VFW Joins House Democrats for Veterans Roundtable

*UPDATE: The Office of Management and Budget announced this afternoon that all VA accounts and military personnel accounts would be exempt from budget sequestration. 

Yesterday the VFW joined House Democratic leadership and some of the nation’s other leading veterans’ advocates for a roundtable discussion on veterans’ issues. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has routinely hosted quarterly roundtables with the veterans’ community for the last few years, offering veterans’ advocates an opportunity to candidly discuss ways in which Congress could work to better serve our veterans.

 VFW Deputy Director Ryan Gallucci joined in the discussion, expressing the VFW’s frustration over looming sequestration cuts to the defense budget and administrative accounts for Veterans Affairs. Gallucci pointed out that while the Obama Administration had clarified that VA health care accounts were exempt from sequestration, experts had indicated that VA’s administrative accounts could be subject to cuts.

The veterans’ community has asked for clarification from Congress and the Administration as to what kinds of administrative accounts could be affected, pointing out that the timely delivery of other VA benefits, like disability compensation or the G.I. Bill, could be affected if the administrators of those benefits are forced to scale back their operations.

House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., tackled the issue by explaining that the Administration was scheduled to deliver their analysis of how sequestration would affect each agency, but that he and his fellow committee members were still searching for ways to avoid the looming 2013 deadline when across-the-board cuts would have to take place.

Other issues raised during the roundtable were the absence of advance appropriations in the VA budget continuing resolution currently before Congress, daunting unemployment numbers among Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans, and the persistent lack of mental health resources for veterans suffering from the invisible wounds of war.

Your VFW advocates have been working hard all week, asking the 112th Congress to “Finish Strong For Veterans.” In addition to the Democratic roundtable, VFW participated in a Republican veterans affairs roundtable on Tuesday, and members of the VFW National Legislative Committee hit the halls of Congress all week, pushing for solutions to issue related to the VA budget, employment and education, health care, and benefits delivery.

As Congress wraps up business leading into the election, check back regularly for updates.

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.)

VFW Joins Roundtable Discussion on Education

The VFW joined education industry experts, congressional staffers and veterans’ advocates from Student Veterans of America for a roundtable discussion on veterans’ education as part of the American Legion’s national convention in Indianapolis this week.

VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci was invited to participate in the roundtable discussion, alongside many signatories from a January letter to House and Senate leadership and the Obama Administration. Participants sought to identify issues faced by student-veterans pursuing an education with the Post-9/11 GI Bill in an effort to build consensus on how to improve educational decision-making for today’s veterans. Congressional offices sent staff to Indianapolis specifically to listen to the discussion.

The roundtable comes in the wake of a report from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that implied some schools were more interested in the guaranteed tuition aspect of enrolling GI Bill recipients than on the student-veteran’s academic career.

After analyzing the Senate report and reaching out to academia, VA officials and student-veterans, the VFW determined that what the report exposed was more the lack of information than any wrongdoing. Student-veterans were not receiving information prior to enrolling to help them make proper academic decisions based on career goals. And once enrolled, there was little information about alternatives should they become dissatisfied with their school or academic choice. In other words, they felt locked in once a choice was made, which might account for part of the dropout rate.

In his remarks, Gallucci focused on improving delivery of academic counseling resources VA is already supposed to offer to potential student-veterans, improving information flow to separating service members through the military’s transition assistance program, or TAP, and revisiting the role of State Approving Agencies, or SAAs, who serve as boots-on-the-ground to approve G.I. Bill education programs in each state.

Gallucci said that the VFW consistently hears from student-veterans who do not understand their benefits and have hit dead ends searching for reliable answers. Many point out that VA hotlines are ineffective and resources on the web are confusing. Gallucci drew on his own experiences navigating the G.I. Bill, explaining how student-veterans may not be receiving the best education for them because they are not armed with the right information.

