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IAVA Applauds Obama Administration’s Focus on Veterans Issues
Posted by Michelle McCarthy on March 18 2009

Today, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the country's first and largest nonpartisan organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, issued a statement in response to the Administration’s decision not to move forward with the third party billing proposal and the announcement from the Department of Defense that they will phase out the stop loss policy.  Read here for more details.

On the Administration’s decision not to move forward with the third party billing proposal:

“Today, the President made a critical decision that will positively impact veterans of all generations who rely on the VA for care.  By deciding not to move forward with a third-party billing proposal, the Administration is upholding our sacred trust with America’s veterans. Veterans of all generations are celebrating this decision,” said IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff. “The President is quickly proving himself to be a committed leader on veterans’ issues. The record increases for VA health care in the President’s budget and the First Lady’s commitment to serving military families demonstrate their appreciation for the sacrifices our servicemembers and their families have made. With the third-party billing issue resolved, we look forward to working with the Administration on addressing the challenges facing new veterans, including timely implementation of the new GI Bill, homelessness, and the alarming rates of mental health injuries.”

On the DoD announcement that they will phase out the stop loss policy:

“Stop-loss was intended to be a band-aid solution in times of emergency.  Instead, it has been regularly used to extend the enlistment contracts of over 160,000 troops since 2001. This policy is corrosive to morale and unfair to military families. Finally, with this change, our troops will get paid for their overtime,” said IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff. “Since 2004, IAVA has called for an end to the abuse of stop-loss, and we applaud the Obama Administration for taking action.  In addition, we are pleased that the Defense Department is implementing the key legislation, introduced by Senator Lautenberg and passed by Congress that will compensate troops for the time they served under this unfair policy.”

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