"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.)

Post Reports That Pentagon Fudged TRICARE Numbers

The Washington Post reported this week that the Department of Defense has requested nearly $3 billion over the last three years be moved from funds dedicated to TRICARE into weapons programs and other accounts unrelated to healthcare, despite assurances from Pentagon officials that healthcare costs were "eating the U.S. military alive."

According to a report on the FY2013 Defense Appropriations Act provided by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, the Pentagon reprogrammed $1.36 billion dollars from TRICARE in fiscal year 2011, $772 million in fiscal year 2010, and requested an additional $708 million to reprogram from this year's budget.

This reprogramming has been happening at a time that the VFW has worked tirelessly to prevent the Pentagon from arbitrarily raising TRICARE copayments, adding and expanding fees, and tying increases to medical inflation; while retiree health costs are rising at an average rate of 2.6 percent.

"The VFW is adamant that the Pentagon must not be allowed to pull this bait-and-switch on Congress and TRICARE beneficiaries," said VFW Executive Director Bob Wallace. "Instead, the Pentagon must improve its budget and management controls so Congress can have an accurate view of the fiscal situation within TRICARE and the entire Military Health System before shifting responsibility to those who choose to wear the uniform to pay for their own health care."

Your VFW has been one of the few veterans' organizations in Washington fighting to prevent any increases in military health care premiums, encouraging Washington bureaucrats to do the hard work of generating a more cost-effective military, without jeopardizing the welfare of military families and breaking faith with military retirees.

VFW advocacy efforts earlier this year successfully fought off TRICARE fee increases, and in light of this recent report, the VFW intends only to ratchet up the pressure.

To make your voice heard on TRICARE fees, click here, and check back regularly with this blog for updates.

To read the full Senate report, click here. Details on health care reprogramming can be found on p. 228. 

Veterans' Benefits Bill Passes House; Awaits President's Signature

Last night the House passed a comprehensive veterans' benefits bill that now awaits the president's signature. VFW leaders applauded the bill's passage as a major victory for veterans.

"The VFW has waited nearly two years for a comprehensive veterans’ benefits bill to make it through Congress, and we commend legislators on both sides of the aisle for demonstrating their continued support to our nation's veterans," said VFW Executive Director Bob Wallace. "The issues addressed in this bill demanded critical attention and difficult decision-making from our legislators, which is why we applaud the leaders in both the House and Senate who refused to let these ideas die in committee."

The bill was packaged as H.R. 1627, the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act, and includes more than 54 provisions designed to improve or streamline veterans' benefit programs that have moved through the House and Senate over the last two years. The bill also offers VA healthcare to veterans, employees and military family members exposed to toxic water at Camp Lejeune between Jan. 1, 1957 and Dec. 31, 1987, finally resolving a years-long dispute over how to best care for victims of the exposure.

Language for the omnibus bill was agreed upon in late June by legislators in both the House and Senate. The Senate passed its version of the bill on Wednesday, July 18, shortly before the VFW convened for the 113th national convention in Reno.

Among the bill's key provisions supported by the VFW are enhancements to VA's ability to deliver telehealth consultations to remote-located veterans; expanding services for victims of traumatic brain injury, or TBI; protecting veterans against sexual assault at VA facilities; and reauthorizing and expanding certain homeless veterans' programs.

To read more about the bill and the VFW's work advancing the bill though the Senate and ways to become involved in the legislative process, click here.

As this blog explained two weeks ago, the omnibus bill also includes provisions designed to streamline disability claims processing by adapting VA's duty to assist veterans in obtaining private medical evidence to support their disability claims.

The VFW voiced concerns over these two provisions before the House VA Committee last year, offering specific recommendations on how to best implement changes. Though the original legislation contained suitable language, the final version reverted to language that the VFW believes could prevent some veterans from receiving the maximum disability benefits to which they may be entitled.

To read VFW's original testimony on proposed duty-to-assist changes, click here.

However, VFW advocates in Washington believed that the omnibus bill contained too many critical provisions to help veterans, and encouraged the House to pass it, despite minor concerns over duty-to-assist. Instead, the VFW has already reached out to key staff on Capitol Hill to ensure discrepancies in the duty-to-assist process will be addressed quickly in the next Congressional term.

