PROVIDING MORE ADEQUATE COMPENSATION FOR CERTAIN DEPENDENTS OF WORLD WAR VETERANS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES APRIL 3, 1941.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. RANKIN of Mississippi, from the Committee on World War Veterans' Legislation, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 4] The Committee on World War Veterans' Legislation, to whom was referred H. R. 4, entitled "A bill to provide more adequate compensation for certain dependents of World War veterans, and for other purposes," having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass. For several years bills have been referred to the committee providing compensation benefits for the widows, children, and dependent parents of World War veterans without regard to the cause of the veteran's death or the requirement of the existence of a serviceconnected disability at the time of death. H. R. 4 provides such a grant and the report of the Veterans' Administration on this bill is self-explanatory and is as follows: Hon. JOHN E. RANKIN, VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION, Chairman, Committee on World War Veterans' Legislation, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. RANKIN: This is with further reference to your letter of January 8, 1941, requesting a report on H. R. 4, Seventy-seventh Congress, a bill to provide more adequate compensation for certain dependents of World War veterans, and for other purposes, which provides as follows: "That part III of Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as amended, is hereby amended by adding a new paragraph, IV, thereto to read as follows: "IV. (a) Subject to the income limitation of part III, paragraph II hereof. as amended, the surviving dependent widow as hereinafter defined, child or children, and/or dependent mother or father of any deceased person who served in the active military or naval service during the World War, and whose service therein was as defined by part III, paragraph I, hereof, as amended, shall be entitled to receive compensation at the monthly rates specified next below: "Widow but no child, $20; widow and one child, $28; widow and two children, $34 (with $4 for each additional child); no widow but one child, $12; no widow but two children, $18 (equally divided); no widow but three children, $24 (equally divided) (with $3 for each additional child; total amount to be equally divided); dependent mother or father, $20; or both, $15 (each). (b) As to the widow, child, or children, the total compensation payable under this paragraph shall not exceed $56. Where such benefits would otherwise exceed $56, the amount of $56 may be apportioned as the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs may prescribe.' "SEC. 2. For the purpose of payment of compensation under the provisions of this Act, the term 'widow' shall mean a woman who was married prior to July 3, 1921, to the person who served; or who was married prior to May 13, 1938, to the person who served, provided a child was born of such marriage: Provided, That the provisions of section 3 of the Act of May 13, 1938 (Public, Numbered 514, Seventy-fifth Congress), insofar as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, shall govern the determination of eligibility of a widow for benefits under this Act." This bill is identical with H. R. 9000, Seventy-sixth Congress, on which the committee rendered a favorable report (No. 1829) March 25, 1940. Part III of Veterans Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended, which the bill proposes to amend, grants pension on account of disabilities or death not the result of service, under the conditions hereinafter outlined. Disability pension is payable to any honorably discharged veteran of the Spanish-American War, Boxer Rebellion, Philippine Insurrection, or the World War who is permanently and totally disabled not as a result of misconduct and not the result of military or naval service, if such veteran served at least 90 days or was discharged for disability incurred in line of duty and was in the active service before the cessation of hostilities. Death pension is payable to the widow or children of any deceased veteran of the Spanish-American War, Boxer Rebellion, or Philippine Insurrection at the rates prescribed on the enclosed chart, provided the service of such disabled veteran was as above described. Under the existing provisions of part III, and as proposed by the bill, death pension is not payable to any unmarried person whose annual income exceeds $1,000, or to any person with minor children whose annual income exceeds $2,500. Part III of Veterans Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended, makes no provision for the payment of pension to the widow or children of a World War veteran. The bill would provide such a pension and in addition would include dependent parents. The following criteria would govern eligibility for pension in addition to the service requirements heretofore set forth: (1) The period of the World War would be deemed to have ended November 11, 1918, unless the veteran served in Russia, in which case the date would be extended by virtue of section 1 of Public, No. 344, Seventy-fourth Congress, August 26, 1935 (38 U. S. C. 704a), to April 1, 1920. Section 5 of Public, No. 304, Seventyfifth Congress, which provides that "except as to emergency officers' retirement pay, reenlistment in the military or naval service on or after November 12, 1918, and before July 2, 1921, where there was prior service between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918, shall be considered as World War service under the laws providing benefits for World War veterans and their dependents," would also be applicable. (2) The above-described income limitation would be applicable only in the case of children, in view of the provision of the bill which limits payment of compensation to dependent widows and dependent mothers and fathers. The condition of dependency would be determined under regulations prescribed by the Veterans' Administration. (3) The term "widow," as defined by section 2 of the bill, would mean a woman