WASHINGTON, D.C. (Task & Purpose) — A top Department of Veterans Affairs official said the VA has no plans to implement a new rule that veterans advocates fiercely resisted when it was announced last week.
“Our intentions were to put out a rule, which we thought would clarify our processes,” VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence said on Sunday while addressing a conference held by Disabled American Veterans, or DAV. “But obviously, it did not. So we withdrew the rule. And candidly, we have no intention of ever doing anything or talking about it ever again.”
It was not immediately clear whether Lawrence’s comments indicate that the VA intends to fully rescind the rule, which has not been formally revoked. VA Secretary Doug Collins announced on Feb. 19 that the rule “will not be enforced at any time in the future,” but he did not specify if the move was permanent. Collins added that the VA will continue to collect public comments on the rule.
A wide spectrum of veterans service organizations criticized the VA last week over the interim rule, under which the VA would have considered the effectiveness of medications and treatment when assigning disability ratings.
“If medication or treatment lowers the level of disability, the rating will be based on that lowered disability level,” according to the rule.
First published in the Federal Register on Feb. 17, the rule is technically still on the books for now, even though the VA has chosen not to enforce it, said Anthony Kuhn, a managing partner at the Tully Rinckey law firm.
“They’ve essentially frozen the rule, but they’ve already enacted it,” Kuhn told Task & Purpose. “It is an enacted rule. But they’re not enforcing it right now. So, they’ve opened it up for comments. I think they immediately received more than 10,000 comments. Once the comment period closes out, they’ll go back and determine whether they’re going to continue the rule or whether they’re going to revoke it.”
Kuhn said he expects the VA to ultimately revoke the rule at the end of the comment period on April 20 or as the result of a future lawsuit.
VA spokesman Pete Kasperowicz said last week that the department had been determining ratings this way since 1958 and the rule “will have no impact on any veteran’s current disability rating.”