Over the last year, the VFW has testified on this issue on multiple occasions, and successfully pushed for an executive order to improve information delivery to student-veterans. VFW has also helped to introduce legislation in both the House and Senate that would further improve consumer information and consumer protections for student-veterans.

From the roundtable, participants agreed that student-veteran advocates needed to refocus the discussion on improving consumer information for student-veterans, rather than maligning certain sectors of higher education – a phenomenon major media outlets have taken up since the Senate released its report in late July.

This fall, your VFW plans to push Congress to move on this legislation; particularly during the VFW’s fall legislative conference in September, when VFW advocates are scheduled to meet with every House and Senate office. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.

VFW Reacts to Survey on Military Compensation

Yesterday morning the VFW was on hand at the National Press Club where the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, or CSBA, unveiled its report from a recent survey of service members, veterans, military families and retirees on military compensation.

When CSBA announced the survey in January, the VFW was harshly critical of the content and potential outcomes. Yesterday, CSBA Senior Fellow Todd Harrison, the architect of the survey, sought to quash some of the criticism, making his case for why the Pentagon should conduct its own similar surveys before deciding how it plans to alter military pay and benefits programs, updating the surveys periodically in an effort to optimize its compensation packages.

In his remarks, Harrison was careful to point out that CSBA’s report only demonstrated how service members perceived the value of the benefits they currently receive, and that the report should not be misconstrued as recommending any specific policy changes. He went on to criticize the Pentagon for its current approach to changing the military benefits structure, warning that proposals to strictly cut certain benefits without planning to enhance others, would prove detrimental to the quality of the force.

In the wake of yesterday's announcement, VFW leaders said that they understand the purpose of this study, but the organization remains concerned about how the Pentagon will interpret the results. In its report, CSBA pointed out that decisions about optimization should not be made solely based on perceptions of the force, but that policy makers must consider factors like fairness, equity, feasibility, and operational impact before making any changes. The VFW reiterated this sentiment in its reaction.

“It’s our duty as veterans’ advocates to ensure that the Pentagon considers the broader implications of changing its benefits system for the sake of not only recruiting and retaining competent professional leaders, but also ensuring the overall physical and financial well-being of the those who volunteer to serve,” said VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci, who was on hand for the announcement. “Saving defense dollars is secondary to looking out for our troops and their families, and to preserving the integrity of an all-volunteer, professionally-led force.”

CSBA aggregated the data it compiled from more than 2,600 participants according to time-in-service, rank, branch and marital status in an effort to better analyze the data for different cohorts, both career and non-career, demonstrating how each group valued benefits differently.

Through the survey, CSBA discovered that many immediate tangible benefits, like increased base pay, increased leave, choice of duty station or access to exchange services, were perceived as highly valuable to service members across the ranks relative to actual cost. However, long term or contingency benefits like health care or retirement, were undervalued by potential beneficiaries relative to actual cost.

The VFW was not surprised by these findings, as similar surveys in the private sector indicate that civilian employees consistently convey similar misconceptions about their benefits packages. When employees undervalue some of their most lucrative benefits, companies can then justify hollowing out benefit programs under the guise of optimization.

“The Pentagon may want to optimize military benefits packages to simultaneously save money and boost perceived value among the troops, but the VFW is not concerned about perceptions,” said Gallucci. “We’re concerned about protecting our troops and demonstrating the actual value of their earned benefits.”

To read the full CSBA report, click here.

Your VFW has been one of the most vocal opponents of changes to military benefits and quality-of-life programs, exposing ten proposed cuts designed to pay for ten years of war through last year’s “10 for 10” campaign.

VFW advocates from coast to coast have consistently banded together to stop these kinds of toxic proposals whenever they surface, and we will continue to hold defense officials accountable for their decisions on the welfare of the all-volunteer force. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.

(Image: CSBA Senior Fellow Todd Harrison explains how the military envisioned its all-volunteer force in the 1970s during yesterday's announcement of CSBA's report on military compensation. Photo by Ryan Gallucci.)

