“Finish Strong:” Highlights from Connecticut Delegation Meetings

VFW National Legislative Committee members Bob Hunter from Connecticut and Christian Kulikoski from Massachusetts met with Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., as part of last week’s Capitol Hill visits, telling the 112th Congress to “Finish Strong For Veterans.”

Hunter and Kulikoski spent the day highlighting the VFW's priorities and outstanding issues to members of the Connecticut congressional delegation. Kulikoski, who also serves as a Massachusetts VFW Department Service Officer, was well-versed in health care and benefits delivery, and highlighted the hot-button issues such as stopping DoD efforts to increase TRICARE fees and copays, ensuring the successful implementation of the Veterans Benefit Management System, or VBMS, and providing more resources to deliver educational benefits.

Hunter, who serves as the VFW Legislative Chairman for Connecticut, punctuated the issues by highlighting DoD's reallocation of nearly three billion dollars over the past three years from TRICARE to fund other DoD programs. He also encouraged his members on Congress to seriously consider giving VA the tools to continuously improve their business processes, while dealing with the disability claims backlog. Both committee members discussed the alarming 18-percent rise in veteran suicides over the past year, and all members of the Connecticut delegation agreed more effort must be directed to curbing the losses of our comrades when they return home.

Hunter also discussed VFW’s progress locally, seeking to shut down predatory non-profit organizations claiming to serve veterans. The VFW in Connecticut learned that one such organization was doing little more than raising money for their benefit, while only disbursing meager amounts of aide to veterans in need.

Blumenthal, who is working closely with the VFW Department of Connecticut to spearhead this fight, let Hunter know that VA has begun to aggressively reassess those organizations listed as “trusted entities” providing additional help and services to veterans. He went on to say that the organization in question has since been removed from VA's list of trusted organizations.

Last week, VFW advocates were out in force on Capitol Hill, meeting with nearly every Congressional office, highlighting VFW’s outstanding issues for the 112th Congress. To learn more about the VFW’s priorities from last week’s legislative visits, click here, and check back regularly for highlights of how our advocates told Congress to “Finish Strong For Veterans.”

(Image: Top: VFW Legislative Committee members Bob Hunter, left, and Christian Kulikoski, right, meet with Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., during last week's legislative conference. Bottom: Hunter and his wife, Lynn, meet with Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. Photos courtesy of Bob Hunter.)

“Finish Strong:” Florida VFW Discusses Sequestration During Hill Visits

Over the last two days, VFW National Legislative Committee members from Florida met with their congressional delegation to discussing VFW’s outstanding legislative issues, and asking the 112th Congress to “Finish Strong For Veterans.” Here are some highlights from their visits:

VFW Department of Florida Past Commanders Mike White and Bob Shepard, and National Legislative Committee Chairman Lee F. Kichen discussed sequestration on the national defense budget with Rep. Allen West, R-Fla. West shared the VFW’s concerns about the impact of force reductions, cuts to quality-of-life programs, and how they would affect military personnel and their families. The Florida Legislative Team agreed that the Army would not be robust enough to effectively challenge future adversaries, if deep defense cuts were allowed to take effect.

The VFW Florida Legislative Team also discussed the implications of sequestration budget cuts on active duty service members and their families with Drew Wyatt Shoemaker, legislative assistant to Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla.

Shepard and Kichen then discussed the VFW's goal to extend tax credits for businesses to employ veterans with Jeff Fatora, military legislative associate for Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. VFW advocates have been storming the halls of Congress over the last two days as part of the VFW’s fall legislative conference.

The conference draws to a close tomorrow, at which time VFW advocates will have met with every Congressional office on Capitol Hill. To learn more about the VFW’s priorities for our fall legislative visits, click here, and check back regularly for updates, as our advocates tell Congress to “Finish Strong For Veterans.”

(Images: Top: The Florida Legislative Team meets with Rep. Allen West to discuss sequestration. Bottom: The team also met with staff for Rep. Tom Rooney to discuss concerns over potential defense cuts. Photos courtesy of Lee F. Kichen.)

VFW Joins House VA Committee Republican Roundtable

House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., hosted a roundtable discussion this morning with Republican committee leadership and leading veterans’ advocates in the committee’s chambers of the Cannon House Office Building. VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci was on hand to discuss a series of persistent veterans’ issues like mental health care, employment, and looming budget concerns.

Miller decided to host the roundtable as a way to evaluate progress over the 112th Congress, identify shortfalls in meeting the needs of veterans, and candidly discussing potential new ideas to ensure veterans receive the care and benefits to which they are entitled.

