WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, today introduced the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2018, bipartisan legislation to increase veterans’ disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). 

“Our men and women in uniform have sacrificed greatly, and it is our duty to provide veterans and their families with the benefits they so rightly deserve,” said Isakson. “As chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I’m proud to introduce this bill to increase certain veterans’ benefits in keeping with rising costs of living.”

“This increase is an important token of our nation’s gratitude for veterans and their families,” said Tester. “Veterans’ benefits must reflect today’s economic realities and this bipartisan legislation will allow families to keep up with the rising costs of housing, utilities and food.”

The bill, which was co-sponsored by every member of the Senate VA committee, would increase the rates of VA disability compensation, dependency compensation for surviving children and spouses, as well as the clothing allowance for veterans based on rising costs of living.

This cost-of-living adjustment, which would be equal to the amount of the adjustment given to Social Security recipients, is determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index on a yearly basis. The cost-of-living adjustment for veterans would go into effect on Dec. 1, 2018.

In addition to Isakson and Tester, the original co-sponsors of the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2018 are U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.,  John Boozman, R-Ark., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Bill Cassidy, R-La., Dean Heller, R-Nev., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Jerry Moran, R-Kan., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Mike Rounds, R-S.D., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

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The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 115th Congress. Isakson is a veteran himself – having served in the Georgia Air National Guard from 1966-1972 – and has been a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs since he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations representing each branch of the armed services as well as more than 750,000 veterans.