VFW WASHINGTON WEEKLY
May 22, 2009
In This Issue:
1. Senate VA Committee Clears Advanced Funding
2. House VA Committee Hearings
3. House Passes Veteran Small Business Centers
4. Military Overseas Voting Hearing
5. Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial
1. Senate VA Committee Clears Advanced Funding/ Other Vet Bills: The Senate VA Committee cleared a bill authorizing advanced funding for VA. S. 423, The Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, would allow VA to receive their budget one year in advance. It's a top priority for VFW. VFW believes that advanced funding will allow VA to better plan for the future, attract and recruit high-quality health care professionals, and allow them to better target gaps in care, among many other program enhancements. Other VFW-supported bills cleared by the committee include:
S. 252, The Veterans Health Care Authorization Act - Would authorize enhanced care and services for women veterans, to include hiring more mental health professionals. Other parts of the bill strengthen VA recruiting programs, institutional and non-institutional care, rehabilitative care for OEF/OIF veterans, research, homelessness, and mental health services, among others.
S. 728, The Veterans Benefit Enhancement Act - Would strengthen insurance programs for disabled veterans, expand eligibility for traumatic injury protection, ease the burden on certain combat veterans who seek to establish a service-connection for their disabilities, and strengthen laws protecting veterans and servicemembers from employment discrimination.
S. 801, The Caregiver and Veterans Health Services Act - Would establish an unprecedented permanent program to train, support and assist caregivers of disabled veterans. It would also improve care and treatment for veterans living in rural areas, and enable VA to reimburse eligible veterans for emergency care in non-VA facilities.
S. 475, Military Spouses Residency Act - Would update USSERA laws for spouses of military personnel with regard to matters of residency.
S. 407, Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act - Would increase rates of compensation and DIC for service-connected veterans and their survivors. Rates would be effective Dec. 1.
All of the bills now move to the Senate floor for action. For complete details, visit the committee's website at
http://veterans.senate.gov/.
2. House VA Committee Hearings: The House VA Committee also had a busy week of hearings.
Tuesday: The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on Gulf War Illness research. Subcommittee Chairman Harry Mitchell (D-AZ) promised this would be one of many the committee plans to hold to examine the impact of toxin exposures during the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, and the subsequent research and response by government agencies including the DOD and VA
Also Tuesday, the Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on VA medical care and the outreach being made to veterans of all eras. Committee members believe VA is still not reaching those eligible for benefits and services, and has steered away from the use of public advertising.
Wednesday: The House VA Committee held a roundtable discussion about the growing needs of women veterans in VA. A diverse group of panelists discussed their experience with VA from health care to claims to other services provided. Virginia VFW District 10 Commander, Margo Sheridan, provided her recommendations on changes needed by both VA and DOD. She stressed the need for recognition of women in combat roles and the changing role of women in the military.
Thursday: The Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs held a legislative hearing on several bills.
HR 1522 would grant veteran status to United States Nurse Cadet Corps of WWII members, making them eligible for VA benefits and services.
HR 2270 would establish a compensation fund for other qualified WWII veterans, such as the Flying Tigers and other "civilian" groups that supported the war effort.
HR 1982 would amend the Veterans Claims Assistance Act by directing VA to acknowledge receipt of medical, disability and pension claims, and other communications submitted by veterans within 60 days.
Also Thursday, the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity discussed bills designed to update VA's work-study program, increase educational assistance and apprenticeships and on-the-job training, as well as expanding services offered by VR&E and updating servicemembers rights under USERRA laws.
For more information on any of the hearings or to view the live webcast visit the committee's website at
http://veterans.house.gov/.
3. House Passes Veteran Small Business Centers: By a vote of 406-15, the House passed VFW-supported legislation that would reauthorize the Small Business Administration's entrepreneurial development programs. HR 2352, The Job Creation through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, would authorize $22 million to establish a veterans' business center program through FY 2011. The program will issue grants using guidelines set up by the SBA, and concentrate on areas where veteran populations exceed national medians. Veterans' business centers would use the money on veteran entrepreneurial development, such as providing small business counseling and government procurement information. VFW believes that this will dramatically increase a veteran's access to entrepreneurial resources.
For more on the bill, go to
www.thomas.loc.gov and enter the bill number into the search block.
4. Military Overseas Voting Hearing: The House Administration Subcommittee on Elections held a hearing on Military Overseas Voting. The committee found that despite the enacting of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986, it is clear that military and overseas voters are not able to register and cast their ballots without numerous administrative burdens. Survey data from the Congressional Research Service suggested that one in four ballots from overseas military voters went uncounted in the 2008 election. Consequently, the committee is considering HR 2393, the Military Voting Protection Act, which would improve procedures for the collection and delivery of marked absentee ballots of military voters. The legislation, which the VFW strongly supports, was introduced by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). For more on the hearing, go to the committee's website at
http://cha.house.gov/view_hearing.aspx?r=50.
5. Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial: The VFW participated in a press conference yesterday at the National Press Club in Washington on an upcoming Supreme Court case that will either save or threaten military veterans memorials that were erected on public lands with religious symbols. Salazar v. Buono is about a World War I veterans memorial that a VFW Post erected in the Mojave Desert in the shape of a cross in 1934. In 2002, Congress designated it a national memorial and authorized the National Park Service to transfer the one-acre site to the VFW in exchange for five acres of private property elsewhere within the Mojave Desert Preserve, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the transfer. The VFW has been joined by numerous other veterans groups in filing an amicus brief with the Supreme Court to defend its memorial. The high court is expected to hear the case this fall.
To read a VFW press release, go to
http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=news.newsDtl&did=4939.
For more information or to watch a video on efforts to save the memorial, go to
http://www.donttearmedown.com/.
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