VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION OF DISABLED PERSONS SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1943 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 a. m., in the committee room of the Committee on Education and Labor, United States Capitol, Senator Robert M. La Follette, Jr. (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators La Follette (chairman), Ellender, and Aiken. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. This subcommittee has met to hold a hearing on S. 180, a bill which covers somewhat similar ground as that introduced at the last session and numbered S. 2714, upon which hearings were held on October 9 and 10, and November 13, 1942. At this point I would like to insert the bill in the record. (S. 180 is as follows:) [S. 180, 78th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To provide vocational rehabilitation education, training, and other services to persons disabled while members of the armed forces, or disabled in war industries or otherwise and to render such persons fit for service in war industries, agriculture, or other useful civilian industry, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1943." PURPOSES SEC. 2. The purposes of this Act are— (a) To make more effective and efficient the program of vocational rehabilitation of disabled individuals and their return to productive employment, by increasing Federal participation in grants to States for rehabilitation training and by making other vocational rehabilitation services available on a uniform national basis at Federal expense; (b) To insure rehabilitation, education, and training to disabled veterans and certain war disabled civilians, by providing for their training at Federal expense during the present war and the period ending six years thereafter; (c) To integrate rehabilitation training of disabled veterans during the present war and the period ending six years thereafter, their pension, adjustment, and their placement in employment, with their physical restoration and other rehabilitation services under veterans' laws, by making determination of their entitlement to benefits under this Act and provision of such benefits for them a responsibility primarily of the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs; (d) To avoid unnecessary expense and duplication of services, facilities, and personnel, by providing for cooperative utilization of all appropriate facilities and personnel. 1 TITLE I-VOCATIONAL TRAINING OF VETERANS DISABLED IN THE PRESENT WAR SEC. 101. Section 1 of the Act approved March 20, 1933 (Public, Numbered 2, Seventy-third Congress), is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: "(f) Any person who served in the active military or naval service on or after December 7, 1941, and prior to the termination of hostilities in the present war shall be entitled to vocational training and other services, subject to the provisions and limitations of part VII, Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as amended, and the provisions of title IV of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1943." SEC. 102. Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as amended, is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following new part: "PART VII "1. Any person who served in the active military or naval service at any time after December 6, 1941, and prior to the termination of the present war as declared by Presidential proclamation or concurrent resolution of the Congress, who is honorably discharged there from, and who is disabled as a result of disease or injury, or aggravation of a preexisting disease or injury, incurred in line of duty in such service after September 16, 1940, and prior to six months after termination of the war as so declared, for which disability a pension is payable under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration, or would be but for receipt of retirement pay, and who is in need of vocational rehabilitation to overcome a material and permanent handicap due to such disability, in addition to medical and hospital treatment and services, or pensions to which he may be entitled under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration, shall receive such other services, including training, as may be prescribed by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to fit him for and place him in suitable employment, taking into consideration the degree of his disability: Provided, That no course of training in excess of a period of four years shall be prescribed nor shall any training or other services provided for under this part be afforded beyond six years after the termination of the present war as so declared. "2. The Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall have the power and duty to prescribe and provide suitable training and other services for persons entitled thereto under paragraph 1. While pursuing training prescribed hereunder, and for sixty days after completion of training, the veteran, if entitled to pension in an amount less than the amount payable in accordance with the compensation rates for total and temporary disability provided by section 202, World War Veteran's Act (U. S. C., title 38, sec. 475), shall be paid increased pension which, when added to the amount of pension to which he is otherwise entitled, will aggregate an amount equal to such rates. "3. