HR1289 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1289 LRB093 24176 CSA 54371 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, There are 2.4 million veterans who receive $19.5 billion annually in disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; and

WHEREAS, Illinois veterans receive, on average, $6,802 annually in disability benefits, while the average annual disability pay nationwide is over $8,000; Puerto Rico awards $11,600 annually to disabled and wounded veterans, nearly $5,000 more than Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Illinois ranked dead last, on a per capita basis, among all states and U.S. territories from 2000 to 2002, for the amount awarded by each state's regional Veterans Affairs office for payments to wounded and disabled veterans; Illinois ranked 50th in 2003 among all states and U.S. territories; and

WHEREAS, Only six percent of Illinois' 922,000 veterans receive disability payments, while the national average is ten percent of a state's veteran population; and

WHEREAS, In Illinois, military veterans' disability claims are decided by 31 adjudicators in the Chicago regional office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, based on medical, military, and personnel records; and

WHEREAS, The United States Department of Veterans Affairs' own mission statement, "To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan", is a statement of Illinois' own Abraham Lincoln; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge Congress to conduct an immediate and on-going congressional investigation into the Chicago regional office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, its personnel and procedures, and the criteria that it uses in determining annual disability benefits to wounded soldiers; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be delivered to Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Senator Barack Obama, and all other members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation.