Since James “Jim” Moylan’s first quarter as congressman, when compact impact funding was lost on his watch, his predecessor Michael San Nicolas has issued a number of public cautions about Guam’s Republican delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives: misleading talk, little substance. And while Mr. San Nicolas is not facing Mr. Moylan in the upcoming November election, the former Democrat delegate’s words are ringing, especially for journalists who should be scrutinizing what incumbents and candidates say and do.
In his race for voters to reelect him, Mr. Moylan is celebrating House passage of his H.R. 522, which would help service-impaired veterans with the cost of shipping an adaptive service car into Guam. There is no companion legislation in the Senate.
“Our office continues to identify and seek solutions to refine existing statutes which would ensure island residents can benefit from federal programs,” Mr. Moylan said in a news release in February 2023, when he introduced the house resolution. “The ‘Deliver for Veterans’ Act is one such option, and we will work towards the enactment of the legislation, which would assist many disabled veterans in Guam obtain reliable transportation”
As the old adage goes, ‘The devil is in the detail.’
H.R. 522 would do two things:
- Change the existing law that allows grants to qualified veterans to purchase adaptive vehicles (automobiles outfitted to assist certain disabled veterans to be able to operate the vehicle). The change would be that the federal government would pay for the shipping cost of that vehicle. Arguably, the change would impact veterans living outside the 50 states, where adaptive vehicles mainly are sold.
- Change the existing law on higher rates imposed on VA home loans, and extend those higher rates from its current expiration of November 15, 2031 by five days so that additional revenue can offset the anticipated costs of the adaptive vehicle shipping assistance.
BUT:
What is neither mentioned in Mr. Moylan’s legislation, nor in his public and campaign statements promoting the matter is that the shipping grant would be contingent on the price of the vehicle being less than $26,417.20, which is the inflation-adjusted cap (FY2025) amount under the current law, according to the Veterans Affairs Administration. This is according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of Mr. Moylan’s legislation.
And according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, $80,000 is the “possible cost of a new vehicle modified with adaptive equipment.”
“H.R. 522 would authorize VA to also include the cost of shipping to deliver the automobile to the veteran, subject to the maximum amount for such grants,” the CBO report states. Additionally, the CBO estimates the annual cost to the federal government for the shipping aid would be only $1 million for aid throughout the nation, demonstrating how little – if any – real support would be available to Guamanian veterans who might qualify based on their disabilities. At an estimated average shipping cost of $1,100, the CBO reported, that amounts to fewer than 1,000 adaptive vehicle purchases to be shipped annually to locations throughout the nation.
In order to pay for that $1 million every year for 12 years, the CBO reports that Mr. Moylan’s legislation would drive up the cost of homeownership for qualified veterans by $12 million nationwide in 2031.
“Under current law, the rates for most of the fees that borrowers pay to VA for loans guaranteed after November 15, 2031, will drop from a weighted average of about 2.4 percent to about 1.2 percent of the loan amount,” the CBO report states. “The bill would extend the higher rates through November 20, 2031, thereby reducing the subsidy cost of loans guaranteed during that period. Using information from VA, CBO estimates that extending the higher rates would decrease direct spending by $12 million over the 2024-2033 period.”