Dems Bury Resolution Due to War Fears

Dems bury resolution due to war fears
Nicholas Kralev
Friday, September 26, 2008

The House Democratic leadership has effectively shelved a resolution calling for what critics say would amount to a naval blockade of Iran because of concerns that it could provoke another war, officials on Capitol Hill said.

Even though the document would not be a law but a "statement of policy" aimed at preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, the Democratic leadership is worried that it could be viewed by the Bush administration as a green light to use military force against Iran, officials said.

Howard L. Berman, California Democrat and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he has concerns about the current text and will not bring it before the committee until those issues are addressed. That, in effect, blocks the document from reaching the floor.

"If Congress is to make a statement of policy, it should encompass a strategy on how to gain consensus on multilateral sanctions to change Iran's behavior," Lynne Weil, a spokeswoman for committee, said in reference to Tehran's defiance of three U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The draft "demands that the president initiate an international effort" that would impose "stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains and cargo entering or departing Iran." It would also ban "the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who made his annual appearance in New York at the U.N. General Assembly this week, told fellow heads of state that Iran has an "inalienable right" to produce nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes. Tehran denies that it intends to make weapons but has failed to satisfy the concerns of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The nonbinding resolution, which is a top legislative priority of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), also says that "nothing in this resolution shall be construed as an authorization of the use of force against Iran."

"We'll resubmit it when Congress comes back, and we'll have even more signatures," said Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, New York Democrat and author of the resolution, adding that it now has at least 270 co-sponsors.

"This is a way to avoid war by using diplomatic, political and economic tools," Mr. Ackerman said.

However, critics argue that, in effect, the resolution would authorize a blockade of the Islamic republic and significantly raise tensions in the Persian Gulf.

"There is language in this resolution that may imply congressional approval of a blockade of Iran," Rep. Tom Allen, Maine Democrat, said during the summer. "I believe our nation should be engaging in tough diplomatic talks with Iran that will permanently dismantle that country's nuclear weapons program, and that sanctions should be part of that strategy."

Mr. Allen and several other members who initially supported the draft have since withdrawn their signatures.

The draft has divided congressional Democrats, some of whom are torn between their support for Israel and concern about Iran's behavior on one hand, and potentially helping to provoke hostilities with Iran on the other.

It has also prompted aggressive lobbying against the document by Iranian-American groups.

"The division among Democrats is an indication of how the mood on Capitol Hill has changed," said Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council.

AIPAC, which has been lobbying for the resolution's passage, said the IAEA's recent report on Iran's nuclear activities is "alarming" and requires a "strong message" from Congress.

"The vast support for the draft shows that there is bipartisan concern about Iran," said spokesman Josh Block.

Mr. Ackerman said he was in "discussions" with opponents of the draft to "clarify the language."

A similar draft has been introduced in the Senate. Although its language appears to be less controversial than the House version, it will not reach the floor either, officials said. The current House legislative session is scheduled to adjourn Friday. The Senate has not set a target date for adjournment.

VA to Increase Benefits for Brain Trauma

VA to Increase Benefits for Brain Trauma

Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The government plans to substantially increase disability benefits for veterans with mild traumatic brain injuries, acknowledging for the first time that veterans suffering from this less severe version of the Iraq war's signature wound will struggle to make a living.
"We're saying it's real," said Tom Pamperin, a deputy director for the Department of Veteran Affairs, about the significance of the change to benefits in the regulation the VA plans to publish today.

Up to 320,000 troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffered traumatic brain injury, a RAND Corp. study estimated this year. The vast majority of the cases are mild and came from exposure to an explosion, often from a roadside bomb. Most veterans with mild cases recover, Pamperin said, but some are left with permanent problems.

Compensation could reach $600 a month, the VA said. Currently, veterans with symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, sensitivity to light, ringing in the ears and irritability and insomnia collect $117.

After it takes effect in 30 days, the new regulation will benefit between 3,500 and 5,000 veterans a year, the department said. It estimated the changes would cost an extra $120 million through 2017.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Afghanistan | Virginia | Iraq | Century | Institute of Medicine | Rand Corp | Disabled | Veterans Affairs Committee | Sen. Daniel Akaka | Department of Veteran Affairs | D-Hawaii
More than 1.6 million U.S. troops have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. About half of those are now veterans, and slightly less than half of those veterans have sought health care from the VA, records show. In the past year, the department has screened 190,000 of these veterans for brain injury. About 20% showed signs of a brain injury, but only about 5% were confirmed as suffering the wound.

