HR1289 LRB093 24176 CSA 54371 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, There are 2.4 million veterans who receive $19.5
3 billion annually in disability benefits from the U.S.
4 Department of Veterans Affairs; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Illinois veterans receive, on average, $6,802
6 annually in disability benefits, while the average annual
7 disability pay nationwide is over $8,000; Puerto Rico awards
8 $11,600 annually to disabled and wounded veterans, nearly
9 $5,000 more than Illinois; and
 
10     WHEREAS, Illinois ranked dead last, on a per capita basis,
11 among all states and U.S. territories from 2000 to 2002, for
12 the amount awarded by each state's regional Veterans Affairs
13 office for payments to wounded and disabled veterans; Illinois
14 ranked 50th in 2003 among all states and U.S. territories; and
 
15     WHEREAS, Only six percent of Illinois' 922,000 veterans
16 receive disability payments, while the national average is ten
17 percent of a state's veteran population; and
 
18     WHEREAS, In Illinois, military veterans' disability claims
19 are decided by 31 adjudicators in the Chicago regional office
20 of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, based on medical,
21 military, and personnel records; and
 
22     WHEREAS, The United States Department of Veterans Affairs'
23 own mission statement, "To care for him who shall have borne
24 the battle, and for his widow and his orphan", is a statement
25 of Illinois' own Abraham Lincoln; therefore, be it
 
26     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
27 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
28 urge Congress to conduct an immediate and on-going
29 congressional investigation into the Chicago regional office

 

 

HR1289 - 2 - LRB093 24176 CSA 54371 r

1 of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, its personnel and
2 procedures, and the criteria that it uses in determining annual
3 disability benefits to wounded soldiers; and be it further
 
4     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
5 delivered to Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert, Senator
6 Richard J. Durbin, Senator Barack Obama, and all other members
7 of the Illinois Congressional Delegation.