Concurrent Receipt Update

The EANGUS National Office understands that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has once again released its annual report regarding suggested methods to cut the Federal Budget deficit. This report is released annually, and some of the suggested methods to cut the deficit are concerning. In its 2017 report, CBO again identified that Congress could move to end concurrent receipt. Concurrent receipt affects retired Servicemembers who have a VA disability rating greater than 50 percent, and who are drawing full retirement pay. At present, concurrent receipt is unavailable for retired Servicemembers with less than 50 percent VA disability rating. Those retirees must choose between VA disability pay (which is tax free) or their retirement pay. If anything, the EANGUS National Office staff believe it more likely that the 115th Congress would expand concurrent receipt to cover those retired Servicemembers with a less than 50 percent disability rating. It would be political suicide for a member of the 115th Congress to take the CBO report and craft legislation to limit concurrent receipt in order to save Federal funds. The EANGUS National Office staff will continue to monitor this issue, and want our members to understand the extreme unlikelihood of cuts to concurrent receipt.