House approves Abraham’s first bill

WASHINGTON – The House voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to pass a bill by Rep. Ralph Abraham that would provide cost-of-living increases in veterans’ benefits.

“Our American heroes took care of us and now we need to take care of them,” Abraham, R-Alto, said in a statement.

The bill is the first for the Louisiana Republican freshman. Abraham is chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.

The vote was 409-0, with 24 lawmakers not voting.

Abraham’s bill — the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act — now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has introduced a similar measure. The committee passed Isakson’s measure last week.

“In a world of rising living costs, our veterans should be compensated accordingly,” Isakson said.

Under Abraham’s bill, money for veterans’ benefits such as housing, food and other living expenses would increase based on Social Security’s annual cost-of-living-adjustment, which was 1.7 percent last year, according to Abraham’s office.

If signed into law, the increase would take effect in December 2015.

“With so much volatility in the VA, I’m glad the House passed my bill that will bring some more financial stability to our heroes,” Abraham said.

Abraham and other Louisiana lawmakers have pushed other measures that would impact veterans.

Abraham and Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, recently blasted the VA for being slow to reimburse ambulance companies, hospitals and other businesses providing services to veterans. Lawmakers, advocates and businesses complain veterans are sometimes billed for services provided by companies that weren’t paid by the VA.

The House Veteran’s Affairs Subcommittee on Health passed legislation last week proposed by Boustany that would require the VA to set up a hotline and provide veterans with information about how to resolve such problems. The full committee is expected to consider the Veterans’ Credit Protection Act this fall.

Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, and Abraham are co-sponsors.

“It helps to solve some of these credit problems veterans are seeing, not only in my district, but everywhere,” said Boustany, who testified before the subcommittee earlier this month. “Everybody is paying attention to these veteran issues right now.”

Contact Deborah Barfield Berry at dberry@gannett.com. Twitter: @dberrygannett.com