On May 8, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee approved, by voice vote, the Ruth Moore Act of 2013 (H.R. 671). The House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs approved the bill on April 25 (see The Source, 4/26/13), and held a hearing on the legislation on April 16 (see The Source, 4/19/13).
Sponsored by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), the legislation would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to accept a veteran’s lay testimony of military sexual trauma (MST) as sufficient proof of the attack to approve a disability compensation claim for MST-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Current VA policy requires a veteran with MST-related PTSD to provide documented evidence of MST in order to file a claim for disability compensation.
The text of the bill is available here.
