Present Proposed rate If and while rated totally disabled and (a) Has a wife but no child living.. (b) Has a wife and 1 child living. (c) Has a wife and 2 children living.. (e) Has no wife but 1 child living.. (d) Has a wife and 3 or more children living. Has no wife but 2 children living. Has no wife but 3 or more children living.. then, in addition to the above amounts.. ...each.. (h) Has a mother or father, either or both dependent upon him for support, If and while the veteran is rated partially disabled, but not less than 50 percent, the additional compensation authorized on account of dependents is in an amount having the same ratio to the amount provided for total disability as the degree of disability bears to the total disability. The bill, if enacted, would also increase the rates for service-connected disability under the World War Veterans' Act, 1924, as restored with limitations by Public, No. 141, Seventy-third Congress, March 28, 1934. These rates are generally comparable with the rates provided under the Veterans Regulations, except as to statutory awards such as the $60 monthly award provided for service-connected arrested tuberculosis, and $30 monthly for loss or loss of use of a creative organ. For that reason, it is deemed unnecessary to include in this report any detailed comparison of the rates presently provided under that act and the increases proposed by the bill. The enactment of H. R. 1083 would also effect an increase in compensation rates for disability incurred in peacetime service because paragraph II, part II, Veterans Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended by Public Law 876, Eightieth Congress, July 2, 1948, provides: "II. For the purposes of part II, paragraph I (a) hereof, if the disability results from injury or disease, the compensation shall be equal to 80 per centum of the compensation now or hereafter payable for the disability, had it been incurred in or aggravated by active military or naval service during a period of war service as provided in part I of this regulation." Subparagraph I (c), paragraph I, part II of Veterans Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended, provides that any veteran or the dependents of any deceased veteran otherwise entitled to compensation under part II of Veterans Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended, or the general pension law, shall be entitled to receive the rate of compensation provided in part I of such regulation if the disability or death of such veteran resulted from an injury or disease incurred in line of duty (1) as the direct result of armed conflict, or (2) while engaged in extrahazardous service, including such service under conditions simulating war, or (3) while the United States is engaged in war. This provision makes veterans and the dependents of veterans of all wars eligible for the rates of part I for service-connected disability or death. Part III of Veterans Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended, provides pension for non-service-connected permanent total disability at the rate of $60 monthly except that where such veterans shall have been rated permanently and totally disabled and in receipt of pension for a continuous period of 10 years or reach the age of 65 years the amount of pension is $72 monthly. Under the provisions of the bill, if enacted, these rates would be increased to $69 and $82.80, respectively. The pension benefits provided under the said part III, as amended, are availafle to veterans of the Spanish-American War, Boxer Rebellion, Philippine Insurrection, World War I, World War II, and veterans of active service on or after June 27, 1950, and prior to such date as shall thereafter be determined by Presidential proclamation or concurrent resolution of the Congress. The bill would authorize an increase in the rates payable to the dependents of veterans entitled to compensation based on wartime service-connected death. The increases proposed by the bill in such death compensation rates are shown in the following table and are applicable to all wars. These rates as to widow with child or children were last increased by section 3 (b), Public Law 339, Eighty-first Congress, October 10, 1949. The rates for peacetime service-connected death are 80 percent of the wartime rates shown in the above table. Widows and children of World War I and World War II veterans (and veterans of service on or after June 27, 1950) whose deaths are not the result of service-connected disability are entitled, subject to certain limitations, to pension under the provisions of Public, No. 484, Seventy-third Congress, June 28, 1934, as amended. The rates of pension payable under this law and the rates as proposed to be increased under the bill, are shown below. Service pensions for Civil War veterans were last increased by Public Law 270, Eightieth Congress, July 30, 1947. The proposed increases in the present rates are as follows: Present rate, $90; regular aid and attendance, $120. Proposed rate, $103.50; regular aid and attendance, $138. Service pension rates for non-service-connected disability in behalf of veterans of the Indian wars were last increased by Public Law 398, Eightieth Congress, January 19, 1948. The proposed increases in the present rates are shown in the following table: Service pension rates for non-service-connected disability based on service in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, and Boxer Rebellion were last increased by Public Law 270, Eightieth Congress, July 30, 1947. The increases in such rates proposed by the bill are shown in the following table. 84173-51 Pensions for the widows and children of veterans of the Civil War, the Indian wars, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War, including the Philippine Insurrection and the Boxer Rebellion, generally range from $36 to $60 for a widow, with additional allowances for children and, where there is no widow, from $25.92 to $43.20 for one child with additional allowances for each additional child. These rates are shown in detail on page 32 of Committee Print No. 173, Eighty-first Congress, a copy of which is enclosed. There is also enclosed a chart showing the rates of compensation and pension payable to World War I and World War II veterans and their dependents from 1940 to date. The The following estimate of the first year's cost of H. R. 1083, Eighty-second Congress, if enacted, includes an increase of 15 percent in compensation and pension rates for all cases anticipated to be on the rolls under public acts. monetary values cited reflect only the amounts of the increases over and above the amounts currently authorized: This estimate does not include any increases which may be involved under Public Law 28, Eighty-second Congress, May 11, 1951. The Veterans' Administration is not advised as to the relationship of this proposed legislation to the program of the President. Sincerely yours, O. W. CLARK, (For Carl R. Gray, Jr., Administrator). [No. 119] COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H. R. 1083, Eighty-second Congress. MAY 14, 1951. 1. Reference is made to your memorandum dated May 4, 1951, requesting separate tables estimating the cost of legislation for fiscal year 1952 which would increase disability and death rates of compensation and pension by 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 percent. These estimates of cost are to be used in connection with the report on H. R. 1083, Eighty-second Congress, at the suggestion of Mr. Patterson of the staff of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. 2. The attached estimates of cost show compensation and pension separately for the various wartime and peacetime groups under the Veterans Regulations, under Public, No. 141, Seventy-third Congress, as amended, and under Public, No. 484, Seventy-third Congress, as amended. Increases in disability compensation cases were limited to rates provided for 10 percent to total disability inclusive. Statutory awards or allowances, and allowances for dependents were excluded from the increases. Also, in accordance with a verbal interpretation from your office, rates provided by subparagraphs (1), (m), (n), (o), and (p) paragraph II, part I and part II of Veterans Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended, were excluded from increase. 3. Basic statistics relating to World War I compensation are compiled to show the degree of disability in groupings of 10 to 19 percent, 20 to 29 percent, 30 to 39 percent, etc., and it was not possible to determine the basic value for these groups. In making these estimates of cost, the basic rates provided for rating of 10, 20, 30 percent, etc., were used, and therefore the cost for this group is underestimated to the extent of the effect of intermediate ratings but it is believed this variance will have a comparatively slight effect on the total estimate. 4. These estimates do not take into consideration the effect of Public Law 28, Eighty-second Congress, approved May 11, 1951, relating to veterans with service after June 26, 1950, inasmuch as no estimate of its effect is possible at this time. WILLIS HOWARD. Estimated cost, fiscal year 1952, to increase the basic disability and death rates of compensation and pension currently available to World War I or World War II veterans or their dependents |