Watch: VFW Testifies on Veterans’ Economic Opportunity Bills

Update: The archived webcast from today's hearing is now available by clicking here. 

This morning, your VFW testified before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity on four pieces of pending legislation designed to protect service members’ financial interests and offer improved employment opportunities and protections for veterans.

The started at 10 a.m. in the committee’s chambers, room 334 of the Cannon House Office Building. To view a full list of witnesses and to read their prepared remarks, click here.

VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci testified before the subcommittee, lending the VFW’s support to bills improving protections for military home owners, H.R. 4740 and H.R. 5747, and a bill that seeks to close licensing gaps for veterans, H.R. 4115.

The VFW worked closely with the American Legion to push for H.R. 4115, the HIRE at HOME Act, which was introduced by Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, and would mandate that states consider military training and experience when issuing licenses for medical professionals and truck drivers. The VFW suggested that the subcommittee should add language similar to the Senate companion bill, which would outline how states would report on licensing gaps from veteran applicants, and how Department of Labor would subsequently share that information with the Pentagon in an effort to eliminate such gaps.

The VFW also applauded Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., for introducing their bills to improve the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, or SCRA. Cummings' bill, H.R. 5747, would strengthen foreclosure protections and enforcement for deployed service members, surviving spouses and disabled veterans, which Hunter's bill, H.R. 4740, would allow military families to refinance mortgages on homes they own at old duty stations, even though it is no longer a primary residence.

Gallucci also voiced the VFW’s concerns on the proposal in H.R. 3860 to exclude large businesses from claiming financial hardship exemptions under the Uniformed Servicemembers Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, or USERRA, explaining that such a drastic change could prevent service members and veterans from finding employment.

The VFW's position was at odds with other panelists from the American Legion and the Reserve Officers Assocation, but Gallucci stressed that poor enforcement of current policy was actually what prevented service members covered under USERRA from returning to their jobs.

Gallucci also pointed to a recent study from the Center for a New American Security, which reported that employers sometimes do not make the distinction between veterans and service members with Guard and Reserve obligations, and that legal obligations tied to deployments -- specifically USERRA -- may actually prevent companies from even allowing veterans in the door.

Your VFW will continue to follow each of these bills as they move through the House. Check back regularly for updates.

(Image: VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci, left, testifies before the House VA Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity alongside American Legion National Economic Division Associate Director Steve Gonzalez and Reserve Officers Association Executive Director, retired Major Gen. Drew Davis. Photo by Jimmy Petersen.)

WATCH: VFW Testifies on Protecting Student-Veterans

UPDATE: The archived webcast from Wednesday's hearing is now available. to view the webcast, click here. VFW testimony starts at the 15-minute mark. To read VFW's prepared remarks in full, click here. 

The VFW testified on Wednesday at a House VA Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity hearing on the implementation of the recent executive order to better protect student-veterans. The hearing took place at 2 p.m. in the committee's chambers, room 334 of the Cannon House Office Building.

To view a full list of witnesses and to read their prepared remarks, click here.

The executive order, entitled “Establishing Principles of Excellence for Educational Institutions Serving Service Members, Veterans, Spouses and Other Family Members,” comes after VFW legislative efforts called on the House, Senate and White House to improve consumer protections for veterans who seek to use their earned GI Bill benefits. VFW Commander-in-Chief Richard L. DeNoyer applauded the executive order in an official statement two weeks ago.

“The VFW has worked very hard to get these protections created, and the president’s executive order will go far to crack down on the predatory recruiting practices and poor performance of all schools who participate in the Post-9/11 GI Bill, but our fight isn’t over,” he said.

Over the past eight months, reports from the Senate and GAO have indicated that student-veterans may be victimized by schools that fail to deliver on their educational promises, creating a perception in Washington that military and veterans’ education dollars are being wasted, because student-veterans are not receiving the education they were promised.

