Congressional Research Service Reports - 396 Matching Results
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- Veterans Affairs: The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims— Judicial Review of VA Decision Making
- This report discusses legislation enacted by the 111th Congress to address funding, operations, and benefit appeal procedures within the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims (CAVC).
- Veterans Affairs Beneficiary Travel Program: Questions and Answers
- This report offers an overview of the Travel Beneficiary Program for veterans and includes a question-and-answer section with basic information about eligibility, the types of travel covered and how benefits are calculated, and how to apply for the benefit.
- Veterans' Benefits: Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for Survivors
- This report outlines the eligibility requirements and benefit levels for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and related policy issues.
- The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010, As Enacted
- This report identifies and examines selected changes that the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 makes to the Post-9/11 GI Bill and other GI Bills, including expanded eligibility.
- The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA): A Private Cause of Action
- This report discusses the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and related legislation, such as the Veterans' Benefits Act of 2010, which clarifies certain SCRA protections.
- Veterans Affairs: The Appeal Process for Veterans' Claims
- This report discusses the appeal process for veterans who are denied veteran's affairs claims. It ends with discussion of legislation considered in the 111th Congress to modify the process.
- TRICARE and VA Health Care: Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
- This report addresses key questions concerning how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) affects TRICARE and VA health care.
- Veterans Affairs: Historical Budget Authority, Fiscal Years 1940 Through 2010
- This report provides information on the historical budget authority of the Department of Veterans Affairs (formerly the Veterans Administration) for FY1940 through FY2010. Budget authority is presented in both current dollars and constant 2010 dollars (i.e., inflation-adjusted).
- Unemployment Compensation (Insurance) and Military Service
- This report discusses Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX), which provides income support while former active duty military personnel or reservists released from active duty search for work. The report addresses funding for this service, who is entitled to UCX benefits, and Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) and the Extended Benefits (EB) payments, which a servicemember receives when regular unemployment benefits are exhausted.
- Unemployment Compensation (Insurance) and Military Service
- This report discusses Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX), which provides income support while former active duty military personnel or reservists released from active duty search for work. The report addresses funding for this service, who is entitled to UCX benefits, and Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) and the Extended Benefits (EB) payments, which a servicemember receives when regular unemployment benefits are exhausted.
- Military Benefits for Former Spouses: Legislation and Policy Issues
- The purpose of this report is to provide a general discussion of legislative provisions and proposals relating to the military benefits for former spouses.
- The Military Survivor Benefit Plan: A Description of Its Provisions
- This report describes the basic provisions of the military Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) and all relevant changes or modifications that have occurred since its creation in 1972.
- VA-Home Loan Guaranty Program: An Overview
- Report containing a summary of the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program.
- Veterans' Benefits: The Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program
- This report describes Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment Service (VR&E) program services available to veterans with service-connected disabilities and to their families. It provides information about eligibility and entitlement, the application process, and resources available through other agencies. A brief history of the program is also provided.
- Veterans' Benefits: Burial Benefits and National Cemeteries
- Report providing a descriptive analysis of both nonmonetary and monetary burial benefits and national cemeteries.
- Veterans' Benefits: Current Life Insurance Programs
- Report providing information on the current Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) life insurance programs available for servicemembers and veterans, management and administration issues, and associated policy issues and legislation.
- Veterans' Benefits: Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for Survivors
- This report outlines the eligibility requirements and benefit levels for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and related policy issues.
- Veterans Benefits: Federal Employment Assistance
- There are federal employment and training programs and policies specifically targeted to help veterans seeking employment in the civilian economy. These programs and policies also assist servicemembers as they prepare to leave the military. Some of these programs help veterans secure employment specifically with the federal government and federal contractors. This report provides a brief overview of these programs and policies.
- Veterans' Benefits: Pension Benefit Programs
- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) administers several pension benefit programs for veterans as well as their surviving spouses and dependent children. The most current pension programs available (for those meeting the eligibility criteria on or after January 1, 1979) are the Improved Disability Pension for certain low-income veterans and the Improved Death Pension for certain low-income surviving spouses or children of veterans. There is also a special pension for Medal of Honor recipients. This report describes these programs, including the eligibility criteria and current benefit levels. This report will be updated as needed to reflect legislative activity and changes to benefits or eligibility requirements.
- Credit for Military Service Under Civilian Federal Employee Retirement Systems
- Federal employees with permanent appointments earn pension benefits under one of two retirement plans. Employees hired after 1983 participate in the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS). Employees hired before 1984 participate in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) unless they elected to transfer to the FERS during open seasons held in 1987 and 1998. This report discusses the changes in legislation that allowed veterans who subsequently became civilian federal employees to count their years of active-duty military service toward retirement eligibility and pension benefits under CSRS.
