From the Halls ….

Time to Make a Senate CallMore Info
Ask Senator Coburn to stop holding up Vet’s bills
 
Senator Coburn (OK) has placed “holds” on two significant pieces of veterans’ legislation in the U.S. Senate: S. 252, Veterans Health Care Authorization Act of 2009, and S. 728, Veterans’ Insurance and Benefits Enhancement Act of 2009.

Under the rules of the Senate a “hold” allows a Senator to prevent a bill from reaching a vote on the Senate floor.  It appears Sen. Coburn is using this parliamentary procedure to prevent these two bills from going to the Senate floor and, as a result, VA is being deprived of essential tools to provide high quality care to those who have suffered in service to our nation.

VA faces a looming shortage of health care personnel. Without concerted and timely action, this situation will only worsen in the years ahead.  This is especially true as more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans return home injured and in need of new and specialized care.  In order to avert this problem, VA must be able to offer competitive salaries, work schedules, and benefits.  The provisions in S. 252 will allow VA to recruit and retain nurses, home health aides, and specialty care providers.

S. 252 also contains measures that would improve the efficiency of health care delivery to veterans, including a number of pilot programs designed to help VA find new and innovative ways to deliver better, faster, and more comprehensive treatment.

Women make up an ever growing percentage of the Armed Forces.  As such, they are also making up an ever growing percentage of the veterans’ population.  While there have been efforts over the years to address the unique needs of women veterans, there is much more that VA might do.  To that end, there are provisions in this bill to address current shortcomings and help VA better respond to the increased demand for care from women veterans.

One of the most troubling and difficult challenges of warfare, which can be seen particularly in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, is diagnosing and treating those who suffer from the invisible wounds of war.  The lack of understanding of these injuries, the stigma associated with them, and many other factors make effective treatment difficult.  Last Congress, the Veterans Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act, was enacted as Public Law 110-387. This Congress must build on those advances and continue to provide accessible, cutting-edge care for those afflicted with invisible wounds.  S. 252 would expand eligibility and authority for the Vet Centers to provide needed services, and would commission a comprehensive study on suicides among veterans so that we can improve efforts to prevent such tragedies.

S. 252 will also provide support for homeless veterans through a proposed series of innovative pilot programs.  These programs are designed to significantly improve VA outreach to these veterans, in order to help them access the benefits and services provided by VA.
 
This comprehensive legislation, much of which was considered and passed by the Senate in the last Congress, would improve benefits and services for veterans both young and old.

S. 728, Veterans’ Insurance and Benefits Enhancement Act of 2009, addresses a broad range of veterans’ benefits.  This legislation expands insurance programs, improves benefits for veterans with severe burn injuries, and secures cost-of-living increases for certain benefits, some of which have not been updated for decades.
 
Insurance enhancements include:
A new insurance program for service-connected disabled veterans that would provide up to a maximum of $50,000 in level premium term life insurance coverage.  This new program would be available to service-connected disabled veterans who are less than 65 years of age at the time of application.  More importantly, unlike VA’s Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance program, the premium rates for this program would be based on an updated mortality table, meaning that premiums under this program would be fairer to veterans;
Expanded eligibility for retroactive benefits from traumatic injury protection coverage under the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance program;  and
A $10,000 increase to the amount of supplemental life insurance available to totally disabled veterans.  Many totally disabled veterans find it difficult to obtain commercial life insurance.  This legislation would provide these veterans with a reasonable amount of life insurance coverage.
Other benefits include:
Extending eligibility for automobiles and adaptive equipment for servicemembers and veterans with severe burn injuries;
Significantly raising the benefit rate for parents whose children die either during military service or as a result of a service-connected disability; and 
Securing indexed cost-of-living increases for certain additional benefits for veterans and their families.  
Both of these important bills have passed the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.  Unfortunately, Senator Coburn has placed “holds” on them.
Please give a call to Senator Coburn’s office at (202) 224-5754 and urge him to lift his “holds” on both bills.
 

Budget ax hits veterans

Gov. Granholm’s recent emergency budget cuts $1 million of the $4 million to 11 state veterans organizations. The groups affected:

• American Legion: $226,500
• Disabled American Veterans: $187,200
• Marine Corps League: $86,000
• American Veterans of World War II and Korea: $118,700
• Veterans of Foreign Wars: $226,400
• Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America: $42,500
• Purple Heart: $40,400
• Polish Legion of American Veterans: $10,500
• Jewish Veterans of America: $10,500
• Vietnam Veterans of America: $40,800
• Catholic War Veterans: $10,500

“This message is priority and is being sent out to the entire eleven Departments we must have full support if we are to be successful.” (This has been sent to Phil and Warren MCL. The Legion will send out a mass e-mail and each other organization will disiminate through their information outlets.

Per our conversation today there will be a rally at the State Capital on Thursday the 21st 2009 starting at 3:30 P.M. (1530). The rally is to protest the cuts to our VSO’s by the Governor and section 707 of SB 250 sponsored by Senator Garcia. The Commanders Group has authorized the following signs be made by each organization and brought to the rally. It is suggested that you inform the League membership we need as many as possible to attend and show support for our efforts.. As parking may be a problem we suggest, that they be asked to car pool to help with that problem. Please make the following signs.

