Support Bill Authorizing military retirees with service connected disabilities rated

Please note the corrected bill number - HR 333. We apologize for the mistake!
The Issue: Authorizing military retirees with service connected disabilities rated less than 50% to concurrently receive military retirement pay and VA disability pensionsImmediate Action Required: Contact your Senators and Representative and ask them to support S. 344, introduced by Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Jon Tester (D-MT) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI); and H.R.333 introduced by Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA) that would authorize military retirees with service connected disabilities rated at less than fifty percent to collect their military retirement pay and VA disability pensions at the same time
NGAUS needs you to actively contact your Senators and Representative to urge them to support S.344, introduced by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and currently co-sponsored by 17 other senators, and H.R.333 introduced by Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA) and currently co-sponsored by 108 other members of the House. These companion bills would remove the 50% disability rating requirement to collect military retirement pay and VA disability pensions concurrently.
Concurrent receipt of military retirement pay and VA disability pensions by military retirees with service connected disabilities is currently authorized only for those with service connected disabilities rated not less than 50 %. This arbitrarily denies an important benefit to those retired members suffering from significant service connected disabilities rated at less than 50%.
NGAUS strongly supports S.344 and H.R.533 that would allow retired members with service connected disability ratings of less than 50% to collect military retired pay and VA disability pensions concurrently.
Our disabled retirees deserve the important pay benefit and recognition that this legislation would provide. TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTION:
By using the “Write to Congress” feature on the NGAUS Web site at www.ngaus.org/writetocongress, you can IMMEDIATELY e-mail your elected representatives. A sample letter is included in our “Write to Congress” feature. You can e-mail the pre-written message or edit the sample letter as you desire. This is the quickest and most effective method of expressing your views to Congress. Also, contact your friends and family and urge them to "Write to Congress" as well. For more in-depth information and background visit our web site at www.ngaus.org. Please direct any questions concerning this issue to Pete Duffy, NGAUS Deputy Legislative Director at 202-454-5307 or via email at pete.duffy@ngaus.org.

Support Bill Authorizing military retirees with service connected disabilities ra

In what way? It looks like this bill will do that in part, by opening CRDP to those with less than a 50% rating. Just trying to understand whether this bill meets what you are talking about or if you mean something different.

Support Bill Authorizing military retirees with service connected disabilities ra

Chances of passing? Hard to say. These proposals come up very often (seems like every year). So, it shows that there are members of Congress who have their eyes on this issue. On the other hand, it comes up every year because it has not passed the year before. I tend to think that this year is more challenging than usual, given the budget battle. That said, I agree that if we can spend money on bailouts, big ticket defense programs, etc., we can find a way to properly compensate those injured or disabled while serving in the military. (A side note, I think that even though folks, naturally, focus on money compensation, Sec. Gates has briefed that healthcare costs are one of the major challenges...if we had a workable universal coverage health care policy, DoD would likely save many billions- which would then be available to restore/fix compensation issues...I don't mean to suggest a solution to this entire issue in one paragraph. But, these issues may well be a way of addressing the problems).

Support Bill Authorizing military retirees with service connected disabilities ra

You are generally right in your understanding. An exception is, for example, those retired under Temporary Early Retirement Authority at 15 years. TERAs get CRDP if otherwise eligible.