“Veterans make responsible life and death decisions on the battlefield every day, but reports indicate that they aren’t making the same quality decisions about the schools they choose to attend on the G.I. Bill,” said VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci, who is scheduled to testify on behalf of the VFW. “The difference is preparation and information. We prepare our battlefield leaders to make these tough choices and we provide them with quality, accurate information. We fail to prepare our student-veterans for the life-changing decisions they’re about to make, and the information we make available is incomplete, inaccurate and sometimes downright misleading.”

At the hearing, Gallucci discussed why the VFW believes the executive order will serve as an important first step in ensuring student-veterans have all the information they need to make a responsible educational choice, and have proper recourse should they become victims of fraud, waste or abuse.

In January and February, the VFW worked to build consensus among veterans’ advocates and higher education, calling for improved consumer protections. Today, both the House and Senate have introduced bills to improve the landscape for student-veterans. The VFW believes the president’s executive order should serve as the impetus for Congress to quickly move legislation, ensuring consumer protections are written into law.

In his prepared remarks, Gallucci goes on to say that executive action is limited to current law and available resources, which is why the VFW believes legislative solutions remain the best option.

(Image: Screen grab from Wednesday's webcast of the House VA Subcommittee hearing on the president's recent G.I. Bill executive order.)

VFW Joins Labor to Observe Redesigned TAP Program

Last week the VFW had the opportunity to sit in on the Department of Labor's latest iteration of the redesigned transition assistance program, or TAP. DOL Veterans Employment and Training Service, or VETS, is in the process of reworking the curriculum for its two-and-a-half day employment workshop in an effort to ensure that transitioning service members have all the resources necessary to pursue a meaningful civilian career after military service.

"Observing the latest iteration of the TAP redesign process was a critical step in offering insight into how the program is delivered," said VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci, who sat in on last week's TAP workshop at Fort Belvoir, Va. "VFW members expect us to have our fingers on the pulse of the veterans' community, offering this kind of insight to veterans' policy decision-makers, which is why the VFW is happy that VETS chose to include stakeholders within the veterans' community to not only observe the program, but to offer our unique perspective on how we believe the program should proceed."

The VFW will now offer its feedback on the program, as VETS continues to polish its latest product, slated for a complete roll-out this fall.

The VFW has long worked with VETS to ensure service members and veterans have access to the viable civilian careers through a wide array of services offered by VETS like TAP, or career one-stops in each state where Disabled Veterans Outreach Program specialists, or DVOPS, and local veterans employment representatives, or LVERS, serve as direct conduits for veterans in the community to connect with employers in their area.

Over the last few years, modernizing and mandating TAP participation have been top legislative priorities for the VFW. Last year, the VFW succeeded in mandating TAP for transitioning service members through the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, ensuring those who leave the military have a baseline of information with which they can make a successful transition. Now, the VFW is focusing on extending access to TAP resources for veterans who have since separated from the military, pushing for the TAP Modernization Act of 2012, a piece of legislation that would create a pilot program for states to offer TAP resources in places where veteran unemployment is highest.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Fla., introduced the bill, H.R. 4051, and the VFW offered its support during a recent hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity. To read the bill, click here. To read VFW's testimony, click here.

Veterans' employment opportunities remain a top priority for the VFW in light of daunting veterans' unemployment numbers over the last few years. Though recent numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate the situation is improving, the VFW will remain vigilant to ensure that veterans receive the kinds of career opportunities they have earned. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.

WATCH: VFW Testifies on Veterans' Jobs, Education and Cemetery Issues

Just a day after the 2012 VFW Legislative Conference came to a close, the VFW Washington office was still at it. VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci testified before the House VA Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity this morning. Gallucci discussed bills on veterans' jobs and education, several of which VFW played a major role in drafting, like H.R. 4057, which will improve consumer education for potential student-veterans and H.R. 3670, which will close a loophole in Transportation Security Administration policy that exempts the agency from USERRA.

Military Times discussed VFW's testimony in a story late yesterday afternoon, which you can read here.

