Democrat Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Republican Steve Buyer, the former committee chairman, have been feuding since the 110th Congress convened in January with Democrats in control.
But their fight took on new intensity last month over an issue that pits pensions for Filipino veterans who fought with Americans in World War II against additional pension dollars for a group of elderly American wartime veterans.
Buyer accuses Filner of strong-arming through committee a bill, HR 760, with language that gives overly generous service pensions to Filipino veterans of World War II. Buyer also alleges that those benefits would be paid for, in effect, neutralizing an appeals court ruling that made a special pension available to 20,000 more elderly and housebound U.S. veterans.
Filner doesn’t dispute that the Filipino pensions are slated to be funded with dollars earmarked to raise compensation for elderly disabled U.S veterans with non-service-connected disabilities. But he argues that the extra pension dollars resulted from an appeals court finding a “loophole” in the law. Also, Filner said he regards as a higher priority pensions to Filipino veterans who fought with Gen. Douglas MacArthur more than 60 years ago and shouldn’t have to wait any longer to be compensated.
A tough floor fight over the bill is expected in September.
“The thing that upsets me the most in regards to Mr. Filner is that he has no respect for other people’s views or opinions. He is intolerant and he never follows the rules,” Buyer said in a phone interview.
Filner responded: “If he were fighting for veterans as much as he’s fighting me, we’d all be better off,” adding, “He won’t admit I’m the chairman. … He’s determined to keep me, personally, from having legislative victories. And he’s just hurting veterans, as far as I can see.”
Evidence that personalities fuel much of current dispute over Filipino veterans might be found in how the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee tackled the issue. In June, it approved an identical Filipino veterans’ provision using an identical funding source. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, the committee chairman, led the effort and former committee chairman Larry Craig, R-Idaho, chose not to criticize or even mention the Filipino provision in his own press release on the bill.
Buyer and Filner, however, each appear to seek out opportunities to poke the other in the political eye. Both came to Congress in the class of 1992. Otherwise, Buyer said, their backgrounds couldn’t be more different.
Buyer, from Indiana, is a Citadel graduate, a lawyer and an Army Reserve colonel – someone, he says of himself, who “has served his nation for 27 years of war and peace. You walk into my office and immediately say, ‘I can tell this is a military guy.’ “
Filner, a New York City native, claims in his official biography to have “spent several months in a southern jail as a ‘Freedom Rider’ in the Civil Rights movement.” He settled in San Diego and taught at a local university before entering politics.
“You go into his office and there’s a huge picture of him being arrested,” Buyer said. “He prides himself on having been a Vietnam War protester.” That difference in background explains the “volatility” of their relationship, Buyer said.
Last July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims overturned a Department of Veterans Affairs decision that had denied special monthly pension to Robert A. Hartness, an 86-year-old World War II veteran now legally blind from age-related macular degeneration. VA had argued that to qualify for a special pension at the housebound rate, an elderly wartime veteran has to have at least one condition rated 100 percent disabling. Hartness, who conceded he still cuts his own lawn, was rated 70 percent disabled.
The VA said the court’s ruling would make 20,000 more veterans eligible for higher special pensions at a cost of $965 million over 10 years. Filner, following Akaka’s lead, amended HR 760 to support the VA’s original position on eligibility, which freed up money to help 18,000 aging Filipino veterans.
Those living in the United States would receive the same old-age pension available to U.S. veterans, which is linked to level of income. Those in the Philippines, however, would receive $8,400 a year if married, $6,000 if single and surviving spouses would get $3,600 – regardless of income.
Buyer said these payments are too high, the “equivalent of over $100,000” for a Filipino family living in the Philippines.
It is “no accident” that Filner has pushed to help Filipino veterans for 15 years, he said. Fifteen percent of his constituents are Filipino Americans, the highest concentration of any district outside of Hawaii, Akaka’s state.
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