Don’t throw vets over fiscal cliff, senator says

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who will soon head the Veterans Affairs Committee, told a press conference this morning that disabled vets would see big cuts in their benefits as a result of changes to the cost-of-living-allowance calculation lawmakers are contemplating as part of a package to keep the country from going over the fiscal cliff.

The senator said the Congressional Budget Office determined that a change in how annual COLA adjustments are calculated could mean that veterans who started receiving VA disability benefits at age 30 would have their benefits reduced by $1,425 at age 45, $2,341 at age 55 and $3,231 at age 65.

“We must not balance the budget on the backs of men and women who already sacrificed for us in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Sanders said.