Your VFW will continue to fight to preserve and improve veterans' benefits programs, and the VFW urges the president to sign the veterans' omnibus bill in short order. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.

Senate Passes Camp Lejeune Treatment Resolution as Part of Veterans' Omnibus

This week the Senate moved forward on a veterans' benefits omnibus bill, the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act, which will finally offer care to veterans and family members exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

The bill clarifies that veterans and family members stationed or working at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days between Jan. 1, 1957 and Dec. 31, 1987 who developed health conditions consistent with exposure to toxic water will be eligible to receive VA health care for the resultant conditions.

Before the Fourth of July recess, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., placed a hold on the bill when the Senate sought to hotline it for passage, voicing concerns about potential fraud within the system that could divert resources away from other veterans who need them.

The VFW Action Corps and National Legislative Committee quickly sprang into action, with advocates in South Carolina reaching out directly to DeMint to explain the VFW's stance on the bill.

After speaking to the Action Corps, DeMint recognized why the bill was a responsible solution for affected veterans and family members, and this morning, he praised it on the Senate floor.

Language for the omnibus bill was agreed upon in late June by legislators in both the House and Senate. With this afternoon’s passage in the Senate, the House will now be able to vote on a final package.

The compromise language on Camp Lejeune was packaged with H.R. 1627, a 2011 veterans' benefits omnibus bill that already passed in the House and includes more than 50 provisions to better serve veterans; many of which the VFW has testified in support of over the last two years.

Highlights of the bill include:

• Extending hospital care and medical services coverage for certain illnesses and conditions to eligible veterans and family members who served on active duty or lived at Camp Lejeune.
• Authorizing VA to waive co-payments for telehealth and enhancing VA’s teleconsultation and telemedicine capabilities
• Protecting veterans from sexual assault at VA facilities
• Expanding services for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury, or TBI
• Allowing veterans with service dogs access to all VA facilities
• Expanding travel reimbursement for veterans in highly rural areas and improving reimbursement for state veterans homes 
• Enhancing specially adapted housing programs for disabled veterans
• Commissioning annual reports to Congress on the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill 
• Reauthorizing certain homeless veterans programs and expanding eligibility for shelter services, allowing homeless veterans who are not mentally ill to take advantage of the services

The bill also includes provisions designed to streamline disability claims processing by clarifying VA's duty to assist veterans in obtaining private medical records and allowing VA to contact veterans electronically to adjudicate claims. 

The VFW voiced concerns over these two provisions before the House VA Committee last year, offering specific recommendations on how to best implement changes. VFW National Veterans Service staff are reviewing the specific language in the new veterans' omnibus to ensure duty-to-assist and electronic notification provisions meet our organization's standards. VFW staff will then make recommendations to the House on how to proceed with these specific provisions.

Check back regularly with this blog for updates as the 2012 veterans benefits omnibus package moves through Congress.

To learn how you can make a difference with your legislators, receive the Washington Weekly eNewsletter and other legislative priority alerts, sign up to be a member of the VFW Action Corps by clicking here. 

VFW Calls For International Treaty for Disablity Rights

Your VFW was on hand yesterday morning for a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hear testimony from U.S. State Department officials, senators, and others in support of Senate ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, or CRPD.

“As evidenced today by all who spoke in favor of ratification, disabled veterans face pretty steep challenges in other countries across the world when it comes to accessibility or securing a job,” said VFW Senior Legislative Associate Shane Barker. Barker went on to stress the importance of the convention because it “espouses the inherent dignity of all people, including veterans, and the conviction that we should work to include disabled men and women in all facets of societies across the world.”

After the hearing, Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., hosted a press conference to highlight the importance of this convention, where VFW Legislative Director Ray Kelley offered words of support. Kelley reminded the audience of the sacrifices veterans have made not only for Americans, but for the numerous countries on behalf of which we have fought. Kelley also spoke about how future generations would be led by today’s veterans, stressing the importance of those men and women being able to visit, learn, and work in other countries as they see fit. Ratifying the CRPD is vital to such goals, and that is why the VFW has led the charge within the disability community to ensure Senate ratification, he said.

