Findings and sense of Congress

(a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) For more than 100 years before 1999, all disabled military retirees were required to fund their own veterans’ disability compensation by forfeiting one dollar of earned retired pay for each dollar received in veterans’ disability compensation. (2) Since 1999, Congress has enacted legislation to progressively expand eligibility criteria for relief of the retired pay disability offset and reduce the burden of financial sacrifice on disabled military retirees. (3) Absent adequate funding to eliminate the sacrifice for all disabled retirees, Congress has given initial priority to easing financial inequities for the most severely disabled and for combat-disabled retirees. (4) In the interest of maximizing eligibility within cost constraints, Congress effectively has authorized full concurrent receipt for all qualifying retirees with 100-percent disability ratings and all qualifying retirees with combat-related disability ratings, while phasing out the disability offset to retired pay over 10 years for retired members with noncombat-related, service-connected disability ratings of 50 percent to 90 percent. (5) In pursuing these good-faith efforts, Congress acknowledges the regrettable necessity of creating new thresholds of eligibility that understandably are disappointing to disabled retirees who fall short of meeting those new thresholds. (6) Congress is not content with the status quo. (b) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that military retired pay earned by service and sacrifice in defending the United States should not be reduced because a military retiree is also eligible for veterans’ disability compensation awarded for service-connected disability.