HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EIGHTY-FIFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H. R. 72 A BILL TO AMEND SECTION 21 OF THE WORLD WAR VETERANS ACT, 1924, TO PROVIDE FOR THE DISPOSITION OF CERTAIN BENEFITS WHICH ARE UNPAID AT THE DEATH OF THE INTENDED BENEFICIARY 95196 JULY 25 AND 30, 1957 Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs Pages of all hearings are numbered cumulatively to permit a UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1957 1793, 1794, 1796-1799, 1801, 1803-1805, 1809, 1811, 1812, 1815, Abbott et al. v. Morgenthau, Secretary of Treasury et al Lindquist's Estate, In re (District Court of Appeals). Powers v. United States of America. United States v. Hall. United States v. Teller.. 1725-1732 1733-1735 1723-1725 Walton et al. v. Cotton_. Daley, T. F. (See Veterans' Administration.) Disabled American Veterans, letters from__ T. F. Daley, Associate General Counsel for Legislation. 1798, 1838, 1839 Meyer Lipps, Associate General Counsel for Legal Services Weaver, Hon. Phil Whitener, Hon. Basil L 1821-1823 1827, 1828, 1834, 1835 1796-1802, 1813, 1818-1821, 1827-1829, 1834, 1835, 1837, 1838 ESTATES OF INCOMPETENT VETERANS THURSDAY, JULY 25, 1957 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10 o'clock in room 356 Old House Office Building, the Honorable Olin E. Teague (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. The committee has for consideration H. R. 72, a bill to amend section 21 of the World War Veterans' Act, 1924, to provide for the disposition of certain benefits which are unpaid at the death of the intended beneficiary. Without objection, I shall insert in the record at this point the letter I addressed to all Members of the House inviting them to testify, together with H. R. 72 in the various forms which it has taken since introduction, VA regulations on apportionment, court decisions on this question, and correspondence with AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, and the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs. (The documents referred to follow :) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS, Washington, D. C., July 18, 1957. DEAR COLLEAGUE: On July 12, the House recommitted to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs for further study, H. R. 72, which sought to restrict the transfer of estates of incompetent veterans derived from compensation and pension to distant relatives of the veteran who would not have been eligible to receive benefits if the veteran had been killed in battle. With the view to providing such further study, I am scheduling hearings on this subject for Thursday, July 25, at 10 a. m., in the committee room, room 356, Old House Office Building. I am extending a general invitation to all Members who are interested in this problem to come before the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and let us have the benefit of their thinking on this question. I feel that it is particularly incumbent upon those who participated in the debate and who took exception to the approach of the committee to present their views. With much being said on both sides of the aisle about the need for Government economy, it seemed to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs when it reported H. R. 72 originally that here was a field in which a sizable savings could be accomplished without adversely affecting the rights of any veteran. No accurate estimate could be made as to the amount of actual savings which might accrue if restrictions were placed in this program. Suffice to say that the savings would be considerable probably running into millions of dollars. Under existing laws, payments are not made to brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, and nondependent parents of a veteran, either as death compensation or pension or as dependents of the veteran. Yet, these benefits are being permitted to pass to these classes of kinsmen through inheritance of estates of incompetent veterans where such estates are built by compensation 1717 |