Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2015
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on July 16, 2015. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2015
TITLE I--COMPENSATION COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT
(Sec. 101) This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to increase, as of November 30, 2015, the rates of:
veterans' disability compensation,
additional compensation for dependents,
wartime disability compensation,
the clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans, and
dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children.
Each such increase shall be the same percentage as the benefits increase provided under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act, as of December 1, 2015.
(Sec. 102) The VA shall publish such adjusted rates in the Federal Register.
TITLE II--UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMS
(Sec. 201) The temporary expansion of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims is extended till January 1, 2020.
(Sec. 202) Specified recall requirements for retired judges are amended. A recall-eligible judge may request a recall for a period of service of at least 90 days (or the equivalent).
(Sec. 203) A regular active service judge or a retired judge shall be treated as an employee for government life insurance purposes.
(Sec. 204) Regular service judges, retired recall-eligible judges, and certain retired but not recall-eligible judges may purchase in three-month increments up to an additional year of service credit for each year of federal judicial service completed.
(Sec. 205) The salary of Court judges is set at the rate applicable to federal appellate court judges. (Their salary is currently set at the rate applicable to federal district court judges.)
(Sec. 206) The chief judge of the Court, in addition to existing qualifications, must not be older than 64 and have at least 3 years remaining in term of office as a judge of the Court in regular active service.
TITLE III--IMPROVEMENT OF CLAIMS PROCESSING
The summary continues for 7 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on July 28, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 29, 2015: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Ralph Abraham (R-LA) introduced it on February 3, 2015, and 5 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 3 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 3, 2015, 4237 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4061 days ago, on July 29, 2015.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers