Military Officer - April 2007 - (Page 38) washingtonscene Bills of Interest New legislation would fix retired pay, Guard and Reserve issues, and other inequities. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Survivor benefits ■ H.R. 784, introduced by Rep. Jim Saxton E Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) arly in February, Senate Majority Leader and longtime concurrent receipt champion Harry Reid (D-Nev.) reintroduced his legislation (S. 439) to expand eligibility for concurrent retirement and disability (CRDP) payments. His measure is the companion bill to Rep. Gus Bilirakis’ (R-Fla.) H.R. 303 in the House. Both bills would immediately eliminate the disability offset to military retired pay for all retirees with at least 20 years of service who have serviceconnected disability ratings from the VA. Reid’s bill was among many introduced in February that affect the military community, including: Currently serving forces ■ S. (R-N.J.), would accelerate the effective date of 30-year, paid-up SBP coverage from Oct. 1, 2008, to Oct. 1, 2007. ■ H.R. 657, introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), would allow the survivor of a retired servicemember to keep the member’s full retired pay for the month of death. Currently, the entire final month’s retired pay is recouped from the survivor’s bank account and prorated back to the survivor for the number of days of the month the retired servicemember was alive. Health care ■ S. Where Do Your Legislators Stand? ■ Your help is needed to encourage Congress to act on the bills on this page and other MOAAsupported legislation. Visit http://capwiz.com /moaa/issues/bills and click on the bills you support to send your legislators an MOAAsuggested message. 455, introduced by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), would provide an additional $1,000 tax credit during 2007 and 2008 for servicemembers serving at least 30 days on active duty, authorize certain tax credits for employers of Guard and Reserve members who are called to active duty, and allow survivors of servicemembers killed on active duty to deposit military death gratuity payments into tax-deferred retirement accounts. ■ H.R. 843, introduced by Bilirakis, would authorize certain tax credits for employers of Guard and Reserve members who are called to active duty. Guard and Reserve retired pay ■ S. 450, introduced by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), and H.R. 748, introduced by Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), would repeal the $1,740 annual cap on Medicare payments for outpatient physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech language pathology services. Current “medical necessity” exceptions to the cap are set to expire at the end of 2007. ■ H.R. 1041, introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), would establish an enhanced funding process to ensure adequate funding and establish standards of access to care for VA health care programs. ■ H.R. 1110, introduced by Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), would allow federal civilian employees and military retirees to pay federal health and dental insurance premiums on a pretax basis and allow a deduction for TRICARE supplemental premiums. Social Security ■ S. 206, introduced by Sen. Diane Fein- 648, introduced by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), would reduce the reserve retirement age by three months for every 90 days mobilized since Sept. 11, 2001. ■ H.R. 690, introduced by Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.), would lower the age requirement for reserve retired pay eligibility from 60 to 55. 38 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2007 stein (D-Calif.), and H.R. 82, introduced by Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), would repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision that have disproportionately reduced Social Security and benefits for many older federal civilian retirees and teachers since these changes were enacted in the late 1970s and early ’80s. The affected population includes many military servicemembers and spouses who pursued civil service and teaching careers. http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills
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