NEWS

UNION VETERANS COUNCIL SLAMS BILL THAT FUNDS EXPANDED VETERAN BENEFITS BY CUTTING SLEEP APNEA AND TINNITUS RATING COMPENSATIONS

Craig Romanovich
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO, issued a sharp condemnation of the newly introduced Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (TCAVA), warning that the legislation relies on an unconscionable budgetary trade-off. While the omnibus bill packages critical, labor-supported provisions like the Major Richard Star Act for concurrent receipt and the Love Lives On Act for surviving spouses, it offsets those costs by stripping billions of dollars from future disabled claimants by permanently slashing disability ratings for sleep apnea and tinnitus.

"Congress is playing a cynical shell game with our veterans," said Craig Romanovich, Executive Director of the Union Veterans Council. "The Major Richard Star Act should be passed as clean, standalone legislation. Instead, Washington is holding it hostage to force an austerity agenda that balances its books by picking the pockets of newly disabled service members. Just yesterday, delegates at the AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention passed Resolution 18: In Support of the VA Covenant, Protecting Veteran Benefits, and Safeguarding the Federal Workforce, drawing a hard line against corporate greed and the erosion of public infrastructure. We are carrying that exact mandate straight to Capitol Hill: tinnitus from the flight line and sleep apnea from toxic exposures are real injuries, and stripping their compensation to pay for other benefits is a direct betrayal of our country's obligation."

By bundling highly unpopular benefit rollbacks into the TCAVA, lawmakers are attempting to bypass the public rulemaking process and lock the following cuts directly into federal statute:

  • The Sleep Apnea Gutting: The bill eliminates the standard, stable 50% disability rating for veterans diagnosed with service-connected sleep apnea requiring a CPAP machine. Under the new rules, if a CPAP successfully manages symptoms, the rating can be slashed to 10% or 0%—penalizing veterans for medical compliance and stripping future claimants of over $1,000 a month in vital support.
  • The Elimination of Standalone Tinnitus Compensation: Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) is historically the most common service-connected disability. The TCAVA effectively erases the standard, standalone 10% disability rating for tinnitus, converting it into a mere symptom that can only be compensated if bundled into an underlying diagnosis like severe, measurable hearing loss.

The Union Veterans Council’s analysis further reveals that the bill lays the groundwork for a broader, structural assault on the public VA healthcare system and its unionized workforce:

  1. Locking in Permanent VA Privatization (Sec. 601 & 602): The bill codifies rigid wait-time metrics for the Community Care Program, creating a permanent statutory pipeline that funnels billions of taxpayer dollars out of direct VA facilities and into private, for-profit healthcare systems.
  2. Frameworks for Staff Layoffs (Sec. 642): In anticipation of hollowing out public facilities, the bill establishes formal guidelines for Reductions in Force (RIFs) within the VA, directly threatening the stable, union jobs of thousands of healthcare professionals and claims processors.
  3. Imposing Corporate Insurance Models (Sec. 674): The bill forces the VA to adopt managed-care and cost-containment frameworks modeled after commercial insurance and private TRICARE networks, prioritizing "budget neutrality" over veteran wellness.

"Our labor movement will not stand by while the public VA is hollowed out and turned into a corporate voucher system," Romanovich continued. "We demand that Congress pass a clean version of the Major Richard Star Act. We call on every member of the House and Senate to reject this omnibus trap, protect the union workers who care for our heroes, and defeat any legislation that funds veterans' benefits on the backs of those who served."

The Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO, brings together union veterans to fight for a strong VA, good-paying union jobs, and economic justice for working-class veterans and military families.