who was married prior to July 3, 1921, to the person who served; or who was married prior to May 13, 1938, to the person who served, provided a child was born of such marriage; and the following provisions of section 3 of the act of May 13, 1938 (Public, No. 514, 75th Cong.), would govern the determination of eligibility of a widow for benefits under the proposed act: "That all marriages shall be proven as valid marriages according to the law of the place where the parties resided at the time of marriage or the law of the place where the parties resided when the right to compensation accrued. Compensa tion shall not be allowed a widow who has remarried either once or more than once, and where compensation is properly discontinued by reason of remarriage it shall not thereafter be recommended. No compensation shall be paid to a widow unless there was continuous cohabitation with the person who served from the date of marriage to date of death, except where there was a separation which was due to the misconduct of or procured by the person who served, without the fault of the widow." (4) The term "child" would be that as described in paragraph VI, Veterans Regulation No. 10, as amended, which provides that: "The term 'child' shall mean a legitimate child or a child legally adopted, unmarried and under the age of 18 years, unless prior to reaching the age of 18 the child becomes or has become permanently incapable of self-support by reason of mental or physical defect, except that the payment of pension shall be further continued after the age of 18 years and until completion of education or training (but not after such child reaches the age of 21 years), to any child who is or may hereafter be pursuing a course of instruction at a school, college, academy, seminary, technical institute, or university, particularly designated by him and approved by the Administrator, which shall have agreed to report to the Administrator the termination of attendance of such child, and if any such institution of learning fails to make such report promptly the approval shall be withdrawn." (5) The administrative and penal provisions of title I, Public, No. 2, Seventythird Congress, and the Veterans Regulations would be applicable. While Congress has not heretofore seen fit to enact a service-pension law on behalf of widows and children of World War veterans, Public, No. 484, Seventythird Congress, June 28, 1934, as amended by Public, No. 198, Seventy-sixth Congress, July 19, 1939, provides benefits on account of non-service-connected death as follows: "(a) To the surviving widow, child, or children of any deceased person who served in the World War before November 12, 1918 (or before April 2, 1920, if the person was serving with the United States military forces in Russia), who, while receiving or entitled to receive compensation, pension, or retirement pay for 10 per centum disability or more presumptively or directly incurred in or aggravated by service in the World War, died from a disease or disability not service connected; "(b) To the surviving widow, child, or children of any deceased World War veteran who served within either of the above-described periods and who was honorably discharged after having served ninety days or more (or who, having served less than ninety days, was discharged for disability incurred in the service in line of duty) and who died from a disease or disability not service connected and at the time of death had a disability directly or presumptively incurred in or aggravated by service in the World War for which compensation would have been payable if 10 per centum or more in degree.' The foregoing benefits are not payable to a widow without child, or to a child if such person's annual income exceeds $1,000, or to a widow with a child if she has an income which exceeds $2.500. There is enclosed as part of this report a comparative chart showing widows' and children's rates of pension payable under the Spanish-American War Service Pension Act of May 1, 1926, under Public, No. 484, Seventy-third Congress, as amended, under Veterans Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended, part II and part III, and those proposed by H. R. 4. While the proposed rates are lower than those prescribed by section 2 of the Spanish-American War Service Pension Act of May 1, 1926 (38 U. S. C. 364a), as reenacted by Public, No. 269, Seventy-fourth Congress, August 13, 1935 (38 U. S. C. 368), the standards of entitlement are different. For example, under the bill service before the beginning date of the World War, if in a period of service extending into the World War period may be counted, whereas under the Service Pension Act of May 1, 1926, service prior to April 21, 1898, the beginning date of the War with Spain cannot be counted. The act of May 1, 1926, does not require continuous cohabitation on the part of the widow of a veteran of the Spanish-American War (although it is required of widows of veterans of the Boxer Rebellion and Philippine Insurrection); whereas the bill, by incorporating an applicable provision of section 3 of the act of May 13, 1938, supra, makes continuous cohabitation a prerequisite to a widow's entitlement. Under the act of May 1, 1926, only a legitimate child is included within the definition of that term, whereas the bill would include an adopted child. Under the act of May 1, 1926, pension on behalf of a child is discontinued when the child reaches the age of 16 years, whereas the bill would permit an unmarried child to receive benefits until its eighteenth birthday and thereafter until 21 years of age if attending an approved course of training. In every instance the rates prescribed by the bill exceed those provided by part III of Veterans Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended, based upon non-serviceconnected death and limited to widows and children of the Spanish-American War, including the Boxer Rebellion and Philippine Insurrection veterans. The proposed rates approximate those prescribed for a widow under 50 years of age by part II, Veterans Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended, based upon service connected