Vet issues update from IAVA.org

WARNING!!!! Many of you will find this extremely boring and long! For the rest of you, thank you for giving even half a shit!

From IAVA.org

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/18/AR2009031803394.html

Following a meeting Wednesday between the White House and the nation's top 11 veteran service organizations, President Obama abandoned consideration of a third-party billing proposal that would have allowed the VA to bill veteran's private insurance companies for treatment of service-related injuries at VA hospitals and clinics.  "In considering the third-party billing issue, the administration was seeking to maximize the resources available for veterans," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. "However, the president listened to concerns raised by the [organization leaders] that this might, under certain circumstances, affect veterans and their families' ability to access health care."  IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff applauded the President for "upholding our sacred trust with America's veterans" and said "the President is quickly proving himself to be a committed leader on veterans’ issues."  To read IAVA's full statement applauding the President's decision, click here.
(2) Gates: Goal is to end forced Army service by 2011
 
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced Wednesday that the Pentagon will start cutting back on its controversial use of stop loss policy - holding troops beyond their enlistment dates - with the intent to cease the practice within two years.  "I felt, particularly in these numbers, that it was breaking faith," Gates told reporters.  "I believe that when somebody's end date of service comes, to hold them against their will, if you will, is just not the right thing to do."  Gates cautioned, however, that the military will retain the authority to use stop-loss under extraordinary circumstances.  As part of the plan, troops that are stop lossed will get $500-per-month payments for extending their service and it will be made retroactive for those who were on the stop-loss roles as of October 2008.  Read the DoD's official statement here.  To read IAVA's reaction in response to the Pentagon's decision, click here.
 
(3) U.S. Plans Vastly Expanded Afghan Security Force
 
U.S. officials indicated Wednesday that President Obama's long-awaited review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan calls for the expansion of Afghan security forces to 400,000 troops and national police officers, more than twice the forces’ current size, and more than three times the size American officials believed would be adequate for Afghanistan in 2002.  Per reports, the Administration believes a much larger professional army and national police force is the best chance to filling the void left by an unstable central government.  It is expected the cost of the expansion program could range from $10 billion to $20 billion over the next six or seven years.
 
(4) Poll: Six years after Iraq invasion, focus reverts to Afghanistan
 
As the Obama Administration prepares for a troop "surge" in Afghanistan, a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll released Thursday showed that 42% of Americans think the United States made a mistake in originally sending forces to Afghanistan, up from 30% last month and just 9% in late 2001.
 
(5) OPINION: Our Must-Win War
 
In an editorial in the Washington Post today, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) call for a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. war strategy in Afghanistan arguing that now is not the time for a "minimalist" approach in the region.  "Let there be no doubt: The war in Afghanistan can be won. Success -- a stable, secure, self-governing Afghanistan that is not a terrorist sanctuary -- can be achieved," McCain and Lieberman right.  "Just as in Iraq, there is no shortcut to success, no clever "middle way" that allows us to achieve more by doing less. A minimalist approach in Afghanistan is a recipe not for winning smarter but for losing slowly at tremendous cost in American lives, treasure and security"
 
AFGHANISTAN
 
New details emerged Wednesday about the Administration's review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, indicating that advisers have recommended to the President a civilian "surge" of hundreds of additional U.S. officials in Afghanistan to accompany an already approved 17,000 troop increase.  Administration insiders said the proposed strategy, which the President will formally announce next week, includes a more narrowly focused concentration on security, governance and local development in Afghanistan, with continued emphasis on rule-of-law issues and combating the narcotics trade.  Currently, most of the 12 U.S. provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan are run by military officials.
 
Meanwhile, NATO appealed Wednesday to its member states for up to 4,000 extra troops for Afghanistan, amid fears that Taliban militants will step up attacks to try to sabotage Afghan presidential elections this summer.
 
Additionally, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she has no immediate plans to meet separately with Iranian diplomats at a March 31st international conference to discuss strategy in Afghanistan.
 
The U.S. military confirmed that NATO and Afghan troops killed two militants Thursday in a raid against al Qaeda bomb-makers in the Bati Kot district in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul.  Hundreds of locals staged a protest following the raid arguing the dead were civilians and the U.S. had not coordinated with Afghan forces.  Separately, a road side bomb killed a key anti-Taliban lawmaker Dad Mohammad Khan and four others in Helmand province on Thursday.
 
IRAQ
 
Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the 22-nation Arab League, called Wednesday for Iraqis to push for reconciliation and cease secular polarization in order to achieve national stability ahead of a U.S. troop drawdown.
 
