Defense bill aids disabled vets

Suzanne Struglinski

Monday, Nov. 24, 2003 | 9:24 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush signed the 2004 defense authorization bill at the Pentagon today, solidifying a $22 billion phased-in concurrent receipt program for some disabled and retired veterans benefit and almost $393 million from the Defense Department for the Yucca Mountain Project.

Retired veterans with a 50 percent disability rating will receive both retirement pay and disability checks. Most currently must forfeit a dollar of retirement pay for every dollar of disability pay they receive. Civilian government workers are allowed to receive both payments concurrently.

Those who qualify will see more money each month through 2014.

Starting Jan. 1 the agreement will put $750 per month into the check of a retired veteran with a 100 percent disabled rating, and $100 a month in the check of a 50 percent disabled veteran, with other percentages falling in between.

The law allows all retirees with any level of combat or operations-related disability for full concurrent receipt through the Combat-Related Special Compensation program approved last year.

All retired National Guard members and reservists with any level of combat disability or who are Purple Heart recipients will also qualify.

Supporters of full concurrent receipt for all disabled and retired benefits say the move is a step in the right direction but note that the change will only help 225,000 veterans, leaving 400,000 without both benefits.

The law also includes $392.5 million for the Defense Department's share of the nuclear waste storage site planned for Yucca Mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

That's almost $38 million less than originally planned.

A total of $580 million has been approved for the project for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., had pushed to cut the Energy Department's request of $591 million.

The law will also alter portions of the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act when it comes to military training, although the changes probably will not have much effect on Nellis Air Force Base.

The desert tortoise, the only endangered species on the 2.9-million-acre Nevada Test and Training Range, occupies only the southern half of the range, according to the base. The northern part is more mountainous and doesn't have desert tortoise habitats.