Veterans may be in line for a big cost-of-living boost in their benefits payouts starting in December thanks to legislation finalized by Congress on Monday.
Congress on Monday finalized legislation to give veterans the same cost-of-living increase in their benefits payouts that Social Security.
The legislation ties the cost-of-living boost for veterans benefits to the planned increase in Social Security benefits. Although the Social Security boost is automatic each year, lawmakers must approve the veterans benefits increase annually.
The COLA for December 1999 was originally determined as 2.4 percent based on CPIs published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Pursuant to Public Law 106-554, however, this COLA is effectively now 2.5 percent.
Source: MilitaryTimes.com
Historical Cost of Living Adjustments
” Any estimates are preliminary, and the actual COLA will depend on changes in prices between July and the end of September. “With one-third of the data needed to calculate the COLA already in, it increasingly appears that the COLA for 2022 will be the highest-paid since 1983 when it was 7.4 percent,” says Mary Johnson, Social Security policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League.” Source: AARP