Watch Live: VFW to Testify on Pending Veterans' Legislation

VFW Legislative Director Ray Kelley will testify before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs on a series of bills designed to better serve America's disabled veterans and honor those who lost their lives in the line of duty.

The hearing will commence at 10 a.m. in the committee's chambers, room 334 of the Cannon House Office Building. To watch live video from the hearing, click here.

During the hearing, Kelley plans to discuss the VFW's support for tying veterans' cost-of-living adjustments, or COLA, permanently to the annual COLA for Social Security. Under the current system, Congress must vote each year to first tie t the COLA increases, then approve the year's specific rate of increase.

Kelley also plans to highlight the work of the VFW Department of the Philippines, which has worked tirelessly to maintain the cemetery at Clark Air Force Base, where American service members were laid to rest while the base was operational. Once the United States left the air base in the 1990s, the cemetery fell into disrepair. The VFW in the Philippines has since decided to dedicate its resources to keeping the cemetery presentable, but now the VFW is calling on Congress to take responsibility for the cemetery, turning it over to the American Battlefield Monuments Commission for future maintenance.

Highlights from this morning's hearing will be available later on this blog. Please check back for updates.

Field Report: VFW Helps Colorado Veterans’ Forum Develop Solutions

Last year Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., put together a state veterans’ forum, comprised of veterans’ advocates and leaders across Colorado in an effort to better serve the state’s veterans. In January, a forum subcommittee, chaired by VFW Post 1 Commander Izzy Abbass came together to address a series of veterans’ issues under the title “Better Serving Those Who Have Served.”

Abbass’ subcommittee included advocates from across Colorado who interacted with the veterans’ community in a variety of ways such as workforce investment, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, military family policy, academia, and veterans’ services on both the state and national level. Major veterans’ service organizations like the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Military Officers Association of America, and Paralyzed Veterans of America also participated in the discussion.

The forum produced a report on six specific areas, outlining ways to improve support services for service members, veterans and their families in Colorado.

“We are unified in our belief that we must do a better job addressing [these] challenges if Colorado is going to become the best place for veterans to live and work,” said Abbass. “ This report is an initial step in continuing to build consensus and strategize how to implement reforms to better meet the needs of military families and veterans.”

The six areas and the panel’s recommendations are:

• Improving community collaboration: Thousands of public and private programs exist to serve veterans, but despite the quantity of programs focused on veterans, critical gaps in services remain. Those working for veterans do not communicate with one other and it is often difficult for veterans to pinpoint which of the multitude of service providers is most relevant to their needs and accessible to them geographically. This country needs a central place where public and private organizations committed to serving veterans can go to learn about each other and work together, and where veterans can go to connect to the services they need.

• Putting our warriors back to work: Although veterans are some of the most highly-skilled workers in the country, they often face unique challenges that can make finding employment after military service difficult. Some of the challenges faced by transitioning service members include translating their unique skills into civilian occupations and overcoming employers’ misunderstanding of the injuries associated with combat. We should work together to find a way to make the transition from warfighter to civilian employee easier.

• Providing easy and efficient access to earned benefits: Bureaucratic overload, inefficiency and inaccuracy continues to cause the backlog of claims at the Veterans Benefits Administration. These delays are an unnecessary burden on veterans who are entitled to the benefits earned through their service. In addition, improvements can be made to the G.I. Bill education benefit to make sure returning veterans get the most out of their education.

• Ending homelessness and addressing foreclosure: Veterans are more likely to become homeless than their non-veteran counterparts, and service members continue to face foreclosure and other financial challenges due, in part, to their mobility. We have a responsibility to make sure veterans are not placed at a disadvantage because of their service to our country.

• Improving awareness and addressing the mental scars from combat: The long-term mental health and cognitive implications of post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury are not fully known. Some medical experts believe that the injuries could be contributing factors in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. We need to start planning now for the potential wave of cognitive and mental health issues that may develop in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the decades to come.

• Raising national awareness about the unique challenges faced by military families and veterans: Our goal should not just be to simply reintegrate the service member into civilian society, but should also be to educate communities about the challenges facing those who have served.

From this report, Abbass’ subcommittee will now focus its efforts on three specific areas: Licensing and education, local VA support, and employment.

Abbass said each subcommittee in the state veterans’ forum is now working toward developing action items for the next full committee meeting, which takes places on March 30 in Denver.

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 Colorado VFW Post 1 Commander Izzy Abbass. 

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.

Field Report: New Mexico VFW Hosts Congressional Town Hall

Members of Congress are home in their districts this week, and VFW advocates have taken the opportunity to meet directly with their leaders on veterans’ issues.