- Unemployment Compensation (Insurance) and Military Service
- This report discusses Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX), which provides income support while former active duty military personnel or reservists released from active duty search for work. The report addresses funding for this service, who is entitled to UCX benefits, and Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) and the Extended Benefits (EB) payments, which a servicemember receives when regular unemployment benefits are exhausted.
- Veterans' Benefits: Current Life Insurance Programs
- This report provides information on the current Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) life insurance programs available for servicemembers and veterans, management and administration issues, and associated policy issues and legislation.
- Veterans Medical Care: FY2011 Appropriations
- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides benefits to veterans through three major operating units, one of which is the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), on which this report focuses. This report will track the FY2011 appropriations process for funding VHA, and will be updated as legislative activities warrant.
- Veterans and Homelessness
- This report discusses several issues relating to homelessness among veterans, which has become more prominent since the beginning of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Veterans Affairs: Benefits for Service-Connected Disabilities
- This report describes disability compensation, which is a benefit Congress provides to American veterans and their dependents through the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Disability compensation is a monthly cash benefit program for veterans currently impaired from past service-connected activities.
- The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA): A Private Cause of Action
- This report discusses the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), the purpose of which is to provide for, strengthen, and expedite the national defense by protecting service members, enabling them to "devote their entire energy to the defense needs of the Nation." This report also discusses related legislation, such as the Veterans' Benefits Act of 2010, which clarifies certain SCRA protections.
- Survivor Benefits for Families of Civilian Federal Employees and Retirees
- This report discusses federal employees with permanent appointments that may be eligible for retirement and disability benefits under either the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
- Legal Issues Related to Proving "Service Connection" for VA Disability Compensation: Statutory Presumptions
- This report focuses on several statutory presumptions that relate to the second element of a service-connected claim for disability compensation, and synthesizes the legal principles that guide the Department of Veterans Affairs' application of the statutory presumptions during the claims adjudication process. Specifically, this report will discuss the "presumption of soundness," the presumption of aggravation of a pre-existing injury or disease, the "line of duty" presumption, and finally, the "combat veteran" presumption, all of which are codified at Title 38 of the United States Code.
- Veterans' Benefits: Burial Benefits and National Cemeteries
- This report provides a descriptive analysis of both nonmonetary and monetary burial veterans' benefits and national cemeteries. It addresses congressional and constituent issues, such as who is eligible to receive burial benefits; who can be buried in a national cemetery; what plans does the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have to build new or expand existing national cemeteries; and what benefits does the VA provide, among others.
- Veterans' Benefits: Current Life Insurance Programs
- This report provides information on the current Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) life insurance programs available for servicemembers and veterans, management and administration issues, and associated policy issues and legislation.
- Veterans' Benefits: Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for Survivors
- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers directly, or in conjunction with other federal agencies, several benefits for surviving spouses, children, and dependent parents of deceased veterans to provide them with financial, educational, and emotional support. Among these various programs, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is a monthly tax-free cash payment for eligible surviving spouses, children, and dependent parents. This report outlines the eligibility requirements and benefit levels for DIC, the policy issues associated with DIC, and legislation in the 111th Congress related to DIC.
- Veterans' Benefits: Pension Benefit Programs
- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) administers several pension benefit programs for veterans as well as their surviving spouses and dependent children. The most current pension programs available (for those meeting the eligibility criteria on or after January 1, 1979) are the Improved Disability Pension for certain low-income veterans and the Improved Death Pension for certain low-income surviving spouses or children of veterans. There is also a special pension for Medal of Honor recipients. This report describes these programs, including the eligibility criteria and current benefit levels. This report will be updated as needed to reflect legislative activity and changes to benefits or eligibility requirements.
- The Inapplicability of Limitations on Subcontracting to "Preference Contracts" for Small Businesses: Washington-Harris Group
- This report discusses Washington-Harris Group, a protest filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) alleging, among other things, that an agency improperly awarded a "preference contract" to a service-disabled veteran-owned small business that proposed to subcontract a greater percentage of work on the contract than allowed under the Small Business Administration's limitations on subcontracting.
- Veterans' Benefits: Burial Benefits and National Cemeteries
- This report provides a descriptive analysis of both nonmonetary and monetary burial veterans' benefits and national cemeteries. It addresses congressional and constituent issues, such as who is eligible to receive burial benefits; who can be buried in a national cemetery; what plans does the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have to build new or expand existing national cemeteries; and what benefits does the VA provide, among others.
- TRICARE and VA Health Care: Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
- The 111th Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and hereafter referred to as PPACA. This report addresses key questions concerning how PPACA affects the Department of Defense (DOD) TRICARE program and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care.
- Veterans Benefits: Current Life Insurance Programs
- This report is structured in three major areas. The first area of the report includes sections providing an overview of the VA's different life insurance programs. The second area includes sections describing the VA's management and administrative structure as well as how policy proceeds to beneficiaries are currently paid for SGLI, VGLI, and S-DVI. The third area of the report discusses major areas of congressional interest and policy issues as they pertain to SGLI, VGLI, and S-DVI.