1. KEEP VETERANS HELPING VETERANS

2.WHY??? VETERANS CUT 25% ALL OTHERS 4%

3.SUPPORT VETERANS ADVOCACY

4.SAY NO TO SECTION 707 OF SENATE BILL 250

5.STATE CUTS FUNDS IN SPITE OF WAR

Each person attending is asked to wear the organizational cover and if they like bring their organization flag.

Doug Williams
Legislative Director       Legislative Affairs Chairman   Legislative Chairperson
Marine Corps League      American Legion                 Commanders Group
Department of Michigan  Department of Michigan        Department of Michigan

From the Desk of Jim Tuohy:

I HAVE ATTACHED A COPY OF THIS BILL. THE PART THAT DIRECTLY AFFECTS US IS SEC 707 BEGINNING ON PAGE 19.

This bill would permit the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to create an office of Veterans Affairs using 50% of the VSO Budget for the second half of FY-2009-2010 that is currently given to the 11 VSO’s. It would permit them to hire individuals to do veteran counseling and allow them to work with counties to provide at least one trained Service Officer to write claims. The bill does not state who the individuals but it could possibly open this up to law students, law firms, etc. who today know nothing about the work we perform. One thing for sure is that it would be a move to eliminate the VSO’s from service work and close our offices down by   pulling our funding. Currently the 11 VSO’s go into over 85% of the County Offices today doing the same thing, writing claims and advising veterans and their   dependents. There are only about 7 counties with full time County Service Officers. VSO Service Officers visit the remainder of the 83 Counties in the State. A Majority of the County Offices do not want to do claims work as they are busy with other duties and are against this. However, the few officers of their  association are trying to force this issue.

DON’T LET THEM DO IT !! This change was inserted into what we call the boilerplate language of the Senate Bill.

 It was done behind the backs of the VSO Directors and was only done to create a few positions for some folks who otherwise would be out of a job in the next few years. The 11 VSO’s have been operating successfully the current way since the 1920’s. We are very successful at what we do and are required by the VA to train annually to maintain our accreditation. The 11 VSO’s receive an annual grant of just over 4 million per year which is divided between all of the organizations.

Your Marine Corps League VSO receives $346,000 per year to operate our office. Last year all organizations in their annual report to the state reported recoveries (Money back to Veterans and their dependents from the Federal Government) $331,305,715.00 or $85.00 for every $1.00 given to us by the state. This move is nothing more than a power play by a few individuals to establish themselves in a job securing their future,

We ask that all Marine Corps League Detachment, Auxiliaries and Devil Dogs as well as Young Marine Units telephone their Senator and defeat the passage of this bill.

PLEASE  CONTACT YOUR SENATOR AND ASK HIM TO VOTE AGAINST THE PASSAGE OF SENATE BILL 250 (S-1)

Thanks  for your support,  

Semper Fi

Jim Tuohy, Director  

Marine Corps League Veterans Service Office

Please put this out, we need everyone to call their Senator before Wednesday and urge them to vote NO on SB 250 (Appropriations for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs). Senator Valde Garcia, Sen. Alan Cropsey and Senator Jim Barcia are the Senators who approved this as they serve on the Appropriations Committee for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. We ask that you call your Senator and ask them to defeat this bill.

I HAVE ATTACHED A COPY OF THIS BILL. THE PART THAT DIRECTLY AFFECTS US IS SEC 707 BEGINNING ON PAGE 19

This bill would permit the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to create an office of Veterans Affairs using 50% of the VSO Budget for the second half of FY-2009-2010 that is currently given to the 11 VSO’s. It would permit them to hire individuals to do veteran counseling and allow them to work with counties to provide at least one trained Service Officer to write claims. The bill does not state who the individuals but it could possibly open this up to law students, law firms, etc. who today know nothing about the work we perform. One thing for sure is that it would be a move to eliminate the VSO’s from service work and close our offices down by pulling our funding.

Currently the 11 VSO’s go into over 85% of the County Offices today doing the same thing, writing claims and advising veterans and their dependents. There are only about 7 counties with full time County Service Officers. VSO Service Officers visit the remainder of the 83 Counties in the State. A Majority of the County Offices do not want to do claims work as they are busy with other duties and are against this. However, the few officers of their association are trying to force this issue. DON’T LET THEM DO IT !!

This change was inserted into what we call the boilerplate language of the Senate Bill. It was done behind the backs of the VSO Directors and was only done to create a few positions for some folks who otherwise would be out of a job in the next few years. The 11 VSO’s have been operating successfully the current way since the 1920’s. We are very successful at what we do and are required by the VA to train annually to maintain our accreditation. The 11 VSO’s receive an annual grant of just over 4 million per year which is divided between all of the organizations. Your Marine Corps League VSO receives $346,000 per year to operate our office. Last year all organizations in their annual report to the state reported recoveries (Money back to Veterans and their dependents from the Federal Government) $331,305,715.00 or $85.00 for every $1.00 given to us by the state.

This move is nothing more than a power play by a few individuals to establish themselves in a job securing their future, We ask that all Marine Corps League Detachment, Auxiliaries and Devil Dogs as well as Young Marine Units telephone their Senator and defeat the passage of this bill.

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SENATOR AND ASK HIM TO VOTE AGAINST THE PASSAGE OF SENATE BILL 250 (S-1)

Thanks  for your support,

Semper Fi

Jim Tuohy, Director

Marine Corps League

Veterans Service Office