Fleet Reserve Association

COLA Increase for 2025 The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently announced a 2.5 percent increase in the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for the calendar year 2025 for military and federal civilian retirees, survivor benefit annuitants, disabled veterans, and Social Security recipients. The new COLA rate will take effect on December 1, 2024, and the adjustment will appear in the December 30, 2024, payment. By law, the COLA is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), a broad measure of consumer prices calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from the third quarter of the previous year to the third quarter of the current year. It measures price changes in categories such as food, housing, clothing, transportation, energy, medical care, recreation, and education. The COLA increase for 2024 was 3.2 percent. Read more @ bit.ly/484QGTl

Annual COLA Increase for Veterans Approved As it does every year, Congress passed legislation (S. 7777) ensuring that veterans will receive a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in their benefits next year to guarantee they keep pace with inflation. Before leaving for an extended election-season break, the Senate approved the bill by voice vote, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk for his expected signature. The House had previously approved the bill by voice vote a week earlier. The official COLA for 2025 is scheduled to be announced on October 10. Read more @ bit.ly/3TRtKRC

Government Funding to Continue after October 1 The House and Senate have approved a Continuing Resolution (CR-H.R. 9747) for fiscal year 2025, extending government funding at current levels through December 20, 2024. The CR would maintain FY 2024 funding levels for federal agencies and programs that would otherwise shut down at the end of FY 2024 on October 1. Last week, the House rejected a CR (H.R. 9494) that would have funded the government through March 2025 and required voters to show proof of citizenship to register to vote (202-220). The measure provides additional funds for the Secret Service’s protective operations during the presidential campaign and mandates the agency’s cooperation with congressional investigations into the attempted assassinations of former President Donald Trump. Several expiring authorities, including the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the National Flood Insurance Program, would be extended through December 20. Congress frequently enacts stopgap measures to avoid a government shutdown before the fiscal year begins on October 1, as they often fail to complete work on the 12 spending appropriations bills in time. Lawmakers must pass full appropriations bills by the end of April 2025 to avoid automatic 1% broad spending cuts under the June 2023 debt-limit deal (Public Law 118-5). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) expressed satisfaction with the bipartisan agreement, noting it is “free of cuts and poison pills.” President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law. Read more @ bit.ly/4eIV5NT

House Passes VA Funding The House passed legislation (H.R. 9468), sponsored by Rep. Mike Garcia (Calif.), which would provide $3 billion in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs to keep it operating for the remainder of the current fiscal year. The measure was approved by voice vote. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (La.) said, “Preventing any potential lapse in our veterans’ benefits remains a top priority for Congress. Our veterans earned these benefits through their unwavering service and sacrifice, and they should never be jeopardized because of this Administration’s negligence.” Rep. Mike Garcia said, “Thankfully, the House came together in a rare moment of bipartisanship to pass my bill that prevents this disaster and demands accountability with real oversight to ensure every dollar is spent properly.” The legislation now heads to the Senate for immediate consideration ahead of Friday, September 20th, to ensure the timely delivery of reliable benefits for veterans and their families. The bill has been agreed upon by key legislators in both the House and Senate and is expected to pass the Senate easily. The FRA thanks its members for contacting their legislators through the FRA Action Center on this critical funding issue. Your efforts helped move this bill forward. Read more @ bit.ly/47AsVST

Congress Must Provide Supplemental Funding to VA On July 15, 2024, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials informed Congress that the department requires an additional $3 billion in funding to support veterans’ pensions and benefits for the remaining months of the current fiscal year. The FRA signed a letter with several other organizations to key legislators urging Congress to immediately provide additional funding to the VA for this fiscal year. Unless Congress approves this necessary funding by September 20, roughly seven million veterans and their beneficiaries may not receive VA disability compensation and other benefits. Although the FRA supports efforts to ensure accountability for the use of VA funds, these shortfalls are not the fault of our veterans and their families, who have given so much to our country. They should not be asked to bear further burdens, such as delayed benefits and inadequate medical care, due to funding challenges. We urge members to use the Action Center to ask Congress to act swiftly to approve the necessary funding so that there is no gap in either benefits or needed health care. Link to Action Center Read more @ bit.ly/4emTxIS

