Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 12-11-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. Omnibus Measure Passed By House Includes Military Construction-VA Bill.
2. Post-9/11 GI Bill Backlog Labeled A "Fiasco.
3. Veterans Service Center Manager Speaks To DAV.
4. An Athletic Program For Wounded Vets To Expand To VA Hospital. 
5. Life For Iraq Vet Featured In Walter Reed Exposé Said To Have "Stabilized Somewhat."
6. VA Research Center Wins National Quality Award.
7. Iraq Vet Sues To Get His Job As Wisconsin VA Secretary Back. 
8. New Mexico: Some Native American Vets Are Owed Money For DOD Error.
9. TVs Sent To Minnesota Veterans Homes Arrive Damaged.
10. Louisiana VA To Privatize Veterans Home Medical Care.

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HAVE YOU HEARD?
Did you know that having a greener holiday can save you money and reduce your environmental footprint? Consider using LED (light-emitting diode) holiday lights, sending holiday cards made of recycled-content, or donating your Christmas tree to recycle into mulch for your local community. Find out how to do all of these simple but effective acts and more by visiting VA Green Routine’s Web site at www.va.gov/greenroutine.  Only a thought … Have a merry, Green holiday.

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1.      Omnibus Measure Passed By House Includes Military Construction-VA Bill. The Washington Post (12/11, Pershing, 684K) reports, "The House voted Thursday to approve half a dozen spending bills contained in one large package, as the chamber races to complete its work before adjourning for the year. The $447 billion measure, which combines six appropriations bills," including the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill, "passed 221 to 202, with 28 Democrats joining all 174 Republicans present in opposing it. GOP lawmakers said the measure was overinflated and rushed through with little scrutiny, while Democrats said it would fund key priorities."                     Veterans for Common Sense Warns Record VA Budget Is Not Big Enough.  Navy Times (12/11, Maze, 54K)  "The biggest veterans budget in history is not big enough, warns the Executive Director, Paul Sullivan, the head of Veterans for Common Sense, a group that closely tracks" healthcare "issues for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Paul Sullivan, said the $109 billion veterans’ budget approved Thursday by the House of Representatives and could come to a final vote soon in the Senate, ‘may fall short as much as 45 percent’ in covering the added costs to the Veterans Affairs Department of treating veterans of the two ongoing operations." Funding for the VA "is included in HR 3288, a consolidated appropriations bill covering many federal agencies."
     Consolidated Appropriations Act Said To Give VA "More Latitude In Spending." NextGov (12/11, Brewin, "Among the high points for information technology in the Consolidated Appropriations Act approved by a conference committee on Tuesday" is "more latitude in spending" for the VA. In its "version of the VA spending bill, the Senate had restricted the department from using $1.1 billon in IT development funds in fiscal 2010 until VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and Chief Information Officer Roger Baker completed a review of IT systems and identified which should receive funding."
     Measure Would Fund Rural Clinic Initiative. Foster’s Daily Democrat (12/11, McMahon), which is based in Dover, New Hampshire, also covers the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes "$50 million for a new Rural Clinic Initiative that will provide for additional Community Based Outreach Clinics in rural and highly rural areas, such as Maine."
     

2.      Post-9/11 GI Bill Backlog Labeled A "Fiasco." The Navy Times (12/11, 54K) describes the Post-9/11 GI Bill backlog as a "fiasco," noting in an editorial that "VA officials say they hope improved claims procedures and the ‘brute force’ of hiring more claims processors will help clear the backlog of claims in advance of the spring semester. They ‘hope?’" The Times argues that student-veterans "deserve far better. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki must be candid with Congress about exactly what resources he needs to fix this, and lawmakers must deliver." And if the "VA officials running the program…can’t straighten out this mess, then they should be replaced." 

3.      Veterans Service Center Manager Speaks To DAV. The Piedmont (AL) Journal (12/11, Burkhalter, 3K) reports, "Veterans and area residents quickly filled the Disabled American Veterans office in Piedmont on Thursday Nov. 12 for a visit from Congressman Mike Rogers." The lawmaker "was a bit late due to an earlier scheduled appearance at Ft. McClellan, so guest speaker Amy Hill, a Veterans Service Center Manager for the VA in Montgomery, began by discussing her work at the agency." Hill "said that the agency is currently sending much of its work out to other VA offices throughout the country in an effort to reduce some of the strain on her own. She also discussed plans by the US Secretary of Veterans Affairs to have all medical records be kept electronically within two years." 

4.      An Athletic Program For Wounded Vets To Expand To VA Hospital.  Potomac (MD) Gazette (12/10, Ujifusa). Iraq veteran Michael Morgan "has been participating in basketball and other fitness classes since June at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda with the help of two natural allies: the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH)" in Washington, DC, and US Paralympics, a division of the US Olympic Committee. The program started "by the two groups creates sports practice and game opportunities…for military veterans who have suffered injuries." NRH "announced last month they would expand the program beyond Navy Med and Walter Reed Army Medical Center" to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Washington, DC. 
 

