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Senator: Caregiver benefits an empty promise

In all of the hoopla over Congress finally passing a bill aimed at helping family caregivers of catastrophically disabled veterans, warnings from one lawmaker that the final legislation is unfair to more than 35,000 families and nobody may see promised benefits were mostly overlooked.

The warnings come from Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a physician and a deficit hawk who opposes most new spending unless it is offset. Coburn is also the lawmaker who single-handedly held up the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act, which delayed work on writing a compromise until last week.

As the Senate was giving final approval to the bill April 22, the last step in the legislative process before the bill is sent to the White House for President Obama’s signature, Coburn warned of “shortcomings” in the compromise measure that to him “represent a failure of leadership and a lack of responsibility” by his fellow lawmakers.

The bill, S 1963, passed the House of Representatives on April 21 on a 419-0 vote, and the Senate passed it on April 22 by voice vote. As of Wednesday, the bill had not been delivered to the White House.

Coburn has two basic complaints about the bill, in addition to his larger problem with approving new benefits without paying for them.

First, he said the bill “unfairly discriminates against severely disabled veterans from wars and combat prior to Sept. 11, 2001.” The bill provides monthly stipends, health care coverage and travel reimbursement to caregivers of veterans severely disabled since Sept. 11, 2001, but not to caregivers of veterans from other eras.

“Many of these brave men and women have needed the assistance of caregivers for decades and have done so without help from the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Coburn said. “The caregivers of these veterans will be left out.”

By Coburn’s estimate, about 2,000 caregivers could be helped by the final bill, but 35,000 would not get full advantage. Caregivers for all generations of severely disabled veterans would qualify for mental health counseling, training in taking care of their veteran’s medical needs and 24-hour respite care.

Second, Coburn warned the bill “is an empty promise to veterans, and benefits no one except perhaps the career politicians who will claim credit” because none of the improvements in benefits may take effect if Congress does not provide funding. “No caregiver will be helped unless the appropriations committee allocates the funding for this new program,” he said.

The full bill, which includes more than just the caregiver benefits, is estimated to cost $3.6 billion over five years. Caregiver benefits, alone, have a $1.7 billion five-year price tag.

Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, said he believes there will be enough money within the Veterans Affairs Department budgets proposed by the Obama administration to cover the cost of the new benefits. For 2011, the administration is requesting $125 billion for veterans’ programs.