众议院退伍军人节通过退伍军人福利综合法案：60多项条款，战斗负伤退役者可全额领取退休金
美国国会众议院11月11日退伍军人节当天在华盛顿通过《照顾美国退伍军人法案》（Take Care of America's Veterans Act，编号 H.R. 9237），把60多项退伍军人医疗与福利条款打包成一部综合法案，送交参议院审议。众议院退伍军人事务委员会当天发表声明宣布了这一结果。
据众议院书记官的议事记录，该法案于美东时间11日14时46分左右以口头表决通过，委员会声明称其为一致通过。因是口头表决，未留下议员个人的记名投票记录。
法案被委员会称为数十年来最大规模的退伍军人医疗与福利扩展，内容包括扩大城乡医疗服务、增加教育与就业机会、扩展心理健康与药物滥用治疗、支持金星家庭（阵亡军人家庭），以及削减退伍军人事务部（VA）的繁琐手续、改进其运作。
其中最受关注的是纳入法案的《Richard Star 少校法案》：约6万多名战斗负伤、因伤退役的残障退伍军人，将可以同时全额领取军人退休金和 VA 残障补偿，不再像现行制度下那样因领取残障补偿而被扣减退休金。委员会主席 Mike Bost 说，这部法案「终于减轻了伤兵税」，他将与参议院合作，力争在年底前把法案送到总统办公桌上。
众议院本周还通过了另一部退伍军人法案，H.R. 8552《退伍军人补偿生活成本调整法案》。据委员会声明，30多家退伍军人服务组织支持这部综合法案，包括美国退伍军人协会（The American Legion）、美国军事军官协会和伤兵计划（Wounded Warrior Project）等。
法案也遭到部分退伍军人组织的反对。争议集中在第108条，该条拟调整今后新申请中耳鸣与阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的残障评级方式。海外战争退伍军人协会（VFW）全国总司令 Cory Geisler 当天发表声明，称在退伍军人节推进一部可能威胁退伍军人既得福利的法案是「对美国退伍军人的侮辱」，并称该提案应「在参议院被否决」。美国残障退伍军人协会（DAV）援引 VA 的分析称，这一调整可能影响多达150万名退伍军人，10年内减少补偿约570亿美元。同一天，众议院还以245票对175票通过一项程序动议，为单独审议《Richard Star 少校法案》铺路。
该法案今年7月曾在众议院受阻，一项将其退回委员会的动议以210票对211票失败后，审议被推迟至今。法案下一步将由参议院审议，参议院退伍军人事务委员会主席 Jerry Moran 是综合方案的主要推动者之一；参议院如作修改，还需众议院再次表决，才能送交总统签署。
House Passes Veterans Benefits Package on Veterans Day: 60-Plus Provisions, Full Retirement Pay for Combat-Wounded Retirees
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Take Care of America's Veterans Act (H.R. 9237) in Washington on November 11, Veterans Day, packaging more than 60 veterans health and benefits provisions into a single bill and sending it to the Senate. The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs announced the result in a statement the same day.
According to the House Clerk's floor record, the bill passed by voice vote at about 2:46 p.m. Eastern on November 11, and the committee statement described the passage as unanimous. Because it was a voice vote, no record of individual members' positions was taken.
The committee called the bill the largest expansion of veterans health care and benefits in decades. It would expand rural and urban health care access, advance education and job opportunities, expand mental health and substance abuse treatment, support Gold Star families, cut red tape and improve operations at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Its most closely watched provision is the Major Richard Star Act, included in the package: more than 60,000 combat-wounded, medically retired disabled veterans would be able to receive both their full military retirement pay and VA disability compensation, instead of having retirement pay reduced when they receive disability compensation as under current law. Committee Chairman Mike Bost said the bill 'finally reduces the wounded veteran tax' and that he would work with the Senate to get it to the president's desk before the end of the year.
The House also passed another veterans bill this week, H.R. 8552, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act. According to the committee, more than 30 veteran service organizations support the package, including The American Legion, the Military Officers Association of America and Wounded Warrior Project.
The bill also drew opposition from some veterans organizations, centered on Section 108, which would change how the VA rates tinnitus and obstructive sleep apnea for future claims. Cory Geisler, national commander-in-chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), said in a statement that advancing legislation threatening earned benefits on Veterans Day was 'an insult to America's veterans' and that the proposal should be 'dead on arrival in the Senate.' Disabled American Veterans (DAV) cited a VA analysis estimating the changes could affect up to 1.5 million veterans and reduce compensation by as much as $57 billion over 10 years. The same day, the House voted 245 to 175 to approve a procedural motion toward considering the Major Richard Star Act as standalone legislation.
The bill had stalled in the House in July, when a motion to send it back to committee failed 210 to 211 and further action was postponed. It now goes to the Senate, where Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jerry Moran has been a leading advocate of the comprehensive approach. Any Senate changes would require further House action before the bill could reach the president.
来源：众议院退伍军人事务委员会
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：美国国会大楼。联邦固定图库图。 / Photo: The U.S. Capitol. Federal asset-pack photo.
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