Conaway Wants to Restore Veterans' Benefits That Were Cut in Budget Compromise

The Bipartisan Budget Agreement cuts funding for military pensions and has now passed both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), who scores the bill for total effect upon the federal budget, the compromise legislation will reduce the annual cost-of-living adjustment (or, COLA) for military retirees under the age of 62 by 1 percent.

U.S. Representative K. Michael Conaway (R-Texas), who represents the San Angelo area, is opposed to pension cuts to disabled and combat military veterans.

Today, he signed on as a co-sponsor of legislation offered by House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Florida) that will exempt all veterans who retired from the military for physical disability, who received combat-related special compensation, or who have a service connected disability rating of 50% or higher, from changes in the Budget agreement that slow the growth of their disability pensions. 

Congressman Mike Conaway, in a press release, stated his position:

The budget agreement included an unclear provision that unintentionally slowed the growth of pension benefits for disabled veterans.  This is unacceptable and today I co-sponsored legislation that would fix this mistake.  The House will take this bill up, or other legislation that does the same thing, before the changes take effect.  The change in veterans’ pensions does not go into effect until December 2015; nevertheless, we need to fix this in the very near future.  Congress will protect disabled veterans from any harmful changes to their pension.

If you're not a veteran, and want to know what the budget compromise will do for you, watch this:

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