Blumenthal Raises Alarm Over New Trump Administration Rule to Slash Disability Ratings for Thousands of Veterans

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today raised alarm following the Trump Administration's new interim final rule at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that immediately changes how veteran disability ratings are evaluated. This will lower disability ratings and compensation awards for disabled veterans by not taking into account their baseline conditions.

"Each day, thousands of veterans take medications to cope and better control their service-connected conditions, or to reduce their symptoms. This new Trump Administration policy - aimed at tanking earned disability compensation for these veterans - appears ripped straight out of Project 2025. The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims recently ruled that a veteran's disability rating must be based on their worst day. That is how VA should accurately assess the true extent of a veteran's condition. This new Administration policy will do nothing but reduce the compensation veterans are due, and scare them into avoiding the life-improving medication they need - thereby posing an imminent risk to veterans' physical and mental health."

Blumenthal joined Veterans Service Organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Disabled American Veterans (DAV), in raising concerns over this rule.

Yesterday, VA published an interim final rule to change how veteran disability ratings are evaluated without the normal public comment period. This new rule reverses the previous standard established by the Ingram v. Collins court case issued in 2025, which required VA to discount the impact of medication when evaluating the severity of claims disability. Instead, the rule directs examiners to rate veterans' disabilities as they present and disregard the impact of medication. This requires VA to issue a lower disability ratings, despite evidence showing veterans meet the requirements for higher ratings.

Through Ingram v. Collins, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims required VA to discount the impact of medications when adjudicating claims for disabilities for which the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities does not explicitly mention medications. This applies to veterans who take maintenance medications for their disabilities. The VA rule prohibits medical examiners from estimating or discounting improvements to the disability due to the effects of medication or treatment.

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