Senator Says VA Needs to Halt Discrimination

Sen. Shaheen urges Veterans Affairs to halt “discriminatory policy” 
Metro Weekly
By Justin Snow
March 9, 2015

“No one who has served our country in uniform should be denied the benefits they’ve earned because of whom they love or where they live,” Shaheen said in a statement. “The VA should immediately halt enforcing this discriminatory policy until the Supreme Court or Congress acts to end it.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is urging the Department of Veterans Affairs to suspend a policy in which the department recoups benefits awarded to same-sex couples until the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on marriage equality later this year.

The letter comes after the American Military Partner Association (AMPA) drew attention to an incident involving a veteran who was forced to repay the federal government for benefits she received but was later declared ineligible for after moving to a state that did not recognize her marriage to another woman.

The New Hampshire Democrat wrote in a March 9 letter to Veteran Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald that a moratorium on collection efforts should be enacted until the Supreme Court issues a decision on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans, which is expected in June.

“I am hopeful that this issue will soon be addressed through either the legislative or judicial process,” Shaheen wrote, who has introduced legislation to legislation that would correct areas of federal law that continue to prevent the extension of benefits. “In the interim, I urge the Department to make every effort to mitigate the impact of this plainly discriminatory policy.”

Shaheen specifically mentions the case of Melissa Perkins-Fercha, an Iraq War veteran who received a 50 percent disability rating from the VA. Although the VA said she could not list her legally married wife and child as dependents because she lives in Texas, which does not recognize her marriage performed in Washington state, the VA failed to remove her wife and daughter from their system. That error resulted in Perkins-Fercha being compensated at the higher rate disabled veterans with dependents are entitled to, only for the VA to then remove her dependents and inform Perkins-Fercha that her disability compensation will be withheld until the compensation based on dependents is paid back.

“No one who has served our country in uniform should be denied the benefits they’ve earned because of whom they love or where they live,” Shaheen said in a statement. “The VA should immediately halt enforcing this discriminatory policy until the Supreme Court or Congress acts to end it.”
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