VFW FL District 19

In This Issue
1. GI Bill Call to Action
2. House Holds Veteran Suicide Hearing
3. Senate Holds Hearing on Benefit Bills
4. Senate Committee Boosts Pay, Rejects Fees

1. GI Bill Call to Action: The VFW still needs you to urge your senators to support S. 22, and your representatives to support H.R. 5740, so that the VFW goal of creating a new GI Bill for the 21st century becomes a reality. As of this morning, 57 senators are supporting S. 22, a number that is unchanged from last week. Introduced by Jim Webb (D-VA), S. 22 has strong bipartisan support from fellow senators such as Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and John Warner (R-VA). Its companion bill in the House, H.R. 5740, increased by 27 to 293 co-sponsors, or 67% of the House. Introduced by Harry Mitchell (D-AZ), it, also has strong bipartisan support from fellow congressmen such as Bill Young (R-FL) and Chris Smith (R-NJ). America's newest Greatest Generation needs your help to bring educational benefits back in line with current day tuitions. Use this link to contact your members: http://capwiz.com/vfw/dbq/officials/.

In This Issue:
1. Senate Passes Large Benefits Bill
2. House VA Committee Bills
3. Senate Hearing on VA/DOD Improvements
4. OIF/OEF Campaign Stars

1. Senate Passes Large Veterans Bill: The Senate passed 96-1 a large veterans' package that improves a wide-array of benefits, including life insurance, burial allowance and adaptive equipment grants. The package now moves to the House. Some of the VFW-supported provisions in S. 1315 would:
• Increase the maximum amount of supplemental Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance from $20,000 to $30,000.
• Expand eligibility for home improvement and structural alteration assistance to include permanently disabled servicemembers.
• Provide a specially-adapted housing grant to veterans and qualified servicemembers with severe burn injuries.
• Extend authority of the VA to assist individuals living temporarily in residences owned by family members.
• Provide automobile and adaptive equipment assistance to disabled veterans and servicemembers with severe burn injuries.
• Increase to $445 from the current $300 allowance for veteran burial plots.
• Provide a presumption of service-connection for osteoporosis for former POWs with post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Increase cost-of-living for additional dependency and indemnity compensation paid to certain surviving spouses with minor dependent children.
• Expand retroactive traumatic injury protection under SGLI (TSGLI) to include all servicemembers, not just those injured in Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.
For a complete listing of S. 1315 provisions, visit the Thomas website at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.01315:

In This Issue:
1. House VA Committee Hearings
2. President Signs Defense Bill
3. Veterans Small Business Bill Passes

1. House VA Committee Hearings: Two House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee hearings were held this week on healthcare practices and the VA claims processing system.
• The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations looked into quality of healthcare practices and patient care within the Veterans Health Administration. The hearing was held in response to the recent tragedies reported at the Marion VA Medical Center. Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL), who represents the southern Illinois district that includes Marion, testified that problems such as quality management, the credentialing process, the privileging process, and a lack of leadership by senior staff existed at the medical center, and may extend throughout VHA. Other witnesses testified that there was a critical need for a substantial revamping of the credentialing and privileging processes, as well as other institutional changes within VHA to assure quality healthcare.
• The second hearing, entitled "The Use of Artificial Intelligence to Improve the VA Claims Processing System," was held by the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. Witnesses provided pros and cons to using AI to improve the claims processing system. Replacing the human factor with AI and the level of complexity to implement a new system within the Veterans Benefits Administration were just some of the concerns. Others believe that AI has the potential to significantly increase speed and accuracy during the first stages of the claims process. As of Jan. 25, 2008, there were 882,133 claims in the VBA backlog, a number that consists of 650,524 compensation and pension claims, 165,687 claims on appeal, 65,922 education claims. The backlog is more than 11,000 claims higher than the same time period a year ago.

For more on both hearings and to read witness testimony, visit the House VA website at: http://veterans.house.gov/

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