still gets his full Sears pension, plus military disability pay. Why should a career soldier receive less? Reid asked.

This year the legislation appeared to have momentum. The Senate passed the measure and included it in a $355 billion Pentagon spending bill. The House approved a cheaper plan that applies to veterans considered 60 percent or more disabled.

The House plan would cost an additional $18.5 billion over 10 years, according to estimates; the Senate plan that covers all disabled veterans could cost $58 billion.

Bush reportedly is willing to veto the whole Defense bill over the issue because it would be too costly.

A panel of House and Senate negotiators are still debating details of the Defense bill, including the veterans pay issue.

"Your message is timely; I take it to heart," Sen. John Warner, R-Va., a top negotiator on the panel told Reid. "We'll do our very best."

In a letter to the House-Senate panel, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told lawmakers the veterans pay issue could hurt efforts to fund the war on terror and to offer military pay raises.

Reid was critical of comments in the Washington Post made by David Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, who said disability pay is designed for injured soldiers who do not spend their careers in the military and don't qualify for pensions.

The plan would funnel money from weapons buying and other funds that benefit active soldiers, Chu said.

"We're going to rob Peter to pay Paul," Chu told the Post, "and the question is, should Peter really lose here?"

Reid doesn't buy the argument that other Pentagon programs would be affected. Reid dared Bush to veto the bill, predicting the Senate would over-ride the veto.

"Who would (senators) rather have on their backs?" Reid asked. "The president or the veterans of their state? I know for Nevada I would rather have the president on my back than the veterans."

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., joined Reid in support.

"We can't afford not to do this," Dorgan said. "We've got to keep our promises to veterans."