In other news, Iraq's Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said Thursday it has received its first group of Western tourists - five Britons, two Americans and a Canadian- since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
 
MILITARY AFFAIRS
 
Less than a month after reversing an 18-year ban on news coverage of the return of war dead, the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday it will pay for families of fallen soldiers to travel to Dover Air Base in Delaware where the U.S. military’s deceased are flown from overseas.  Once on site, officials said the designated “primary next of kin” will have an opportunity to decide on behalf of the servicemember's family whether to allow media coverage of the flag-draped casket.
 
An aside, PBS announced Wednesday that on April 1st it will air a special program, "Coming Home: Military families Cope with Change," portraying several American children and their families whose fathers came home from Iraq and Afghanistan with life-changing injuries, both visible and invisible.  Following a special screening of the program on Wednesday, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said the show will not only help the children of wounded veterans but "it will assist their neighbors to appreciate, maybe even understand, what military families are going through -- so that they can reach out, lend a hand, or simply listen to, and emphathize with, our heroes and families."  Check back for more details as the air date approaches.
 
INSIDE WASHINGTON
 
At a subcommittee meeting of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli told lawmakers that "stress" and a "tired force" are big factors in the recent spike in the suicides among Army personnel.  Chiarelli said about two-thirds of the 140 servicemembers who committed suicide in 2008 were either deployed or had deployed, and a vast majority were dealing with some type of relationship problem or had legal, financial or occupational difficulties.
 
 
CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE
 
THE SENATE
     
The Senate will convene at 9:30 a.m.
 
COMMITTEE REPORTS and PRESS RELEASES of  INTEREST

• Akaka Praises Obama, Administration for dropping proposal to charge Veterans’ insurers for Combat Injuries  
• Akaka Announces Confirmation Hearings on VA Nominees Gould and Duckworth  

FUTURE NOMINATIONS and  APPOINTMENTS of  INTEREST

• April 1, 2009 - SVAC hearing on the nomination of W. Scott Gould to be the Deputy Secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs.  10:00 A.M.; 418 Russell 

FUTURE COMMITTEE HEARINGS  of  INTEREST

• March 25, 2009 - SVAC will hold a hearing on the State of the Art IT Solutions for VA Benefits Delivery.  Stephen Warren, Acting Assistant Secretary, OIT, and Keith Wilson, Director, Education Services, will be invited to testify.  9:30 A.M.; 418 Russell (Vasquez)

THE HOUSE of  REPRESENTATIVES

The House will convene at 10:00 a.m.

       
FLOOR ACTIVITY of  INTEREST
H.Res. 257  - Providing for consideration of motions to suspend the Rules (Rep. Slaughter – Rules)
 

Suspensions (2 Bills)

1)  H.R. 1586  - Additional tax on bonuses received from certain TARP recipients (Rep. Rangel – Ways and Means)

2)  H.Con.Res. __ - Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding executive and employee bonuses paid by AIG and other companies assisted with taxpayer funds provided under the Troubled Assets Relief Program of the Secretary of the Treasury (Rep. Kilroy – Financial Services)

Dispose of H.Res. __ - Raising a question of privileges of the House (Rep. Flake – Privileged Resolution)
 

Postponed Suspension Vote (1 Bill)

1)  H.R. 1216  - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1100 Town and Country Commons in Chesterfield, Missouri, as the "Lance Corporal Matthew P. Pathenos Post Office Building" (Rep. Akin - Oversight and Government Reform)

       
COMMITTEE HEARINGS of  INTEREST

• March 19, 2009 -  House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Markup of H.R. 228, H.R. 466, H.R. 1088, H.R. 1089, and H.R. 1171  1:00 p.m.; 340 Cannon
• March 19, 2009 - House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health Markup of H.J. 1377:  10:00 a.m..; 334 Cannon
• March 19, 2009 -  House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health:  Closing the Health Gap of Veterans in Rural Areas: Discussion of Funding and Resource Coordination  Time:  Immediately following Markup  10:15 a.m..; 334 Cannon

 
 
IAVA IN THE NEWS
 
Media Outlet: Washington Post
Title: Obama Drops Plan to Bill Veterans' Private Insurers
Date: Thursday, March 19th
Representative: Paul Rieckhoff
 
Media Outlet: Huffington Post
Title: Veterans Oppose Outsourcing VA Health Care Costs
Date: Wednesday, March 19th
Representative: Paul Rieckhoff
 
Media Outlet: McClatchy Newspapers/ Houston Chronicle
Title: White House caves on veterans plan, but what was it thinking?
Date: Thursday, March 19th
Representative: Paul Rieckhoff
 
Media Outlet: Kansas City Star
Title: Obama drops controversial insurance plan for vets
Date: Thursday, March 19th
Representative: Paul Rieckhoff
 
Media Outlet: CNN
Title: Obama dropping vets insurance proposal
Date: Thursday, March 19th
Representative: Paul Rieckhoff