NO COLA CUTS!

Support COLA Cut Repeal for Future Military Retirees and Many VA Improvements! Take Action! Bill to Repeal COLA Cuts for Future Retirees and Improve VA Benefits Moving Fast! (S. 1982)   Senator Bernie Sanders (Vt.) Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC) has introduced the “Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act” (S. 1982). Included in this veterans omnibus bill is a provision  that will repeal the one-percent reduction in the annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for future retirees that join the military after January 1, 2014.  Unless the law is changed these future retirees would have their annual COLA cut by one percent until they reach age 62. The President recently signed legislation (S. 25) that excludes retirees who joined the military before January 1, 2014.  There are many other important provisions in S. 1982 that include: Requiring in-state tuition rates at public colleges for all student veterans using Post 9/11GI Bill and MGIB benefits; Extending VA caregiver program to all seriously injured veterans who were injured in the line of duty; Expanding VA health care to include alternative medicine and dental care; Extending from five years to 10 years access to VA health care for recently separated veterans; Improving delivery of care for veterans who experience sexual trauma while in military service; Improving protections under the Servicemember Civil Relief Act (SCRA);  Allowing two-year funding for the entire VA budget; Renewing veterans retraining assistance; and Allowing "Veterans Status" for reservists who served 20 years but were never mobilized.    Members are urged to use the Action Center to ask their Senators to support this important legislation.