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SERVICE-CONNECTED COMPENSATION

MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1958

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS,

Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met at 10 a. m., pursuant to call, in room 356, Old House Office Building, Washington, D. C., Hon. W. J. Bryan Dorn (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Mr. DORN. The subcommittee will come to order.

We are meeting this morning to consider 50 bills relating to the general subject of service-connected compensation. These bills follow the general categories of extending the presumptive periods for service connection; prohibiting severance of service connection after 10 years; the freezing of the 1945 rating schedule; increasing burial benefits, and a group of miscellaneous bills having to do with such items as furnishing an allowance for clothing which is damaged due to prosthetic appliances.

All of the authors of these bills have been invited to testify.

Following completion of this group of witnesses we will hear from representatives of the veterans' organizations and the hearings will be closed with testimony from the Veterans' Administration.

Without objection, I will insert at this point in the record the text of all of the bills pending before us as well as the reports thereon from the Veterans' Administration and a summary of the various proposals.

(The bills referred to follow :)

[H. R. 65, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To provide certain allowances and benefits to personnel of the Veterans' Administration who are United States citizens and are assigned to the Veterans' Administration office in the Republic of the Philippines

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs may, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the President or his designee, provide to personnel of the Veterans' Administration who are United States citizens and are assigned by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to the Veterans' Administration office in the Republic of the Philippines, allowances and benefits similar to those provided by the following sections of the Foreign Service Act of 1946:

Section 901 (1) (relating to allowances for temporary and permanent living quarters, heat, light, fuel, gas, and electricity).

Section 901 (3) (relating to allowances to provide for the proper representation of the United States).

Section 902 (relating to an allotment for official residence of chief American representative).

Section 903 (relating to accounting for allowances).

Section 911 (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (7), and (9) (relating to travel expenses). Section 913 (relating to transportation of automobiles).

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Section 933 (relating to the return of personnel to the United States on leaves of absence).

Section 941 (relating to payment by the United States of expenses for treating illness or injury requiring hospitalization).

SEC. 2. Personnel of the Veterans' Administration who are United States citizens and are assigned to the Republic of the Philippines by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs may be granted leaves of absence in the United States, by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, similar to that provided by section 203 (f) of the Annual and Sick Leave Act of 1951 (5 U. S. C.. sec. 2061 (f)).

[H. R. 69, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To provide that no application shall be required for the payment of statutory awards for certain conditions which, prior to August 1, 1952, have been determined by the Veterans' Administration to be service-connected

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 7 of Public Law 427, Eightysecond Congress (66 Stat. 296), is hereby amended, effective June 30, 1952, by adding at the end thereof the following sentence: "No application shall be required for the payment of compensation under this Act for the loss or loss of use of a creative organ or for an arrested tuberculosis disease in any case, whether or not now on the rolls, in which a determination of service connection of such condition has been made or is made by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs prior to August 1, 1952."

[H. R. 330, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To provide that every combat veteran awarded the Purple Heart shall be deemed to be 10 per centum disabled from service-connected causes in addition to any other disabilities from which he is suffering

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, for the purposes of part I or II of Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as may be appropriate, every veteran who engaged in combat with the enemy in active service with a military or naval organization of the United States during some war, campaign, or expedition and who, as a result of being wounded or gassed during such war, campaign, or expedition, was awarded the Purple Heart, shall, if he is not rated as disabled under either such part, be rated as disabled to a degree of 10 per centum from such wound or being gassed, and if he is rated as disabled under either such part, his rating shall be increased by 10 per centum, but not to a degree in excess of 100 per centum.

[H. R. 405, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To prohibit the severance of a service-connected disability which has been in effect for ten or more years

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a service connection which has been made for compensation, pension, or insurance purposes under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration, and which has been in force for ten or more years, shall not be severed thereafter unless on a showing that the original rating was based on fraud or gross misrepresentation.

[H R. 411, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To authorize a clothing allowance for certain veterans wearing or using prosthetic appliances

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That paragraph I of Veterans Regulation Numbered 7 (a) is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following: "Subject to regulations to be prescribed by him, the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is authorized to pay a special clothing allowance of not to exceed $180 each calendar year to any person who is furnished a prosthetic appliance hereunder because of a service-connected disability resulting from amputation when

the ordinary wear or use of such appliance results in extraordinary wear and tear on clothing of a general or conventional character belonging to him and habitually worn by him, other than special clothing provided for herein."

[H. R. 413, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To provide a further period for presuming service-connection in the case of veterans suffering from Hansen's disease (leprosy)

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That subparagraph (c) of paragraph I, part I, Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as amended, is hereby amended by inserting after the words "all other types of active tuberculosis" the words "or Hansen's disease".

[H. R. 415, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To amend subparagraph (c), paragraph I, part I, of Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as amended, to establish a presumption of service-connection for chronic and tropical diseases becoming manifest within three years from separation from service Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That so much of subparagraph (c), paragraph I, part I, of Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as amended, as precedes the first proviso, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(c) That for the purpose of paragraph I (a) hereof a chronic disease becoming manifest to a degree of 10 per centum or more within three years from the date of separation from active service as set forth therein shall be considered to have been incurred in or aggravated by service as specified therein notwithstanding there is no record of evidence of such disease during the period of active service;".

[H. R. 420, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To amend the veterans regulations to provide that malignant tumors developing a 10 per centum or more degree of disability within two years after separation from active service shall be presumed to be service-connected

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That subparagraph (c) of paragraph I, part I, Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as amended, is hereby amended by adding before the last proviso and following the words "multiple sclerosis", the words "tumors, malignant".

[H R. 924, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To provide a three year presumptive period of service connection for multiple sclerosis, psychoses, and malignant tumors which develop within three years from the date of separation from active service

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the second last proviso of subparagraph (c) of paragraph (I), part (I), Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Provided further, That active pulmonary tuberculosis or all other types of active tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis, the psychoses or malignant tumors developing a 10 per centum or more degree of disability within three years from the date of separation from active service shall, in the absence of affirmative evidence to the contrary, be deemed to have been incurred in or aggravated by active service."

[H. R. 929, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To amend the Veterans Regulations to provide that psychoses or multiple sclerosis developing a 10 per centum or more degree of disability within three years after separation from active service shall be presumed to be service-connected

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the second last proviso of subparagraph (c) of paragraph I, part I, Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Provided further, That active tuberculosis, psychoses, or multiple sclerosis developing a 10 per centum degree of dis

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