Cold War Veterans Blog

2007 DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL

A last-minute congressional rush to pass essential defense and veterans' legislation before lawmakers could leave town to campaign for re-election was successful — although some late-night effort was required.

The 2007 defense authorization bill, covering policy-related matters from pay to construction to weapons, cleared the Senate at 2:41 a.m. Saturday (September 30) after final disagreements were resolved.

The $532.8 billion bill passed by voice vote, as there was few senators left in the chamber. The House approved the bill earlier in the day by a 398-23 vote.

President Bush is expected to sign the bill, but the timing is not yet clear because a backlog of legislation has to make its way from Congress to the White House. Bush signed the separate $447.6 billion defense appropriations bill that funds authorized programs on Friday (September 29), an essential step because the new fiscal year began Sunday.

The dollar totals of the authorization and appropriations bills differ for several reasons, with one big factor being that the appropriations bill does not include money for military construction and health care programs. Those programs are covered by separate legislation that has been tied up in negotiations and has been delayed until Congress returns to work after the Nov. 8 elections.

Also passed by Congress late last week was a bill providing the annual increase in veterans' disability and survivor's benefits, although the exact amount will not be known for several weeks.

The bill, S 2562, requires the annual adjustment in veterans' benefits to match the increase in Social Security and military retired pay, which automatically increase to keep pace with the cost of goods and services.

The Social Security increase, to be announced later this month, could be as high as 3.9 percent. The veterans' COLA will take effect Dec. 1 and will first appear in January checks for those receiving disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation for survivors and veterans' pensions. [Source: Navy Times, 2 Oct 06