- Concurrent Receipt: Background and Issues for Congress
- "Concurrent Receipt" refers to the simultaneous receipt of two types of monetary benefits: military retired pay and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation. This report addresses the two primary components of the concurrent receipt program: Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) and Concurrent Retirement and Disability Payments (CRDP). It reviews the possible legislative expansion of the program to additional populations and provide several potential options for Congress to consider.
- Veterans Affairs: Health Care and Benefits for Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange
- This report provides an overview of health care services and disability compensation benefits available to Vietnam veterans, Children of Vietnam Era veterans, and non-Vietnam veterans exposed to herbicides. This is followed by a discussion of litigation pertaining to Navy veterans of the Vietnam Era who served offshore and were never physically present on Vietnamese soil. The report concludes with a discussion of epidemiologic research conducted to study the health effects of Agent Orange and dioxin exposure on Vietnam veterans.
- U.S. Periods of War
- Many wars or conflicts in U.S. history have federally designated "periods of war," dates marking their beginning and ending. This report lists the beginning and ending dates for "periods of war" found in Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations, dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). It also lists and differentiates other beginning dates given in declarations of war, as well as termination of hostilities dates and armistice and ending dates given in proclamations, laws, or treaties.
- Veterans Affairs: Presumptive Service Connection and Disability Compensation
- The purpose of this report is to examine the very complex and sometimes controversial policy issue of establishing presumptive service connection. The material in it is based in large part on VA's "Analysis of Presumptions of Service Connection," and IOM's "Improving the Presumptive Disability Decision-Making Process for Veterans" reports.
- Veterans' Benefits: Burial Benefits and National Cemeteries
- This report provides a descriptive analysis of both nonmonetary and monetary burial benefits and national cemeteries. This report addresses congressional and constituent issues such as who is eligible to receive burial benefits; who can be buried in a national cemetery; what plans does the Department of Veterans Affairs have to build new or expand existing national cemeteries; and what benefits does the VA provide, among others.
- The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010
- Since enactment of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (Post-9/11 GI Bill; P.L. 110-252; Title 38 U.S.C., Chapter 33), there has been discussion of problems and possible enhancements to improve the program's implementation, administration, and benefits. This report summarizes provisions in the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 (S. 3447), as reported by the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs on August 5, 2010, for full Senate consideration.
- The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010
- This report identifies and examines selected changes that the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 makes to the Post-9/11 GI Bill and other GI Bills, including expanded eligibility.
- Veterans Medical Care: FY2011 Appropriations
- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides benefits to veterans through three major operating units, one of which is the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), on which this report focuses. This report will track the FY2011 appropriations process for funding VHA, and will be updated as legislative activities warrant.
- Veterans Affairs: The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims--Judicial Review of VA Decision Making
- This report discusses legislation enacted by the 111th Congress to address funding, operations, and benefit appeal procedures within the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims (CAVC).
- Veterans Affairs: "Gray Area Retirees"-- Issues and Related Legislation
- The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides a broad range of benefits and services to American veterans and to certain members of their families. In addition, the Department of Defense (DOD) offers a variety of benefits to veterans who are also military retirees. When members of the National Guard or the Reserve who have not yet reached age 60 retire (usually after at least 20 years of service), however, they are not entitled to certain federal benefits, including health care. These military retirees are commonly known as "Gray Area Retirees" (GARs). These persons may not necessarily meet the relevant statutory definition of "veterans" for VA benefit purposes, nor are they eligible for DOD health benefits until they are eligible for military retired pay at age 60. This report examines the current VA and DOD benefit eligibility for members of the National Guard and the Reserves. It also examines the benefit status and situation of GARs.
- Disability Benefits Available Under the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Veterans Disability Compensation (VDC) Programs
- This report seeks to clarify why one group of individuals with disabilities may be eligible for benefits under Veteran's Disability Compensation (VDC), but ineligible for benefits under Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) (and vice versa), through a description and comparison of several distinguishing characteristics of the SSDI and VDC programs. This report concludes with a discussion of the challenges facing the administration of both programs, including processing delays for pending claims and appeals.
- Veterans Affairs: Benefits for Service-Connected Disabilities
- This report describes disability compensation, which is a benefit Congress provides to American veterans and their dependents through the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Disability compensation is a monthly cash benefit program for veterans currently impaired from past service-connected activities.
- TRICARE and VA Health Care: Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
- The 111th Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and hereafter referred to as PPACA. This report addresses key questions concerning how PPACA affects the Department of Defense (DOD) TRICARE program and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care.
- TRICARE and VA Health Care: Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
- The 111th Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and hereafter referred to as PPACA. This report addresses key questions concerning how PPACA affects the Department of Defense (DOD) TRICARE program and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care.