Editorial: Pensions should be paid in full

Thursday, Oct. 10, 2002 | 8:32 a.m.

The United States asks a lot of its military members. The training, the travel, the discipline, the readiness, the low to moderate pay, the frequent and long periods of separation from home, the danger -- these and other aspects of military life require sacrifices that members and their families make each day. Members know going in that their lives will be far different from what they had been used to as civilians. But there are reasons behind their enlistments. Patriotism is certainly among them. Opportunity plays a big role. A sense of adventure motivates many members. But always, particularly among those planning military careers, there is this important incentive: While going in will mean sacrifice, coming out will mean security. That incentive, guaranteed through federal benefits, is critical to maintaining the strong, volunteer military we have today .

It's our strong military that enables President Bush to wage war on terrorism and advocate an overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Yet it's this same president who opposes correcting an obvious flaw in military pensions. Both the House and the Senate have passed bills allowing disabled military retirees to collect disability pay from the Veterans Administration while at the same time receiving their full military pensions. Now, military pensions are reduced by the amount of any VA disability payments. The House bill, limited to veterans 60 percent or more disabled, would cost $18.5 billion over the next 10 years. The Senate version, which covers all disabled veterans, would cost $58 billion.

President Bush has threatened to veto the entire $355 billion defense appropriation if a House-Senate conference committee doesn't strike these bills. He reasons that the money to pay veterans their full benefits would be better spent on current Defense Department programs. The president cannot even envision a compromise, such as allowing veterans receiving VA checks for service-related disabilities to collect full pensions.

We support Sen. Harry Reid, who says in strong terms that the pensions retirees have earned should be paid in full, and that the Senate will muster the strength on this issue to override a presidential veto. Veterans made multiple sacrifices and should receive multiple benefits, without one canceling out the other.