U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham

CONGRESSIONAL News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01) announced that veterans, their families and survivors who receive disability compensation and pension benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will receive a 1.5 percent cost-of-living increase in their monthly payments beginning Jan. 1, 2014.

“New Mexico’s veterans, their families and their survivors have sacrificed a great deal in service to our country, and they deserve the added financial stability that next year’s cost-of-living increase will provide,” Lujan Grisham said. “It is also vital that the VA continues working to eliminate the unconscionable backlog in disability claims so that all veterans can access the benefits they have earned.”

Throughout her first year in Congress, Lujan Grisham has made supporting veterans one of her top priorities. She recently introduced the Veterans’ Independent Living Enhancement Act (H.R. 3330), bipartisan legislation to help disabled veterans live independently and participate in family and community life.

The bill, which has the support of a dozen different veterans’ and health organizations, would remove the arbitrary cap on the number of veterans eligible to participate in the Independent Living Program, a part of the VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program.