II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 558 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to permit certain additional retired 

members of the Armed Forces who have a service-connected disability 

to receive both disability compensation from the Department of Veterans 

Affairs for their disability and either retired pay by reason of their 

years of military service or Combat-Related Special Compensation and 

to eliminate the phase-in period under current law with respect to such 

concurrent receipt. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 8, 2005 

Mr. REID (for himself, Mr. BIDEN, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. NELSON of Florida, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. SALAZAR, Mr. BINGAMAN, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. JEFFORDS, Mr. KENNEDY, Mrs. LINCOLN, 

Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. LIEBERMAN, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to permit certain 

additional retired members of the Armed Forces who 

have a service-connected disability to receive both disability compensation from the Department of Veterans 

Affairs for their disability and either retired pay by reason of their years of military service or Combat-Related 

Special Compensation and to eliminate the phase-in period under current law with respect to such concurrent 

receipt. 
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Retired Pay Restora5 tion Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) For more than 100 years before 1999, all 

9 disabled military retirees were required to fund their 

10 own veterans’ disability compensation by forfeiting 

11 one dollar of earned retired pay for each dollar re12 ceived in veterans’ disability compensation. 

13 (2) Since 1999, Congress has enacted legisla14 tion every year to progressively expand eligibility cri15 teria for relief of the retired pay disability offset and 

16 further reduce the burden of financial sacrifice on 

17 disabled military retirees. 

18 (3) Absent adequate funding to eliminate the 

19 sacrifice for all disabled retirees, Congress has given 

20 initial priority to easing financial inequities for the 

21 most severely disabled and for combat-disabled retir22 ees. 

23 (4) In the interest of maximizing eligibility 

24 within cost constraints, Congress effectively has au25 thorized full concurrent receipt for all qualifying re-
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1 tirees with 100-percent disability ratings and all 

2 with combat-related disability ratings, while phasing 

3 out the disability offset to retired pay over 10 years 

4 for retired members with noncombat-related, service5 connected disability ratings of 50 percent to 90 per6 cent. 

7 (5) In pursuing these good-faith efforts, Con8 gress acknowledges the regrettable necessity of cre9 ating new thresholds of eligibility that understand10 ably are disappointing to disabled retirees who fall 

11 short of meeting those new thresholds. 

12 (6) Congress is not content with the status quo. 

13 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con14 gress that military retired pay earned by service and sac15 rifice in defending the Nation should not be reduced be16 cause a military retiree is also eligible for veterans’ dis17 ability compensation awarded for service-connected dis18 ability. 

19 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENT OF BOTH RETIRED PAY 

20 AND VETERANS’ DISABILITY COMPENSATION 

21 FOR CERTAIN ADDITIONAL MILITARY RETIR22 EES WITH COMPENSABLE SERVICE-CON23 NECTED DISABILITIES. 

24 (a) EXTENSION OF CONCURRENT RECEIPT AUTHOR25 ITY TO RETIREES WITH SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABIL-
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1 ITIES RATED LESS THAN 50 PERCENT.—Section 1414 of 

2 title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking para3 graph (2) of subsection (a). 

4 (b) REPEAL OF PHASE-IN OF CONCURRENT RECEIPT

5 OF RETIRED PAY AND VETERANS’ DISABILITY COM6 PENSATION.—Such section is further amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (a), by striking the final sen8 tence of paragraph (1); 

9 (2) by striking subsection (c) and redesignating 

10 subsections (d) and (e) as subsections (c) and (d), 

11 respectively; and 

12 (3) in subsection (d) (as so redesignated), by 

13 striking subparagraph (4). 

14 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 

15 (1) The heading for section 1414 of such title 

16 is amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘§ 1414. Members eligible for retired pay who are also 

18 eligible for veterans’ disability compensa19 tion: concurrent payment of retired pay 

20 and disability compensation’’. 

21 (2) The item relating to such section in the 

22 table of sections at the beginning of chapter 71 of 

23 such title is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘1414. Members eligible for retired pay who are also eligible for veterans’ disability compensation: concurrent payment of retired pay and 

disability compensation.’’. 
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1 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall take effect as of January 1, 2006, and 

3 shall apply to payments for months beginning on or after 

4 that date. 

5 SEC. 4. COORDINATION OF SERVICE ELIGIBILITY FOR COM6 BAT-RELATED SPECIAL COMPENSATION AND 

7 CONCURRENT RECEIPT. 

8 (a) ELIGIBILITY FOR TERA RETIREES.—Subsection 

9 (c) of section 1413a of title 10, United States Code, is 

10 amended by striking ‘‘entitled to retired pay who—’’ and 

11 all that follows and inserting ‘‘who— 

12 ‘‘(1) is entitled to retired pay, other than a 

13 member retired under chapter 61 of this title with 

14 less than 20 years of service creditable under section 

15 1405 of this title and less than 20 years of service 

16 computed under section 12732 of this title; and 

17 ‘‘(2) has a combat-related disability’’. 

18 (b) AMENDMENTS TO STANDARDIZE SIMILAR PROVI19 SIONS.— 

20 (1) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The heading for 

21 paragraph (3) of section 1413a(b) of such title is 

22 amended by striking ‘‘RULES’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘RULE’’. 

24 (2) SPECIFICATION OF QUALIFIED RETIREES

25 FOR CONCURRENT RECEIPT PURPOSES.—Subsection 
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1 (a) of section 1414 of such title, as amended by sec2 tion 2(a), is amended— 

3 (A) by striking ‘‘a member or’’ and all that 

4 follows through ‘‘retiree’)’’ and inserting ‘‘an 

5 individual who is a qualified retiree for any 

6 month’’; 

7 (B) by inserting ‘‘retired pay and veterans’ 

8 disability compensation’’ after ‘‘both’’; and 

9 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

10 paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED RETIREES.—For purposes of 

12 this section, a qualified retiree, with respect to any 

13 month, is a member or former member of the uni14 formed services who— 

15 ‘‘(A) is entitled to retired pay, other than 

16 in the case of a member retired under chapter 

17 61 of this title with less than 20 years of serv18 ice creditable under section 1405 of this title 

19 and less than 20 years of service computed 

20 under section 12732 of this title; and 

21 ‘‘(B) is also entitled for that month to vet22 erans’ disability compensation.’’. 

23 (3) STANDARDIZATION WITH CRSC RULE FOR

24 CHAPTER 61 RETIREES.—Subsection (b) of section 

25 1414 of such title is amended— 
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1 (A) by striking ‘‘SPECIAL RULES’’ in the 

2 subsection heading and all that follows through 

3 ‘‘is subject to’’ in paragraph (1) and inserting 

4 ‘‘SPECIAL RULE FOR CHAPTER 61 DISABILITY

5 RETIREES.—In the case of a qualified retiree 

6 who is retired under chapter 61 of this title, the 

7 retired pay of the member is subject to’’; and 

8 (B) by striking paragraph (2). 

9 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

10 this section shall take effect as of January 1, 2006, and 

11 shall apply to payments for months beginning on or after 

12 that date. 

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