The regulation modifies a 1961 rating schedule for mild brain trauma and brings compensation for this ailment into the 21st Century, said Lonnie Bristow, chairman of an Institute of Medicine committee that studied veterans' benefits.

The old regulation failed to recognize that wounds such as brain injuries from blasts — which do not show up on scans — are only understood by what patients say they are suffering, Bristow said.

"VA has been assessing their injuries based on outdated science," said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee.

Veterans groups, such as the Disabled American Veterans, applauded the change. However, they said the estimated numbers of traumatic brain injury cases may prove low, because the science around blast damage to the brain is still new.

Veterans who have suffered the most severe brain injuries will not receive much, if any, extra money because existing regulations provided adequate compensation in serious cases, Pamperin said. Consolidating all brain injury standards into one regulation, he said, will make it easier for veterans to get extra benefits to pay for special circumstances such as being housebound by the injury.

Lawmakers Pass VA Budget a Year in Advance

Lawmakers: Pass VA budget a year in advance

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 22, 2008 8:12:33 EDT

In response to years of complaints about late and unpredictable veterans’ health care funding, the House and Senate veterans’ affairs committee chairmen have introduced a proposal to provide funding one year in advance.

This is exactly what the Partnership for Veterans Health Care Budget Reform, a group of nine veterans groups, had been calling for.

The idea is a radical change from current law, and would treat the Veterans Affairs Department budget differently than budgets for other federal agencies.

It is unlikely the legislation would come to a vote this year, but its introduction — slightly more than a month before the general elections — gives veterans the chance to try to press more lawmakers to get on board. The proposal would need substantial support just to get serious consideration, according to congressional aides involved in federal budgeting issues.

VA runs the largest health care system in the nation, “but its funding is untimely and unpredictable,” said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, the Senate veterans committee chairman. “Advance funding for veterans’ health care is better for veterans, taxpayers, and VA.”

“For almost two decades, veterans health care funding has either been insufficient or late, and usually it is both,” said Randy Pleva, president of Paralyzed Veterans of America, one of the groups in the partnership that has sought the change. “While funding bills have increased in recent years, especially the last two years, they are still consistently late. We must reform the funding system if we are to assure comprehensive and timely health care services for current and future generations of veterans.”

Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., one of the 126 cosponsors of the House version of the bill, called the current budgeting process — in which Congress rarely completes its work by the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1 — “simply unacceptable.”

The budget has been late 17 of the last 19 years, he said.

The Senate version of the bill has nine cosponsors.

The House veterans committee chairman, Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., called the bill a “historic new approach to guarantee that our veterans have access to comprehensive, quality health care that they deserve and have earned.”

“For too many years, VA has had to make do with insufficient budgets resulting in restricted access for many veterans,” Filner said. “When funding is short, it is our veterans who pay the price.”

VA Benefits Nominee Would Prep for Change

VA benefits nominee would prep for change

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Sep 18, 2008 11:45:44 EDT

In the remaining 3½ months of the Bush administration, the nominee to head the Veterans’ Benefits Administration knows he cannot put much of a dent in the backlog of benefits claims, nor significantly reduce the time it takes for claims to be processed.

But retired Rear Adm. Patrick Dunne, nominated to be VA’s undersecretary of benefits, said Wednesday he will concentrate on setting the stage so things work more smoothly for the next administration.

Getting VA ready to pay Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits when that program takes effect on Aug. 1, 2009, is a top priority, Dunne said. Continuing to prepare for a future paperless claims system and completing a review of disability ratings issues so the next administration could reform benefits are two other things he’d like to get done in the remaining months of the Bush presidency.

Dunne, currently VA’s acting benefits director, appears to have strong support among members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. But congressional aides, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said getting a full Senate vote on the nomination could be difficult because of concerns among some senators about veterans’ issues not directly related to Dunne.

The aides would not name the senators.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, veterans’ committee chairman, strongly endorsed Dunne.

“You have been doing a good job,” Akaka said.

The committee’s ranking Republican member, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, also endorsed Dunne, saying the nominee could help set in motion changes at VA to help veterans in the future.

Dunne said harnessing technology to help process claims and allowing veterans to file electronic claims and to send e-mail to claims processors are keys to a faster, more accurate system.

But he said technology is not a cure-all. “I intend to ensure that every Veterans Benefits Administration employee has the requisite training to be effective in his or her job,” Dunne said. “Technology is not the magic wand that will deliver benefits rapidly and accurately. Rather, we need a well-trained work force that can effectively use those tools.”

The issue of harnessing technology is creating a controversy over implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill because VA is turning to an outside contractor to develop a software program to process claims, make tuition payments directly to colleges and universities, and make payments for living expenses and book allowances.

