# Veterans' COLA Act of 2023

This bill ensures that military retirement pay and veterans' benefits automatically increase each year to keep up with inflation. COLA stands for "Cost of Living Adjustment," and it's basically a way to make sure that the money veterans receive doesn't lose its purchasing power as prices for groceries, housing, and other necessities go up.

Right now, many veterans' benefits already get these automatic annual increases tied to inflation. What this bill does is make sure that all military retirement payments and veterans' compensation benefits receive the same treatment consistently. When inflation goes up, so do the payments—without veterans having to ask Congress to approve a raise each year. This matters because if benefits stayed the same while prices climbed, veterans would effectively get paid less and less in real terms every single year.

The practical impact is straightforward: if a retired military officer receives $3,000 a month and inflation rises by 3 percent, their payment would increase to $3,090 the following year. The same applies to disability compensation, survivor benefits, and other veterans' payments. This protects veterans from the silent erosion of their income that happens during inflationary periods. Without this automatic adjustment, veterans would need Congress to pass new legislation every time they wanted their benefits to keep pace with rising costs, which is inefficient and often doesn't happen quickly enough.

Veterans' COLA Act of 2023

Tester, Jon

Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2023 or the Veterans' COLA Act of 2023 This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to increase the amounts payable for wartime disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, the clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans, and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children. Specifically, the VA must increase the amounts by the same percentage as the cost-of-living increase in benefits for Social Security recipients that is effective on December 1, 2023. The bill requires the VA to publish the amounts payable, as increased, in the Federal Register. The VA is authorized to make a similar adjustment to the rates of disability compensation payable to persons who have not received compensation for service-connected disability or death.