Yesterday afternoon, Legislative Director Ray Kelley also testified before the House VA Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. The hearing followed up on a recent National Cemetery Administration, or NCA, audit that discovered mismarked graves in VA cemeteries. Kelley asked the committee to review VA performance measures for NCA and to close gaps in funding so that veterans and their families have burial options and cemeteries remain protected and pristine.

Click here to watch a webcast of Gallucci's hearing.

Read Gallucci's testimony here, and learn more about the hearing here.

Click here to watch a webcast of Kelley's hearing.

Read Kelley's testimony here, and learn more about the hearing here.

VFW Discusses G.I. Bill with State Approving Agencies

This week the VFW joined the National Association of State Approving Agencies, or NASAA, for the organization's annual conference at the Radisson Hotel in Arlington, Va. State Approving Agencies serve as the "boots on the ground" for certifying G.I. Bill-eligible programs across the country, which is why VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci was honored to join a distinguished panel of veterans' education experts and veterans' advocates to discuss specific challenges and opportunities for student-veterans who seek to use their Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits.

Panelists included Chad Schatz, president of NASAA, Keith Wilson, director of VA education programs, David Brasuell, president of the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs (NASDVA), Dorothy Gillman, president of the National Association of Veterans Program Administrators (NAVPA), Steve Gonzalez, assistant director of the American Legion's National Economic Division, Tom Tarantino, deputy policy director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and Matt Feger, director of development for Student Veterans of America.

The panelists discussed a range of issues facing today's G.I. Bill beneficiaries, including access to benefits, responsible educational decision-making, academic planning, and proper oversight of G.I. Bill-eligible programs. The panelists also took questions from the audience on issues like VA's school compliance surveys, the evolving role of state approving agents, and unique challenges facing Guard and Reserve students.

Gallucci's remarks focused on the VFW's ongoing efforts to ensure veterans have access to quality information with which to make educational decisions and proper recourse mechanisms should they feel they have been victims of fraud, waste or abuse.

Last summer, a Senate investigation concluded that many veterans may be the victims of schools that seek to collect veterans' education dollars, with little intention of conferring relevant degrees or credentials for the veteran.

The VFW believes that a lack of quality information for potential student-veterans and a lack of oversight from VA has created an environment where potentially uninformed or misinformed consumers can be coerced into making poor decisions on how to best use their earned benefits.

Over the last six months, the VFW has discovered that while VA is authorized to offer educational counseling to potential student-veterans, the agency remains dramatically under-resourced to adequately conduct the counseling on a consistent basis. In 2011, more than 800,000 veterans enrolled in G.I. Bill programs, but VA was only able to council 6,400 veterans on their benefits.

Wilson acknowledged that VA is working with the departments of Labor and Defense to integrate educational counseling into the redesign of mandatory transition assistance programs; a step the VFW applauds. However, the VFW also hopes to see legislation that will allow VA to physically contact all potential beneficiaries, explaining in detail the benefits to which they are entitled before the veteran enrolls in an academic program.

Last month, the VFW built a diverse coalition to support improved consumer education and consumer protection for student-veterans, calling on leaders in the House, Senate and the Obama Administration to take action. To read the letter and learn more about the specific steps VFW hopes to take, click here.

The VFW also joined NAVPA's annual conference this week to discuss veterans' education issues. NAVPA is the national organization that represents school certifying officials for the G.I. Bill; the men and women who interact daily with student-veterans on college campuses around the country.

The VFW is currently working closely with leaders in the House and Senate to draft legislation to ensure student-veteran success; legislation that should be introduced in the coming weeks.

Your VFW will continue to advocate on behalf of student-veterans, ensuring they have access to the quality education they have earned. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.

(Images: Top: L-R, Dorothy Gillman, Matt Feger, and Ryan Gallucci were among the participants in Monday's panel on the G.I. Bill, moderated by Joe Wescott, vice president of NASAA. Bottom: State approving agents and veterans' education advocates look on during the panel discussion. Photos courtesy of NASAA.)