Page 34 - Desert Oracle December 2021
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Issue #19 • Volume #27 November 12, 2021
Washington Update
Follow the Status of PVA’s Priority Issues Between Updates! Visit the
PVAction Force page to view our latest alerts and a list of key
legislation and its status.
LEGISLATION TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO VA On November 2, Representative Al Lawson (D-FL)
HOUSING MODIFICATIONS INTRODUCED and 42 bipartisan cosponsors introduced H.R. 5819,
the Autonomy for Disabled Veterans Act, which
VA's Home and Improvements and Structural would raise HISA rates and tie them to a formula that
Alterations (HISA) grants help veterans and service raises rates annually. Specifically, the legislation
members make medically necessary improvements would increase the life time grant rate for service-
and structural alterations to their primary residence. connected veterans to $10,000 and non-service-
This includes improving the entrance or exit from connected veterans to $5,000. It would also tie the
their homes, restoring their accessibility to the grant to the Consumer Price Index to ensure that it
kitchen or bathroom, and making necessary repairs better meets the needs of veterans moving forward.
or upgrades to plumbing or electrical systems due to
installation of home medical equipment like a dialysis This legislation is one of PVA’s priorities and we urge
machine. you to ask your members of Congress to support it.
A lifetime HISA benefit is worth up to $6,800 for SOCIAL SECURITY 2100: A SACRED TRUST ACT
veterans with service-connected conditions rated 50 INTRODUCED
percent or more disabling (combined) and $2,000 for
veterans who have a non-service-connected On October 26, the long awaited, revised version of
condition. These rates have not changed in nearly a the Social Security 2100 Act was introduced by
dozen years even though the cost of home Chairman of the House Ways and Means Social
modifications and labor have risen more than 40 Security Subcommittee, John Larson (D-CT), and
percent during the past 10 years alone. Instead of 193 original cosponsors. Now called the Social
covering the cost of needed modifications, HISA Security 2100: A Sacred Trust Act, H.R. 5723, the
grants now just “contribute” towards them. new bill includes many of the critical improvements
in Social Security benefits that were contained in the
previous version. A Senate companion bill, S. 3071,