Dunne said VA does not have a payment system configured to handle such benefits, which is why it is turning to the private sector for help, adding that VA is preparing backup plans in case the contractor is not ready by Aug. 1.

Akaka said outsourcing benefits on a permanent basis “would be ill-advised” and hopes VA plans to cancel the contract as soon as it can. But Burr said he is comfortable with using outside companies to process claims; he said his own experience in helping constituents showed that government payment systems are far from error-free.

Naval Enlisted Reserve Association-NERA: House Agrees to Make Up Pay for Reservists

Naval Enlisted Reserve Association-NERA: House Agrees to Make Up Pay for Reservists

Congress May Abandon Vets' Legislation

Here is another reason why we should be writing letters to our Congressman. This is from the Navy Times website.

Congress may abandon vets’ legislation

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Sep 18, 2008 6:11:02 EDT

Congress appears to be on the verge of abandoning major veterans’ issues in a rush to leave town to run for re-election, charges the legislative director of one of the nation’s largest veterans’ organizations.

Joseph Violante, legislative chief for 1.3-million-member Disabled American Veterans, said partisan disagreements kept Congress from passing major veterans’ health and benefits bills last year, and the situation appears to be repeating this year.

With congressional leaders talking about wrapping up the legislative session by Sept. 26 and not returning to work until January, Violante said he wished he had more confidence important legislation would pass.

“They keep saying they are working on something, but time is running out, and all we see are problems,” Violante said Tuesday in an interview. “They cannot seem to do much of anything these days.”

Veterans’ benefits legislation is tied up over a dispute about whether to increase pensions to Filipino Scouts and other World War II veterans, Violante said, while health care legislation is bogged down, in part, over gun-ownership restrictions for veterans diagnosed with or being treated for mental health issues.

“Congress seems to be good at finding problems,” Violante said. “I wish they were as good at fixing them.”

Congress has passed a veterans’ cost-of-living adjustment bill and a major improvement in GI Bill education benefits, but it has failed to pass legislation to improve mental health programs, expand health care for women veterans, improve diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injuries, and help families who are caring for severely disabled veterans, he said.

Delay on veterans’ legislation is never a good thing, Violante said, but work on the bills is even more important with tens of thousands of troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We are at war and making additional disabled veterans every day,” he said.

Aides on the House and Senate veterans’ affairs committees said lawmakers are trying to work out a compromise on a large pile of bills, but they would not predict when or even if agreement could be reached

House Agrees to Make Up Pay for Reservists

Tell us what you think about this article!

House Agrees to Make Up Pay for Reservists
By Molly K. Hooper, CQ Staff

House employees called up for extended active duty would be compensated for their lost income under a bill the House passed Thursday.

The bill (HR 6608), which passed by voice vote after being postponed for much of the week, would direct the House to provide the difference in pay between a staff member's House salary and military pay when the staff member is on active duty for more than 30 days.

Employees must be on the House payroll for at least 90 days to be eligible for the benefit.

Bill sponsor Robert A. Brady, D-Pa., who chairs the House Administration Committee, said the extra salary would not be deducted from office allowances but from some other "appropriate account."

The bill does not apply to Senate staff. By tradition, each chamber makes the decisions that apply to its own employees.

NERA's Memorial Walk

Join NERA’s Memorial Walk

Become a part of history by purchasing a brick on the NERA Memorial Walk. NERA has a long history of protecting the rights and benefits of the enlisted reserves. You can help continue this tradition. By purchasing a brick you can memorialize a shipmate, family member, yourself, or significant time in your military history.

Each 4" x 8" brick will be custom engraved to your specifications and placed in the Memorial Walk in front of NERA Headquarters. For more Information contact: NERA Headquarters, Attn: Laura Martin, 6703 Farragut Ave., Falls Church, VA 2204. 703/534-1329 or lkmartin@nera.org.

Transitional Assistance Management Program

The Transitional Assistance Management Program
(TAMP) provides 180 days of transitional health care benefits
to uniformed services members and their families, if the
sponsor is:
• Involuntarily separating from active duty under honorable
conditions
• A National Guard or Reserve member separating from active
duty for a period of more than 30 consecutive days in support
of a contingency operation
• Separating from active duty following involuntary retention
(stop-loss) in support of a contingency operation
• Separating from active duty following a voluntary agreement
to stay on active duty for less than one year in support of a
contingency operation
For those who qualify, the 180-day TAMP period begins upon
the active duty sponsor’s separation. During TAMP, sponsors
and family members are eligible to enroll in TRICARE Prime,
TRICARE Prime Overseas or use TRICARE Standard and
Extra or TRICARE Standard Overseas.