On Tuesday, March 13, VFW Post 7686 in Alamogordo, N.M., hosted a veterans’ town hall forum where post members and area veterans had an opportunity to meet with Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., and State Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-Alamogordo, to candidly discuss a variety of veterans’ issues like VA benefits-delivery and health care.

VFW National Legislative Committee Vice-Chairman B.J. Lawrence, who helped to organize the event, was able to utilize the forum as a follow-up visit with Pearce, after meeting with him on Capitol Hill during last week’s VFW National Legislative Conference.

Pearce reiterated that he was opposed to any cuts to our nation’s active duty military and would continue to support legislation in favor of both the military and veterans.

The congressman also co-hosted a veterans’ job fair on Tuesday in Alamogordo, where employers were prepared to offer approximately 3,000 jobs to veterans. Veterans from the area and from neighboring states came out to participate in the event.

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.

(Images: Top: Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., fields questions from veterans during the recent veterans’ town hall meeting at VFW Post 7686 in Alamogordo, N.M. Bottom: VFW National Legislative Committee Vice-Chairman B.J. Lawrence and Congressman Pearce commended U.S. Air Force Tech Sgt. Priscilla Chavez for her service in Iraq during the recent veterans’ town hall at VFW Post 7686. Chavez currently serves in the 49th Maintenance Squadron at Hollman Air Force Base in New Mexico. Story and photos courtesy of B.J. Lawrence.)

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 Members Discuss Priority Issues with Connecticut Senators

Connecticut Senators Joseph Lieberman and Richard Blumenthal greeted VFW Members in the US Capitol on Tuesday. Past Commander-in-Chief Edward Banas and senior department leaders discussed VFW’s priorities to include the VA disability rating system, mental and behavioral health with emphasis on post-traumatic stress and Traumatic Brain Injury. Both Senators pledged their continued support for veteran-friendly legislation.

VFW Testimony: Don’t Balance Budget on Backs of Disabled Veterans and Military

WASHINGTON March 7, 2012 — In testimony today before a joint hearing of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees, the national commander of America’s oldest and largest major combat veterans’ organization urged Congress to not balance the budget on the backs of disabled veterans or on the men and women who continue to serve in uniform.

Richard DeNoyer delivering testimony

“Your two committees have a long history of taking care of veterans in a bipartisan manner,” said Richard L. DeNoyer, a retired Marine and Vietnam combat veteran from Middleton, Mass., who leads the 2 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and its Auxiliaries. 

“We understand that current budget realities are forcing very hard choices in Congress and in agencies and departments across the executive branch. I urge you all to remember in the coming days that Congress’ first mandate is the protection of its citizens, which can only be accomplished if Congress first protects those who volunteer to protect our nation in uniform.”

Today’s congressional testimony caps the VFW’s annual legislative conference in which 300 VFW leaders from around the country visited their elected officials to discuss issues important to veterans, service members and their families. Atop their legislative agenda this year was protecting the Department of Veterans Affairs budget from mandatory cuts should sequestration occur, and stopping Defense Department proposals that would reduce military pay, force military dependents and retirees to pay exponentially more for their Tricare health coverage, and to civilianize the current military retirement system.

VFW members took to The Hill in support of their national commander

Other high-interest topics range from military transition and assistance programs to Post 9/11 GI Bill improvements, the proper care and treatment of wounded warriors, women veterans, the 1.7 million VA claims workload and adjudication error rate, the VA rating schedule change that could have veterans with similar wounds compensated differently, and combating veteran suicides and homelessness, among others. 

    

Other events during the week-long legislative conference include:

Presenting the VFW Congressional Award to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) for fighting to strengthen the military and to invest in a force that can meet and beat any threat. He also led efforts to keep terrorist detainees off of U.S. soil, increased missile defense funding, restored the tradition of keeping nondefense social issues out of the defense bill, and is a leading voice to keep the military intact in this budget-cutting era.

Presenting the VFW Gold Medal and Citation to the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment, plus hosting more than 70 wounded warriors and their families to dinner at the National Press Club.
Awarding a $30,000 scholarship Sunday evening to Elizabeth Scannell from Goose Creek, S.C., the winner of the annual VFW Voice of Democracy program, a patriotic-themed contest that this year judged 50,000 high school student entries. She was joined by Lydia Macfarlan from Siloam Springs, Ark., who beat almost 125,000 other middle school students to win a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond in the VFW’s annual Patriot’s Pen contest. 
          
And receiving checks for $1 million from USAA Executive Vice President and retired Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes, $450,000 from Burger King franchisee owner Mike DeRosa, and earlier, $450,000 from Sports Clips founder and CEO Gordon Logan. All donations will help the VFW and the VFW Foundation reinforce their nationwide support programs for military and veterans.

A video of the hearing is posted on the VFW homepage at www.vfw.org.

Click here to read Richard DeNoyer's testimony.