5.      Life For Iraq Vet Featured In Walter Reed Exposé Said To Have "Stabilized Somewhat." In a story scheduled to run this Sunday, the Washington Post Magazine (12/13, Shin) reports, "In February 2007, The Washington Post published the second in a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles by Dana Priest and Anne Hull about the mistreatment of Iraq war veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The article featured Cpl. Wendell W. ‘Dell’ McLeod Jr., who had sustained brain and spine injuries in Iraq after a truck door smashed into his head." Since that article ran, life for the veteran and his wife, Annette, "has stabilized somewhat." Annette "is satisfied overall with the care Dell is now receiving," although the couple "still has occasional battles with Veterans Affairs, most recently about making their house handicapped-accessible." 

6.      VA Research Center Wins National Quality Award. NextGov (12/10, Brewin) reported, "A research center operated by the Veterans Affairs Department is one of this year’s winners of the prestigious Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, the country’s highest presidential honor for innovation and performance. The Cooperative Studies Program Clinical Research Pharmacy Coordinating Center, which manages drugs in clinical trials in VA hospitals and clinics, has developed unique capabilities to operate what is probably one of the few manufacturing facilities in the federal government, said Mark Jones, associate director for technical operations at the center," which is "based in Albuquerque, N.M." 

7.      Iraq Vet Sues To Get His Job As Wisconsin VA Secretary Back.  AP (12/11, Richmond) "Former state Veterans Affairs Secretary John Scocos filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming he was unjustly fired after he returned from Iraq," where he was serving as a member of the US Army Reserve. According to the AP, in late November, the Wisconsin Veterans Affairs Board, "which sets policy" for the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs, fired Scocos, "blaming him for a host of financial and communications problems within the agency." Scocos’ "lawsuit demands he get his job back." The AP goes on to note that Scocos, who "also filed a claim seeking $500,000 in damages and attorney’s" fees, "announced the lawsuit at a news conference at the state Capitol, flanked by his wife," his attorney, "and a number of veterans." Milwaukee Public Radio (12/11, Henz) publishes a similar story     Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (12/11, Marley, 224K) "Acrimony had long simmered between the board and Scocos. This summer," the VA "asked the Department of Justice to investigate $850,000 in spending that wasn’t authorized by the board." In November, the "Department of Justice determined…miscommunication was to blame for the overspending and that criminal charges weren’t warranted."

     Meeting Cancelled By Wisconsin VA Board.  AP (12/11).  "The board that governs" the Wisconsin VA "canceled its two-day meeting Thursday and Friday because of poor traveling conditions." The board, which "had a full agenda for its meeting scheduled in Union Grove, the site of one of two nursing homes for veterans the agency runs," was "planning to set the salary for the agency’s new secretary, Ken Black, consider rules for tuition benefits for veterans, and discuss many other issues. Board Chair Marv Freedman and Black made the decision to cancel the meeting, which they say will be rescheduled for next month." 

8.      New Mexico: Some Native American Vets Are Owed Money For DOD Error. On its website, KOB-TV Albuquerque, NM (12/10, Nakano) reported, "About 9,000 Native American veterans in New Mexico could be getting a check they never expected." During a meeting on Thursday, the "state announced…that those vets are going to split $1 million to correct a Department of Defense error" that involved state income tax being withheld while the vets were serving in the US military. KOB added, "Alvin Warren, cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department said, ‘Those taxes should have never been withheld. We have the mechanisms in place now to keep this from happening, but for those that were taken out before, it’s important to make this right.’" 

9.      TVs Sent To Minnesota Veterans Homes Arrive Damaged. The Minneapolis Star Tribune (12/10, Kaszuba, 347K) reported, "The saga" of some "big-screen TVs that were removed from the Minnesota sex offender program by Gov. Tim Pawlenty is not over. More than a month after Pawlenty announced that some of the 50-inch, flat-screen TVs would be given to veterans homes across the state, the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs reports that eight of the 14 TVs it received were damaged when they arrived." Department spokeswoman Sarah Graves "said that the…state had insured the shipments. ‘The department has filed the necessary paperwork with FedEx,’ she added."

10.    Louisiana VA To Privatize Veterans Home Medical Care. The AP (12/11) reports, "The full-time doctors and pharmacists on staff at Louisiana’s war veterans homes are going away. Instead, the state Department of Veterans Affairs plans to contract with outside doctors and drug companies to provide those services." On Wednesday, the "Civil Service Commission agreed…to let the veterans department privatize the medical care and pharmacy delivery services as a way to save money." Lane Carson, secretary of the Louisiana VA, "says the move will save $1.5 million a year that can be used to help boost the pay for workers at the five war veterans homes."