Because America has long been a global leader in disability rights, CRPD will require no financial cost and no changes to domestic law. According to the State Department, it provides no right of action by any party – individual or group – for legal recourse in the courts, and could be an economic boon for American companies providing consultation or construction opportunities overseas. For more information on the treaty, visit the U.S. International Council on Disabilities by clicking here.

(Image: VFW Legislative Director Ray Kelley discusses CRPD alongside Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and advocates for people with disabilities and veterans. Photo by Shane Barker.)

House Passes VFW-supported Bill to Protect TSA's Guard and Reserve Employees

This week, your VFW is one step closer to better protecting the reemployment rights of Guard and Reservists who are employed at the Transportation Security Administration, which was exempt from complying with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act when it was created in the aftermath of 9/11.

On Wednesday evening, retired Army National Guard sergeant major and now Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., spoke passionately on the House floor in favor of his bill, H.R. 3670, which would close the USERRA loophole at TSA, and bring the agency into compliance with every other public and private employer that employs America's citizen-soldiers. His bill quickly passed, which now means that moving its companion bill, S. 1990, through the Senate floor is the final step. S. 1990 was introduced by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.

"VFW became aware of a little-known loophole last September that allowed TSA to be exempt from USERRA," said VFW legislative associate Daniel Elkins, who helped to introduce and muster support for the bill.

After considerable research, the VFW approached Walz to introduce a bill to close the loophole, and after months of work pushing others to support it, “we can all stand proud knowing that we're now just one step away in the Senate from accomplishing our goal,” said Elkins, who currently serves in the Army National Guard. "I encourage all VFW members and advocates to urge their senators to support S. 1990. We are within an arm's reach of changing the face of TSA for the better, to ensure all service members receive fair treatment in the workplace."

To contact your senators to support S. 1990, click here.

Your VFW will keep you posted on the progress on our efforts to closer TSA's USERRA loophole. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.

Below is Walz's floor speech on H.R. 3670, broadcast on C-SPAN:

Watch Live: Senate Hosts Hearing on Vets' Mental Health Care

UPDATE: The archived webcast from yesterday's hearing is now available on the Senate VA Committee's Web site. To view a full list of witnesses, read their prepared remarks, and view the archived webcast, click here. 

This morning the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee will host a hearing to evaluate the ease-of-access for veterans seeking mental health care at VA facilities. The hearing comes in the wake of an alarming report from the VA's Office of the Inspector General, indicating that VA may have misled Congress and the veterans' community on how it ensured prompt access to care for veterans seeking treatment for mental health conditions.

Your VFW will be on hand when the hearing is scheduled to commence at 9:30 a.m. in Senate Dirksen Office Building room 138. To view a live webcast of the hearing on the committee's home page, click here.

VA policy dictates that veterans who seek treatment for mental health must be seen with 14 days of requesting treatment. However, the report, which can be read here, claims that VA misrepresented how it tracked whether or not veterans received treatment in a timely manner, many times only starting the 14-day clock from the earliest date on which a veteran physically entered a VA facility for treatment.

For example, if a veteran were to contact VA on April 1 to seek treatment, VA could offer an appointment date on April 16. If the veteran accepted the April 16 appointment and was actually treated in a VA clinic on April 16, VA would report that the veteran waited zero days for his or her treatment, as opposed to the actual 15-day waiting period.

As a result, OIG determined that VA's reports on wait times and treatments were neither accurate nor reliable, and called on the VA Undersecretary of Health to revise policies to clarify how patient scheduling and treatment should be tracked and identify staffing shortfalls that may impede timely treatment.

Senate VA Committee Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash.,  and Ranking Member Richard Burr, R-S.C., called for the IG report. The results come less than a week after VA pledged to hire an additional 1,900 mental health care personnel to include marriage and family therapists and licensed professional mental health counselors.

VFW leaders were disturbed at the report that VA may have misled the public and the veterans’ community on how it delivers mental health care. Your VFW will continue to keep its finger on the pulse of this critical issue, putting pressure on VA officials and leaders in Congress to take decisive action. Check back regularly for updates.