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, to be available immediately and until expended, the sum of $500,000 to be utilized by the Veterans' Administration under such rules and regulations as the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs may prescribe, as a revolving fund for the purpose of making advancements not exceeding $100 in any case, to persons commencing or undertaking training under this part, such advancements to bear no interest and to be reimbursed in such installments as may be determined by the Administrator by proper deductions from any future payments of pension or retirement pay." TITLE II SEC. 201. (a) Any civilian (except a person who is paid by the United States, or any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, for services as a civilian defense worker) who served at any time after December 6, 1941, and prior to the termination of the present war as declared by Presidential proclamation or concurrent resolution of the Congress (1) in the Aircraft Warning Service; or (2) as a member of the Civilian Air Patrol; or (3) as a member of the United States Citizens Defense Corps in the protective services engaged in civilian defense, as such protective services are established from time to time by regulation or order of the Director of the Office of Civilian Defense; or (4) as a registered trainee taking training prescribed by said Director for such protective services; and (b) Any civilian who served at any time after December 6, 1941, and prior to the termination of the present war as so declared as an officer or member of the crew of a vessel owned or chartered by the Maritime Commission, or the War Shipping Administration, or operated under charter from such Commission or Administration, if such civilian referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) is disabled as a result of disease or injury, or aggravation of a preexisting disease or injury, incurred in line of duty in such service during such period, not due to his own misconduct, and is in need of vocational rehabilitation servces not available to him under any other Federal law, to overcome a handcap due to such disability, shall receive such vocational rehabilitation as may be prescribed by the Federal Security Administrator to fit him for and place him in suitable employment, taking into consideration the degree of his disability: Provided, That no course of training in excess of four years shall be prescribed under the section, nor shall any training under it be afforded beyond six years after the termination of the present war as so declared. (c) If certified for training under State plans, persons meeting the requirements of this section shall be certified as "war disabled civilians." SEC. 202. Any individual not entitled to rehabilitation under title I or section 201, if he has attained the age of sixteen years, is a resident of one of the several States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or the District of Columbia, and is disabled by reason of any physical defect or infirmity, whether congenital or acquired by accident, injury, or disease, shall receive such vocational rehabilitation, except training, as may be prescribed by the Federal Security Administrator to fit him for and place him in suitable employment, taking into consideration the degree of his disability. Any such individual found by such Administrator to need training shall be certified by him for such training to the State of his residence, if such State makes such training available under its plan approved pursuant to title III of this Act. SEC. 203. (a) The Federal Security Administrator shall have the power and duty to prescribe and provide suitable vocational rehabilitation services to persons entitled thereto under section 201 and suitable vocational rehabilitation services, except rehabilitation training, to persons entitled thereto under section 202. Vocational rehabilitation services shall consist of any services necessary to render a disabled person fit to engage in a remunerative occupation, including physical restoration and repair, medical examination and care, prosthetic and other devices, physical and occupational therapy, placement and other appropriate services. Such Administrator my grant to any person pursuing training, under a State plan approved under title III of this Act pursuant to his certification, or receiving training otherwise pursuant to section 201, such amount as is deemed necessary for the support and maintenance of such person. No such training allowance shall exceed the estimated cost of reasonable subsistence of the trainee during his training, including the cost of any books or other training material necessary for such training. (b) No physical restoration or repair, medical care, prosthetic or other devices or training allowance shall be provided an individual under section 202 unless it has been determined that he needs financial assistance with respect thereto. In making such determination full consideration shall be given to the eligibility of the individual for benefits from pension, compensation, and insurance and also to the probable earning capacity of the individual in the work for which he is being rehabilitated. TITLE III-COOPERATIVE PLANS FOR REHABILITATION TRAINING Effective with respect to the period beginning July 1, 1943, the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the promotion of vocational rehabilitation of persons disabled in industry or otherwise and their return to civil employment," approved June 2, 1920, as amended (U. S. C., title 29, ch. 4), is amended to read as follows: "TITLE III-COOPERATIVE PLANS FOR REHABILITATION TRAINING "AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS "SEC. 301. Moneys made available for the purpose pursuant to this Act shall be used for making payments to States (and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia herein referred to as 'States') which have submitted, and |