IAVA Daily Brief 06.24.09

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA.  Prefer to receive real time updates about major stories and legislation that IAVA is tracking?  Follow us on Twitter at @iavapressroom [4].

MUST READS

(1)   House Passes Advance Funding for VA Health Care, Seeks to End Delays [5]

After months of lobbying by veteran service organizations, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted (403-1) late Tuesday to pass the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act (HR 1016).  If passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Obama, the legislation will provide timely, predictable funding for veterans’ health care by authorizing Congress to approve a health care budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at least one year in advance.  “Congress took an important step in reforming the way the VA is funded. Advance appropriations means an end to years of late budgets, and the rationing of care for our country's veterans,” said IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff. “This is a sound investment in the future of veterans' healthcare that will benefit millions of American heroes,” said IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff. “IAVA salutes Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Filner for their leadership, and representatives from both sides of the aisle for their support. We look forward to working with the Senate to ensure this bill reaches the President's desk.”  In addition to passing H.R. 1016, the House Appropriations Committee also approved a bill that appropriates $48.2 billion for veterans’ medical care in the 2011 fiscal year; it also passed the Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act [6] by unanimous vote 408-0.  Click here [7] to read IAVA’s full statement about H.R. 1016 or learn more about IAVA Member Veteran’s February 2009 Storm the Hill [8] campaign to lobby Congress and push for advance funding of VA health care.

(2)   Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans to Attend Primetime Televised ‘Conversation’ On Health Care at White House [9]

Following Tuesday’s House passage of advance funding for VA health care, IAVA Member Veterans are scheduled to visit the White House Wednesday evening to participate in a prime-time ABC News special called “Questions for the President: Prescription for America.” The town hall forum will focus on the future of America’s health care system, including veterans’ access to VA health care.  Tune in to ABC News at 10 pm EST to watch or follow @iavapressroom [4] on Twitter for live updates.

(3) Final GI Bill family transfer rules unveiled [10]

The Department of Defense announced Tuesday that service members can register to transfer their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to family members starting June 29th by accessing a new DoD website [11].  Career service members on active duty or in the selected reserve on Aug. 1, 2009, the implementation date for the new benefits, and who are eligible for the “Post 9/11 GI Bill,” may be entitled to transfer all or a portion of their education entitlement to one or more family members.  To be eligible, service members must have served in the Armed Forces for at least six years, and agree to serve four additional years, from the date of election to transfer.  Click here [12] to read the official DoD statement.

(4) Philly VA to research homelessness among vets [13]

The Department of Veterans' Affairs announced Tuesday it will headquarter a new federal agency dedicated to eliminating homelessness among veterans at the VA Medical Center in Philadelphia.  Previously unveiled in May, the National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans plans to provide data, research and analysis to policymakers in hopes of ending the problem of veteran homelessness within five years.  The $1.8 million initiative will have a secondary site in Tampa as well.  Currently, VA officials estimate about 131,000 veterans have no permanent place to live - down from about 154,000 in 2007.  Note:  On Sunday, the New York Times reported that the Philadelphia VA is currently under investigation for botching prostate cancer treatments  [14]for at least 92 veterans between 2002 and 2008.

AFGHANISTAN

A Taliban suicide bomber [15] detonated an explosives-laden van close to a US-led coalition military convoy in Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing two Afghan civilians.  "Two civilians were killed in the suicide attack but there were no casualties to the coalition forces," according to Ghazni province spokesman Ismail Jahangir.

According to the Government Accountability Office [16], terrorist groups and foreign governments including the Taliban are increasingly attempting to purchase sensitive dual-use and military technology from companies in the U.S.  McClatchy-Tribune reports today that Taliban militants have managed to escape U.S. and NATO attacks and carry out painful assaults against foreign forces, thanks to an American state-of-the-art military including night-vision scopes and special infrared patches that U.S. troops wear in Iraq and Afghanistan.  "Based on our conversations with the Department of Defense, terrorists have used U.S. uniforms and the infrared patches to get close to U.S. and allied forces on the battlefield and at bases," the GAO's Jonathan Meyer said.  They have also gained access to inclinometers, which measure an object's slope and can also be used to make IEDs. The GAO issued its report following a 13-month investigation during which it set up front companies and fictitious identities to purchase the equipment.