2008 NERA Service to the Reservist Award Winner

SK1(SW) Kenneth L. Goldwire is the winner of this year's Service to the Reservist Award. SK1(SW) Goldwire is attached to Navy Operational Support Center (NAVOPSPTCEN) Orlando, Florida. Petty Officer Goldwire provided outstanding customer service and logistical suppport to 650 selected reservists assigned to NAVOPSPTCEN Orlando as well as 150 mobilized sailors supporting the Global War on Terror.

As the NERA Service to the Reservist Award Winner, Petty Officer Goldwire will be awarded a Navy and Marine Corp achievement medal, receive an engraved plaque from NERA and COMNAVRESFOR at the NERA National Conference held in Orlando, FL 14-19 October 2008.

CONGRATULATIONS SK1(SW) Goldwire!

NERA Members in Malaysia

Brian Brannon, Assistant Mariner Editor, is currently in Malaysia with CARAT 2008. He has provided NERA with photos of sailors delivering toys to the children in a Malaysian school.
CHUKAI, Malaysia (July 8, 2008) Seaman Shanti Redus, assigned to the USS Tortuga (FFG 46), leads an impromptu jam session during a community relations project at the PDK Kompleks Penyayang school during the Malaysian phase of Cooperation Afloat Readiness And Training (CARAT) 2008. CARAT is an annual series of bilateral maritime training exercises involving the U.S. and six Southeast Asia nations designed to build relationships and enhance operational readiness. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian Brannon.
CHUKAI, Malaysia (July 8, 2008) Chief Boatswain's Mate Ernest Pippen spends time with a student during a community relations project at the PDK Kompleks Penyayang school during the Malaysian phase of Cooperation Afloat Readiness And Training (CARAT) 2008. CARAT is an annual series of bilateral maritime training exercises involving the U.S. and six Southeast Asia nations designed to build relationships and enhance operational readiness. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian Brannon.

CHUKAI, Malaysia (July 8, 2008) Seaman Apprentice James Watts, assigned to the USS Ford (FFG 54), lets a student push him over during a community relations project at the PDK Kompleks Penyayang school during the Malaysian phase of Cooperation Afloat Readiness And Training (CARAT) 2008. CARAT is an annual series of bilateral maritime training exercises between the U.S. and six Southeast Asia nations designed to build relationships and enhance operational readiness. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian Brannon.

CHUKAI, Malaysia (July 9, 2008) Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Andre Batts, assigned to the amphibious dock landing ship USS Toruga (LSD-46), demonstrates proper ball spinning technique during a community relations project at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kijal elementary school as part of Cooperation Afloat Readiness And Training (CARAT) 2008. CARAT is an annual series of bilateral maritime training exercises between the United States and six Southeast Asia nations designed to build relationships and enhance the operational readiness of participating forces. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian Brannon

Removal of Social Security Numbers

DoD Prepares to Remove SSNs from Identity Cards
In response to Congressional pressure to protect service members and their families from identity theft, the Department of Defense is moving ahead with plans to remove Social Security numbers (SSNs) from identity cards. SSNs will be removed from the identity cards of family members by year's end and replaced temporarily by the sponsor's SSN. By 2009, the SSN will also be removed from service members' ID cards. More information about this issue is available from the Army Times online.

Pay in Vet's Program Ruled Tax Free

WASHINGTON -- Payments provided to veterans under two specific programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) -- the Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) and Incentive Therapy (IT) programs -- are no longer taxable, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Veterans who paid tax on these benefits in the past three years can claim refunds.
Recipients of CWT and IT payments no longer receive a Form 1099 (Miscellaneous Income) from VA. Veterans who paid tax on these benefits in tax years 2004, 2005 or 2006 can claim a refund by filing an amended tax return using IRS Form 1040X. Nearly 19,000 veterans received CWT benefits last year, while 8,500 received IT benefits.
The IRS agreed with a U.S. Tax Court decision earlier in 2007 that CWT payments are tax-free veterans benefits. In so doing, the agency reversed a 1965 ruling that these payments were taxable and required VA to report payments as taxable income.
The CWT and IT programs provide assistance to veterans unable to work and support themselves. Under the CWT program, VA contracts with private industry and the public sector for work by veterans, who learn new job skills, strengthen successful work habits and regain a sense of self-esteem and self-worth. Veterans are compensated by VA for their work and, in turn, improve their economic and social well-being.
Under the IT program, seriously disabled veterans receive payments for providing services at about 70 VA medical centers.