CBO budget threatens TDIU cuts

Question:

After backing off TDIU cuts upon reaching S.S. age in 2018, it has resurfaced in the 2020 CBO budget, among many other veterans benefit cuts. Was a non starter in previous budget. Maxine Waters was the only representative to propose legislation to codify TDIU so this repetitive proposal could not happen again. Do we have to go through another year of anxiety waiting for the ax to fall? Older veterans seem to be the easiest target for cuts. AM vets called for an immediate withdrawal of this obscene proposal. I am 68 years old getting TDIU and have severe anxiety over this. Can you give some feedback on this issue?

Jim's Reply:

The CBO budget is pretty much a repeater in that year to year there are many things that don't change. It's going to be pretty much the same until 2028 so we'll see this every year. Your concern is listed on page 109 but there are a ton of other things that we could be concerned about if they were ever to happen. But just like last year and the year before, this is what the CBO is chartered to do...they float ideas to control our budget. That there is no support for the ideas doesn't stop the CBO, it's what they're paid to do. Nobody is proposing any changes to veterans TDIU benefits and even if they did, it would take years to pass and wouldn't affect currently rated vets...grandfathering is always the case at VA.


Source URL: https://www.statesidelegal.org/cbo-budget-threatens-tdiu-cuts