Put Concurrent Receipt in Senate NDAA Congress will be back in session next week, and we need your help now at this critical stage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) process to end an unjust pay offset—one that costs tens of thousands of injured veterans a dollar of DoD retirement pay for every dollar of VA disability compensation. More than three-quarters of lawmakers have co-sponsored the Major Richard Star Act, a concurrent receipt reform bill. However, funding concerns and budgetary rules have so far prevented it from advancing as an amendment to the must-pass NDAA. Please ask your Senators to support a Senate floor amendment to include concurrent receipt reform in this year’s NDAA. With 74 Senators in support of the Major Richard Star Act, it deserves a vote. Please use the FRA Action Center to weigh in on this issue at: https://lnkd.in/eV9cP5Ts Read more @ bit.ly/3XmOnGi

Ask for Concurrent Receipt in Senate NDAA We need your help now at this critical stage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) process to end an unjust pay offset, one that costs tens of thousands of injured veterans a dollar of DoD-earned retirement pay for every dollar of VA disability compensation. More than three-quarters of lawmakers have co-sponsored this concurrent receipt bill (the Major Richard Star Act), but funding concerns and budgetary rules have so far kept it from moving forward as an amendment to the must-pass NDAA. Please ask your Senators to support a Senate floor amendment to include concurrent receipt reform in the NDAA this year. With 74 Senators in support of the Major Richard Star Act, it deserves a vote. Please use the FRA Action Center to weigh in on this issue at: https://lnkd.in/eV9cP5Ts. Read more @ bit.ly/3YVpSSI

FRA is proud to sponsor the MCPON Concert at the Avenue at the Navy Memorial! 🎶 As we gear up for our centennial celebration this November, we’re honored to continue our long-standing tradition of supporting the Navy and its dedicated service members. Here’s to 100 years of commitment, camaraderie, and community! 🇺🇸 #FRACentennial #NavyStrong #MCPONConcert

VA Website, Call Center to Protect Veterans from Fraud and Scams The Department of Veterans Affairs announced the launch of VSAFE.gov and 1-833-38V-SAFE (1-833-388-7233) – a new government-wide website and call center designed to protect veterans, service members, and their families from fraud and scams. These new resources will help inform veterans and their families of common fraud schemes, provide them with tools to protect themselves, and offer an outlet for reporting and further assistance. The call center and website combine resources from the Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of State, Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, and the Office of Management & Budget to ensure there is no “wrong door” approach for veterans and service members to access reporting tools and resources to combat fraud. Fraud prevention resources are particularly critical at a time when the VA is delivering more care and more benefits to more veterans than ever before under the PACT Act, which was signed into law two years ago. This influx of new benefits may make veterans, service members, and their families targets for bad actors. Additionally, the VA is sending cease-and-desist letters to predatory actors, conducting public outreach to educate veterans about the risks, launching this new one-stop-shop resource page for veterans, creating a veteran fraud protection resource kit, and more. All veterans, service members, and their families are encouraged to visit VSAFE.gov to learn more and find out what to do if they experience fraud. Read more @ bit.ly/4dNrFNN

FRA Headquarters is Moving! On August 29, 2024, FRA HQ will be moving to its new home. As you know, moving is not a one-day affair but, in fact, a process that takes a few weeks. Between now and move-day, we will attempt to keep things as normal as possible. Membership will still be answering the phones, emails will continue to be received and responded to, and correspondence will continue to be opened. However, some tasks may take a little longer than usual to complete as we prepare for the move. There will be hiccups, and we ask for your patience during this time. Some of our IT processes are already in the cloud, while others will be down for a few days. We will need to shut down servers, move them, and then bring them back online. We will be offline from August 28 through September 3, 2024. Our goal is to minimize the amount of time that systems, including the phone system, will be out of order. (Our phone numbers will remain the same.) Finally, if you are sending us correspondence after August 23, 2024, please use our new address: Fleet Reserve Association 1600 Duke Street Suite 300 Alexandria, VA 22314 Read more @ bit.ly/46G5gji