VFW Action Alert: Tell Congress to Oppose Veterans' Benefit Cuts

Congress has introduced the Take Care of America's Veterans Act, legislation that includes many provisions the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) has fought for and supports.

But there is a serious problem.

To pay for those benefits, Congress would codify previously proposed VA disability rating cuts for tinnitus and sleep apnea. According to VA's own estimates, these changes could reduce disability compensation payments by approximately $57 billion over 10 years and affect up to 1.5 million veterans.

Let's be clear. Those savings do not come from waste, fraud, abuse, or bureaucracy. They come directly from veterans.

That is $57 billion that would no longer help veterans pay mortgages, put food on the table, cover medical expenses, support their families, or support local communities across America.

We do not want this fight.

Many of the benefits in this bill are priorities that the VFW has worked for years to achieve. But we cannot support paying for those benefits by taking compensation away from other veterans.

And we cannot allow Congress to establish a dangerous precedent. If veterans' disability compensation becomes an acceptable funding source today, it will become easier to use it again tomorrow.

The VFW refuses to accept the idea that one group of veterans must lose so another group of veterans can win. Veterans' benefits are not charity. They are an earned obligation of the nation and part of the promise made through military service. Congress should Honor the Contract.

A grateful nation pays its debts to veterans - it does not send them the invoice.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to remove the disability compensation offset provisions from the Take Care of America's Veterans Act and find a funding solution that does not come at the expense of veterans and their families.