Field Report: Sen. McCain Visits Ohio VFW to Support Local Veteran

On Monday, Sen. John McCain spoke at VFW Hilliard Memorial Post 4931 in Colombus, Ohio, voicing his support for a local veteran, Josh Mandel, who hopes to represent Ohio in the United States Senate.

Mandel, a Marine Corps reservist who served two tours in Iraq, currently serves as the Ohio State Treasurer and is running as the endorsed Republican candidate against incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

Post Commander Charles Adkins, Jr., had the honor of welcoming and leading all in the pledge of allegiance prior to the comments of the invited speakers.

Though the VFW is prohibited from endorsing specific candidates, the VFW has a long tradition of encouraging its members to actively engage in the political discourse and encouraging posts to open their doors to hear directly from political candidates on veterans' issues. McCain's visit to speak alongside Mandel is just another example of how the VFW can foster constructive political discourse among candidates.

To submit your Field Reports for consideration on the VFW’s Capitol Hill blog, simply fill out our online form here, or send photos and stories directly to vfwac@vfw.org. Information for this story was provided by Ohio VFW Legislative Chairman Larry Moore.

VFW Action Sparks Legislation to Better Serve Student-Veterans

This morning Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., introduced the "GI Education Equity Act of 2012," a bipartisan bill to help ensure student-veterans have access to quality educational counseling before tapping into their G.I. Bill benefits, and a clear method of recourse should student-veterans feel they have become victims of fraud, waste or abuse.

The bill reflects the two main tenets of a letter VFW sent to House, Senate and Obama Administration leadership, calling for improved consumer education and recourse mechanisms for student-veterans, and signed by a diverse coalition of veterans' education stakeholders, including veterans' advocates and both for-profit and non-profit education advocates. To read Lautenberg's bill, click here. To read the coalition letter, click here.

“The Post-9/11 G.I. Bill could be the transformative benefit for today’s service members and veterans, but the VFW believes that we must ensure that our veterans have all the tools they need to succeed in higher education. This bill will do just that,” said VFW Executive Director Bob Wallace in a statement issued by Lautenberg's office this morning. “Through just a few simple steps, we can ensure that student-veterans are armed with the best information to make an academic choice, and that they can take action when a school doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain. This bipartisan bill presents some common sense, easy-to-implement solutions that will help our student-veterans succeed in higher education without restricting their choice of schools or placing unreasonable burdens on campuses that open their doors to student-veterans.”

After a recent Senate investigation implied waste within the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, and both the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees offered several proposals to scale back the benefit, the VFW sought to learn more about how veterans were making their educational decisions. All indicators led VFW to conclude that veterans were never properly informed of their benefits, despite programs within DOD and VA designed to do just that.

Under Chapter 36 of the G.I. Bill, VA is obligated to make educational and vocational counseling available to service members, potential student-veterans, and dependents eligible for any chapter of the G.I. Bill. Unfortunately, very few student-veterans are aware that this benefit exists, and even fewer choose to take advantage of it. In its current form, veterans must first discover that such counseling is available, fill out the requisite paperwork, mail it to their nearest VA regional office and wait for a response. This labor-intensive “opt-in” process resulted in only 6,400 veterans receiving counseling in 2011, compared to more than 800,000 veterans utilizing G.I. Bill benefits.

Lautenberg's bill mandates that VA actively contact veterans eligible for G.I. Bill counseling, asking those who wish to waive the benefit to “opt-out.” On the back end, VA must leverage its resources to create a formal, complaint process to address student-veteran issues, allowing VA and other agencies responsible for student-veteran programs to take action and audit findings. The legislation is co-sponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Scott Brown, R-Mass., Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

Lautenberg's bill is similar to a House bill recently introduced by Rep. Gus Bilrakis, R-Fla., the "Improving Transparency of Education Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2012," which VFW supported in testimony before the House last week. Bilrakis' bill orders VA to develop a plan to deliver comprehensive consumer education and formally track complaints. Lautenberg's bill lays out how the Senate wants VA to deliver such counseling. To read VFW's testimony, click here. To read Bilrakis' bill, click here.

The VFW hopes both bills will gain momentum in their respective chambers, resulting in a responsible compromise piece of legislation that will help student-veterans make a responsible choice in higher education without limiting access to certain kinds of schools or placing new administrative burdens on academic institutions.