NOTICE: There will be no regular chapter or auxiliary meeting this month; instead we will be having our Annual Christmas Dinner on Saturday, December 21 at the Golden Corral:

Location: 

9111 N. Loop 1604 West, San Antonio, TX

Located off Loop 1604 W and Bandera Road

Time: Event starts at 2:00PM

Chapter will pay for member & spouse only. If additional guests come with you, their meals must be paid for prior to seating. There will be a chapter officer at the entrance to sign you and your spouse in and give you a ticket so you wont be charged at the register.

If you have any questions please call me at 210-382-1451

Thank you all and if I don't see you there have a Very Merry Christmas & a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Next scheduled chapter and auxiliary meetings will be on     January 18th, 2014.

Meeting location: 

Rolling Oaks Christian Church

7150 Stahl Rd. San Antonio, TX

Time:

Doors open at 9:30am for coffee, signing in and seating.

Meetings normally begin at 10:00AM  

Duke Hendershot, Adjutant Alamo Chapter 5

ADJUTANT

	DAV Statement on the Budget Agreement December 19, 2013

To avoid another government shutdown in January, the House and Senate reached a bipartisan budget agreement last week covering both fiscal years 2014 and 2015. At that time, both the Senate and House Budget Committees stated that the agreement contained no provisions detrimental to disabled veterans. However, it is now evident that enactment of this agreement would cut future cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for military retirement pay received by veterans who retired due to medical reasons, including those who suffered combat wounds. This reduction of the military retirement COLA could shrink payments to disabled veterans by hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade.
DAV is extremely disappointed to learn that this unconscionable policy is contained in the budget agreement that passed the Senate December 18, and we urge Congress to immediately repeal this unacceptable provision. Cutting benefits for medically retired veterans in order to reduce the deficit would be a major betrayal of those who have sacrificed so much for their country.
We do note that the budget agreement does not make any reductions in benefits paid to veterans by the Department of Veterans Affairs, including disability compensation payments. The full COLA for veterans benefits approved by Congress last month will not be reduced by this agreement.
However, working-age military retirees, if retired based on longevity or medically retired, would see their retirement pay increase at a slower pace than they would have received otherwise, one percent less, until they reach the age of 62, at which time these payments would revert to normal cost-of-living increases pegged to the full rate of inflation, assuming no other change in law. The reduction in COLA will not become fully effective until the end of 2015.
DAV urges Congress to take swift action to repeal any cuts to military retirement pay for veterans who are medically retired.