Category Archives: Veteran Legislative Update

Senate, House and State Government decisions impacting veterans.

Veteran Legislative Update

Veteran Funding Update

Leave a comment
NEWS FROM…
CHAIRMAN BOB FILNER
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 10, 2009
Contact Kristal DeKleer at (202) 225-9756
Veterans’ Affairs Committee Passes Historic Bill to Secure Timely Funding for Veterans’ Health Care
Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, June 10, 2009, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs led by Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) announced the passage of H.R. 1016, landmark legislation to secure timely funding for veterans’ health care through the ‘advance appropriations’ process.
H.R. 1016 would authorize Congress to approve Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care appropriations one year in advance of the start of each fiscal year.  An advance appropriation would provide VA with up to one year in which to plan how to deliver the most efficient and effective care to an increasing number of veterans with increasingly complex medical conditions.  Unlike proposals to convert VA health care to a mandatory funding program, an advance appropriation does not create PAYGO concerns since VA health care funding would remain discretionary.  Congress employs a PAYGO rule which demands that new proposals must either be budget neutral or offset with savings derived from existing funds.
Reform of the method in which the VA health care system is funded continues to be a top legislative priority for many veteran service organizations.  In a letter sent by eleven veteran service organizations, a vote for H.R. 1016 “will be among the most important for veterans and their families that the Committee will take this year.”  Representatives of these groups offered testimony in support of advance appropriations at a recent Committee hearing which focused on funding the VA of the future.  (Testimony available here: HVAC Hearing Information)
H.R. 1016 was amended before the Committee voted to approve the measure.  Key changes include requiring the President to submit a request for VA medical care accounts for the “fiscal year following the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted,” as part of the annual budget submission.  Additionally, VA will be required to detail estimates in the budget documents it submits annually to Congress.  Each July, the VA will be required to report to Congress if it has the resources it needs for the upcoming fiscal year in order for Congress to address any funding imbalances.  This will help to safeguard against the VA facing budget shortfalls such as it faced just a few years ago.
Chairman Filner offered the following statement: “Today, this Committee approved a historic new approach to providing adequate and timely funding for veterans’ health care.  For too many years, the Department of Veterans Affairs has had to make do with insufficient budgets resulting in restricted access for many veterans.  Members of the Committee have worked closely with veteran service organizations to respond to years of chronic underfunding and tardy appropriations with this landmark bill to guarantee that our veterans have access to comprehensive, quality health care.”
·       H.R. 1016, as amended – Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009 (Filner)
H.R. 1016 would authorize Congress to approve VA medical care appropriations one year in advance of the start of each fiscal year.  The bill provides Congress greater ability and incentive to develop appropriation bills that provide sufficient funding to meet the best estimate of anticipated demand for VA health care services in future years.
The bill will next be considered by the U.S. House of Representatives
Veteran Legislative Update

Womans Veteran Legislation

3 Comments
VVA LEGISLATIVE ALERT

Ask your member to support H.R 1211 and S.597

Take Action!
Woman Veterans Legislation
More than 1.8 million of the 23 million American. veterans are women.  They have an array of unique health care needs that many VA Medical Centers simply are not equipped to meet.  In the foreseeable future, it is anticipated that there will be a surge of women seeking care from the VA as they return to civilian life after having deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq..
Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin has introduced H.R. 1211, the “Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2009.” Senator Patty Murray has introduced the companion bill, S.597, in the Senate.  Passage of this legislation will provide benefits and needed reforms that women who served in the military warrant because of their service to our nation
VVA believe that this legislation, when enacted into law, will facilitate a needed study of barriers to women seeking VA health care; will require an assessment of the women’s health care programs currently in place at VA healthcare facilities; will provide the VA the authority to reimburse the cost of medical care for the newborn children of women veterans; will enhance VA sexual trauma counseling and PTSD treatment for women; will establish a pilot program for child care services; and will require the addition of recently separated women veterans on various VA advisory committees.
Please contact your Member of Congress and your Senators now and ask them to co-sponsor and vote for H.R. 1211 in the House, and S.597 in the Senate, the Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2009.
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) is the nation’s only congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated to the needs of Vietnam-era veterans and their families.  VVA’s founding principle is “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
Veteran Legislative Update

The Veterans are Coming, the Veterans are Coming!

14 Comments

Welcome to the new  Citizen Fourth Estate.  We are entering “Operation Information.” Our mission is to provide a space for advocacy and dialogue with all  Arizona veterans.  I am a trained Veterans Service Officer, and  published writer in the arena of  Veterans Affairs.  I served in Marine Corps, with the 7th Marines and Marine Air Wing with two stints in Vietnam.  I am currently a Mentor for returning combat veterans at the Merritt Retreat Center in Payson, Arizona.  I have extensive training in the care and transition to civilian life for returning combat veterans. Please join us in an ongoing dialogue with a Band of Brothers and Sisters.