Other Newspapers' Opinions: VA debt provision should be repealed
By The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Friday, February 1, 2008 1:03 PM PST
The fact that federal law requires the secretary of veterans affairs to contact the family of a soldier killed in combat to collect an outstanding VA debt is incomprehensible to most Americans.
As Title 38 of the U.S. Code stands today, if a member of the armed forces dies — the specifics of the cause of death don’t matter — and owes money to the VA, the secretary is required to contact the family for repayment.
Twenty-two families have been asked to pay mostly GI bill education debt from the estates of loved ones who died in combat or of a service-connected injury incurred in a combat zone.
Rightfully outraged by this development, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas last week filed the Combat Veterans Debt Elimination Act to remove the provision that requires the VA to seek collection of unpaid debt from the families of soldiers who die from combat-related injuries. Hutchison, who has been joined by Sen. John Cornyn as a co-sponsor, is asking to make the law retroactive to Sept. 11, 2001. Regardless of one’s support for or opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it’s hard to fathom any American thinking it’s appropriate to add to the burdens of an already grieving family by asking for reimbursement on a VA loan.
Mark them “Paid in full.”
