Legislation In The Works:
S.2549, H.R. 4850, H.R. 4864 and S.12819

The Senate passed the Defense Authorization Act (S.2549) which includes some amendments of interest to us:

1) H.R. 4864 and S.12819 which restore the VA's duty to assist claimants in developing all evidence necessary to support their claims and eliminates the requirement that a claimant must first submit a "well-grounded" claim before receiving assistance from the VA. Under H.R. 4864, veterans would have two years to ask the VA to reopen a claim if it had been denied as not well-grounded.

2) Permit retirees of the Armed Forces who have service-connected disabilities to receive military pensions plus disability compensation.

3) The Veterans Benefits Act of 2000, H.R. 4850, passed by unanimous voice vote would increase effective Dec. 1, 2000 rates of disability compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for survivors of disabled veterans. [Source: DAV Magazine, September/October 2000]

The Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs approved legislation that would make presumptive: lung cancer, tumors of the brain and central nervous system, colon cancer and ovarian cancer. [must be approved by both houses and the President].

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