A bill that will boost veterans benefits passed the House on Thursday, and will next head to the desk of President Biden for his signature to become law.
The Veterans’ COLA Act of 2022, introduced by Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA-02) and Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), will increase compensation rates for certain Department of Veterans Affairs benefits, including dependency and indemnity benefits paid to survivors and families of service members who died in the line of duty or suffer from a service-related injury or disease.
“I commend my Senate colleagues for passing my bipartisan cost of living adjustment for our disabled veterans and their families. For the fourth straight year, my legislation will become law and provide our veterans with a much-needed cost of living adjustment to combat inflation,” Rep. Luria said. “I will continue to fight for our veterans and deliver for military families in Coastal Virginia and across the country.”
In 2021, Biden signed into law the Senate companion to Rep. Luria’s Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2021, providing a 5.9 percent increase in compensation for veterans—the largest raise since 1982. Both the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2019 and 2020 passed with overwhelming bipartisan support before becoming law.