OH-18: Space Winning Fight For Equal Veterans Benifits

Congressman Zack Space’s legislation to fix unfair benefits for veterans in certain areas of the nation has been passed unanimously by the House of Representatives.

Space’s initial legislation, the Veterans Disability Fairness Act (HR 5709), was combined with another bill (HR 5892) and passed by a vote of 429-0.

“It is clear to me that Ohio veterans have been the victims of a flawed bureaucratic system for far too long. That is about to come to an abrupt end.”

“Veterans in Ohio earned the same benefits as veterans from elsewhere, and they are entitled to fair compensation.  This legislation will force the VA to take responsibility for the equitable distribution of the benefits they provide.  That is what our veterans deserve.”

-- Rep. Zack Space

According to Space’s office, the bill will:

• Require the VA to collect and monitor regional data on disability ratings.
• Require the VA Secretary to conduct reviews and audits of the rating system.
• Require the VA to submit an exhaustive report yearly to Congress to track the progress of the program.
• Require VA raters to take ownership of their ratings by assigning identification codes to all adjudications.  The performance of specific raters will then be evaluated periodically for consistency and accuracy.

This has been one of Space’s major issues for several months now, but it looks like all of his work has paid off.