death in other than a period of war service. Enactment of such rates would, therefore, disturb the balance now existing between rates based upon service-connected death resulting from a period of service other than wartime, and those based upon wartime non-service-connected death. In view of the unprecedentedly large numbers involved and the increasing yearly cost, it is believed that any legislation proposing a service pension on behalf of widows, children, and dependent parents of World War veterans should be considered in the light of the historical background and circumstances surrounding the original legislation with respect to World War veterans and their dependents, and also in the light of recently enacted laws granting benefits to dependents of deceased World War veterans where the death was not due to service but the veteran at time of death was suffering from a service-connected disability. The original World War veterans' legislation was predicated on a desire to overcome the disadvantages of the pension system as it existed in the United States prior to the World War, and to evolve an entirely new plan including liberal provision of compensation based upon workmen's compensation standards rather than the idea of a Government pension, provision for insurance against death and total permanent disability, vocational rehabilitation, and other benefits in keeping with the modern attitude of the Government's responsibility toward those who incurred disability or the dependents of those who died as a result of military or naval service. The new plan was designed to replace the old policy whereby pensions were granted not only on account of disability or death incurred as a result of military service, but also on account of death or disability in no way connected with that service. It was designed by the Government, after expert thought and study, for the purpose of obviating what were deemed to be defects in the old pension system. Since the enactment of original legislation with respect to World War veterans, numerous liberalizations have occurred, including the World War Adjusted Compensation Act, whereby monetary relief was afforded to thousands of widows and children of World War veterans, and legislation permitting the indulgence of legal presumption of service connection of certain disabilities whereby compensation was awarded to thousands of World War veterans and their dependents who could not otherwise prove service connection. These and other enactments granting enlarged benefits to the World War group have served as the ground for not reviving the principles and policies followed by the Government in extending relief to veterans of wars prior to the World War and the dependents of such veterans. The act of June 28, 1934 (Public, No. 484, 73d Cong.), provided compensation for widows and children of deceased World War veterans at rates lower than service-connected death rates if the veteran at the time of death from a non-serviceconnected cause, not due to misconduct, was entitled to or receiving compensation, pension, or retirement pay for a directly service-connected disability of at least 30-percent degree. The underlying theory of this law was that it could not reasonably be said that a 30-percent service-connected disability might not be related to the cause of death. In other words, the law in effect recognized a presumption that the service-connected disability, if 30 percent or more, was related to the cause of death regardless of what the evidence revealed or did not reveal in the individual case. Section 1, Public, No. 844, Seventy-fourth Congress, June 29, 1936, eliminated the misconduct bar and included presumptively serviceconnected cases. The act was further liberalized by Public, No. 304, Seventyfifth Congress, August 16, 1937, by reducing to 20 percent the 30-percent disability requirement, and by Public, No. 514, Seventy-fifth Congress, May 13, 1938, the percentage requirement was still further reduced to 10 percent. A still further liberalization was provided by Public, No. 198, Seventy-sixth Congress, July 19, 1939, as heretofore set forth. It is believed that the committee will wish to bear in mind that the Government's first obligation properly extends to those disabled in active duty in the military or naval service and to the dependents of such persons who die as the result of such disability. In at least one instance in the past relief extended to non-service-connected groups, as the result of economic depression, resulted in decreased relief to service-connected groups, as evidenced by the effect of Public, No. 2, Seventy-third Congress, March 20, 1933. Pertinent to this proposal to enter a new and extensive field of relief is the question of the Government's existing and potential obligation. World War service-connected disability cases now total more than 349,000 and, it is believed, these cases will continue to increase. Each of these cases is potentially in line for death-compensation benefits either service-connected or under the liberal provisions of Public, No. 484, Seventy-third Congress, as amended, described above. Disbursements to World War veterans for non-service-connected permanent total disability will continue to increase for many years as will the cost of domiciliary and hospital care. Further, there is the larger question involving the Government's defense program requiring expenditures of billions of dollars in addition to which there will flow increased expenditures for relief to veterans (and their dependents) of our defense forces. Estimate of cost of the proposed measure for the first year is as follows: ! Based on experience it is estimated that not more than one-half of those entitled would apply and be paid the first year. Therefore, one-half cost has been used. Income provision contained in paragraph II of part III of Veterans Regulation No. 1 (a) has been applied. The term "dependent" widow may result in a denial of benefits in some cases where the income limitation would not bar payment but no estimate can be made as to the number of such cases. Cases cannot be added since parents exist with other beneficiaries. |