IRAQ

The Iraqi government declared Tuesday a public holiday [17] to mark next week’s June 30th deadline for U.S. combat troops' withdrawal from Baghdad and other cities. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said that ceremonies will be held on Monday and the deadline itself will be a public holiday, although students will still have to take their final exams as scheduled.  The announcement comes days after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the U.S. withdrawal from the cities a “great victory,” despite a spate of suicide attacks that killed over 100 people throughout the weekend.

Meanwhile, ahead of next week’s withdrawal deadline, observers are raising caution flags about security in Fallujah [18] – a former stronghold of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Iraq war.  For over a year, American engineers have been working hard in the city on a $100 million wastewater treatment plant meant to be a model for civilian advances in Iraq but a recent spate of violence is raising alarm the Iraqi security force there is incapable of fending off an insurgent uprising.  “In 2008 it was almost completely stabilized,” said Brig. Gen. Sadoun Taleb, a member of the anti-insurgent Awakening militia who is now in the police in the village of Shihabi, a former trouble spot outside Falluja. “In eight months, not one thing happened. Now these last seven months, it’s getting worse and worse.”  Much of the new violence including a car bombing over the weekend is attributed not to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, but to more local insurgent groups, including the Mujahedeen Army [19], which claimed responsibility for killing the three American reconstruction officials, and the Islamic Army of Iraq. 

MILITARY AFFAIRS

The National Guard Bureau confirmed Tuesday that Air Force Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr. [20], former commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, and his wife, Ann, were two nine people killed in a deadly train collision Monday in Washington, D.C.  Wherley and his wife leave behind a son, David, a noncommissioned officer in the Army Golden Knights, and daughter, Betsy.

Dr. Stephen Ondra [21], professor of neurological surgery and medical computer whiz at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, has emerged as the likely candidate for under secretary for health at the Veterans Health Administration.  NextGov.com reports that Ondra, an Army Gulf War vet who did his residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, [22] has a policy-making GS Schedule C appointment and is serving as a top-level adviser to VA Secretary Shinseki while the VA initiates a formation of a search committee to interview, evaluate, and recommend him for the formal position.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

Senator Arlen Specter  [23](D-PA) said Tuesday that he will hold a special hearing in Philadelphia on Monday to address an unfolding scandal at the city's VA Medical Center involving botched prostate cancer treatments.  As mentioned above, reports surfaced Sunday that the VA shut down a rogue medical team at the facility which mistreated 92 prostate cancer patients between 2002 and 2008 giving them improper doses of "brachytherapy" radiation.  "The news accounts have created a great deal of concern in the veterans' community," Specter said. "They report very serious problems and ... it is a matter for congressional oversight. We need to find out what happened."

Separately, Congress is asking the CIA to review [24] its classified documents after a former CIA employee reported that more than 1.5 million documents exist detailing poisonous gas exposures during Operation Desert Storm.  “Ill Desert Storm veterans have been waiting for years for our government to make public any information in its possession about the kinds of toxic agents they may have been exposed to during and immediately after the 1991 war,” Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) Tuesday. “This is a long-overdue stop toward meeting that goal.”  The intelligence authorization bill passing through Congress now includes language that would require the CIA to review the classification of those documents, with the intent of declassifying them so lawmakers can learn more about the cause(s) of Gulf War Syndrome.

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

TBA.

IAVA IN THE NEWS

Outlet: NPR

Title: 'Colbert Show" Back from Iraq [25]

Date: Monday, June 22nd

Representative: Allison Silverman, IAVA

WHAT THE BLOGS ARE SAYING

Outlet: New York Observer

Title: Craig Newmark Teams With White House All for Good [26]

Date: Tuesday, June 23rd

Representative: IAVA, Craig Newmark

Outlet: Sam Spade

Title: Veterans Health Care Victory! [27] 

Date: Tuesday, June 23rd

Representative: IAVA

Outlet: Appomattox News

Title: Perriello Supports Key Bills to Improve VA Care for Women Veterans [28]

Date: Tuesday, June 23rd

Representative: IAVA