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CNN Live Sunday
Veteran Groups Want to Repeal Concurrent Receipt Prohibitions
Aired November 10, 2002 - 18:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A law dating back to the 1800s has veterans frustrated and very angry. The rule says 20-year vets cannot get their full pension and disability payments. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has more now on the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sixty-six-year-old retired Army Sergeant 1st Class Ransom Jordan lives in one-half of a duplex in Suitland, Maryland, the half that's not boarded up. On its walls are the decorations of a 20-year Army career, including a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars awarded for heroism during a rocket attack in Vietnam.
SGT 1ST CLASS RANSOM JORDAN, U.S. ARMY (RET): Yes, I got injured in the hip, in the back.
MCINTYRE: Considered 20 percent disabled because of a hearing loss, Jordan collects an extra $199 a month, except it's not really extra. By law, his taxable $1,500 a month military pension is reduced by whatever he collects in tax-free disability payments.
JORDAN: I should be getting my full retirement military and my disability. That's my feeling.
MCINTYRE: Sergeant Jordan isn't alone in that feeling. Several veterans groups, backed by supporters in Congress, are working hard to repeal a 110-year-old prohibition on what's known as concurrent receipt.
JORDAN: They say we'll be double dipping. I don't think we be double dipping because we done served our country and we done the 20 years.
MCINTYRE: Veterans argue retirement and disability pay are two distinct things. Retirement is earned after a career of service while disability pay compensates for the loss of future earning power. The Pentagon counters that changing the law would cost billions and that while it might help a few people who need it, like Sergeant Jordan, it would also help a lot who don't.
DAVID CHU, UNDERSECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This is in the Senate version $58 billion over 10 years, mostly going to people who are doing very well, who are by national standards for their senior years in very good shape. MCINTYRE: The Pentagon argues Sergeant Jordan is the exception, not the rule, and that Congress has already increased benefits for disabled vets, including restoring lifetime medical care, a better deal than most Americans get.
CHU: If you work for a private company, you typically can collect either your pension or disability payments but not both, and that's true in the Civil Service with our government too.
MCINTYRE (on camera): The House has voted to allow veterans who are at least 60 percent disabled to collect both retirement and disability pay. The Senate would give the right to any disabled vet, but both bills would break the bank according to administration officials who say President Bush will veto the defense bill if it includes the repeal.
Jamie McIntyre CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Prohibitions>
Aired November 10, 2002 - 18:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A law dating back to the 1800s has veterans frustrated and very angry. The rule says 20-year vets cannot get their full pension and disability payments. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has more now on the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sixty-six-year-old retired Army Sergeant 1st Class Ransom Jordan lives in one-half of a duplex in Suitland, Maryland, the half that's not boarded up. On its walls are the decorations of a 20-year Army career, including a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars awarded for heroism during a rocket attack in Vietnam.
SGT 1ST CLASS RANSOM JORDAN, U.S. ARMY (RET): Yes, I got injured in the hip, in the back.
MCINTYRE: Considered 20 percent disabled because of a hearing loss, Jordan collects an extra $199 a month, except it's not really extra. By law, his taxable $1,500 a month military pension is reduced by whatever he collects in tax-free disability payments.
JORDAN: I should be getting my full retirement military and my disability. That's my feeling.
MCINTYRE: Sergeant Jordan isn't alone in that feeling. Several veterans groups, backed by supporters in Congress, are working hard to repeal a 110-year-old prohibition on what's known as concurrent receipt.
JORDAN: They say we'll be double dipping. I don't think we be double dipping because we done served our country and we done the 20 years.
MCINTYRE: Veterans argue retirement and disability pay are two distinct things. Retirement is earned after a career of service while disability pay compensates for the loss of future earning power. The Pentagon counters that changing the law would cost billions and that while it might help a few people who need it, like Sergeant Jordan, it would also help a lot who don't.
DAVID CHU, UNDERSECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This is in the Senate version $58 billion over 10 years, mostly going to people who are doing very well, who are by national standards for their senior years in very good shape. MCINTYRE: The Pentagon argues Sergeant Jordan is the exception, not the rule, and that Congress has already increased benefits for disabled vets, including restoring lifetime medical care, a better deal than most Americans get.
CHU: If you work for a private company, you typically can collect either your pension or disability payments but not both, and that's true in the Civil Service with our government too.
MCINTYRE (on camera): The House has voted to allow veterans who are at least 60 percent disabled to collect both retirement and disability pay. The Senate would give the right to any disabled vet, but both bills would break the bank according to administration officials who say President Bush will veto the defense bill if it includes the repeal.
Jamie McIntyre CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Prohibitions>