The morning’s discussion took place just as the VFW National Legislative Committee converged on Washington, asking Congress to “Finish Strong For Veterans,” by enacting meaningful legislation, providing oversight, and applying pressure on federal agencies to better serve the veterans’ community. This week, VFW advocates will visit every Congressional office discuss VFW’s outstanding issues for the 112th Congress relating to benefits delivery, health care, budget concerns, and education and employment. To learn more about these issues, click here.

Gallucci reiterated the VFW’s “Finish Strong For Veterans” message, encouraging Congress to pass bills like the H.R. 4057 to improve consumer information for student-veterans; provide oversight to ensure the military’s new transition assistance program, or TAP, provides relevant resources to transitioning service members; ensure VA can meet its mental health staffing requirements; and apply pressure to VA and the Administration to define “administrative accounts” potentially affected by mandatory sequestration budget cuts.

Chairman Miller also took the opportunity to candidly discuss a controversial proposal from Republican leaders designed to help veterans receive timely mental health care from TRICARE providers, paid for by VA. The idea comes on the heels of ongoing military and veteran suicide concerns, and reports that VA cannot meet the demand to deliver mental health care in a timely manner.

Veterans’ advocates expressed concern about how the proposal could not only increase care costs for VA, but could create more bureaucratic problems for veterans seeking care outside the VA system.

Gallucci explained that many times veterans cannot receive timely mental health care from VA because they never actively enrolled in the VA health care system before reaching out for help. If veterans sought out emergency care from TRICARE providers on the economy, Gallucci explained that they could be left with a hefty bill for services, and face additional bureaucratic hurdles when they seek reimbursement from VA.

Chairman Miller explained that the concept was designed to ensure veterans who need mental health care can find somewhere to go as a stop-gap measure, and ensured the veterans’ community that his committee would flesh out exactly how such a system could efficiently deliver care.

Other discussion topics this morning included alternative treatments for traumatic brain injury like hypobaric oxygen therapy, persistent processing delays for Post-9/11 G.I. Bill recipients, the effectiveness of peer-to-peer counseling for mental health issues, and empowering employers to find potential veteran employees.

(Image: VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci discusses VFW's call for Congress to "Finish Strong For Veterans" in the 112th Congress. Photo courtesy of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.)

"Finish Strong:" VFW Leaders Converge on Washington to Advocate for Veterans

This morning the VFW kicked off its fall legislative conference, telling the 112th Congress to “Finish Strong For Veterans.”

VFW National Legislative Director Ray Kelley briefed all 70 members of the VFW’s National Legislative Committee this morning at the Hilton Crystal City in Arlington, Va., outlining the VFW’s expectations for Congress and outstanding issues from the last two years.

Armed with the VFW’s “Finish Strong For Veterans” brochure, explaining each outstanding issue, VFW National Legislative Committee members are now scheduled to meet with every Congressional and Senate office over the next three days, calling on Congress to act before the end of the current term.

To learn more about the fall conference and VFW’s outstanding legislative issues, click here.

The VFW Capitol Hill blog will follow legislative committee members around to their meetings, posting photos and highlights as they are available. Check back regularly over the next three days for updates.

(Image: VFW National Legislative Director Ray Kelley briefs VFW National Legislative Committee members as this week's conference kicked off. Photo by Bob Hunter.)

VFW Touches Down in Tampa for GOP Convention

VFW legislative staff landed safely in Tampa, Fla., yesterday to carry the voice of 22 million veterans and 2.3 million service members to the 2012 Republication National Convention. VFW National Legislative Director Ray Kelley and VFW Senior Legislative Associate Shane Barker will be on hand all week, listening to keynote speakers and speaking directly with GOP leadership on issues concerning veterans, service members and their families.

These issues include improving military and VA mental and behavioral health treatment options; streamlining VA’s benefits delivery system to ensure swift and accurate claims-processing; fostering service member success after service through education, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities; and preserving military and veterans’ benefits programs during a time of budget constraints. To learn about each of these issues in detail, and to read VFW’s proposed solutions, click here.

Your VFW will also be on hand next week in Charlotte, N.C., for the Democratic National Convention, continuing the long-standing VFW tradition of ensuring candidates for the highest office in the land fully understand the needs and concerns of our nation’s diverse veterans’ and military communities.

Once the conventions conclude, VFW’s work will not stop, as delegates from the VFW National Legislative Committee will report to Capitol Hill to meet with every House and Senate office, pushing Congress to “Finish Strong For Veterans” by passing comprehensive veterans’ legislation before the end of the 112th Congress.

VFW advocates participating in both the Republican and Democratic national conventions will file regular reports on this blog, bringing you up-to-date information on how each party plans to meet the needs of all generations of our nation’s veterans. Check back regularly over the next two weeks for updates from Tampa and Charlotte.