IAVA Daily Brief 07.30.09

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 @iavapressroom [1].

MUST READS

(1) VA claims processing sees strides, setbacks, report says [2]

In testimony before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday, officials from the Government Accountability Office reported preliminary findings that the Veterans Administration's handling of disability claims has seen improvements and setbacks over the past decade. In previously unpublished findings, the GAO reported “over the past several years, VA disability claims workloads at both the initial and appellate levels have improved in some areas and worsened in others,” with the number of disability claims the VA completes annually at the initial level increasing about 60 percent—from about 458,000 in fiscal year 1999 to about 729,000 in fiscal year 2008- but the number of claims pending at year-end increasing 65 percent to about 343,000. At the appellate level, the GAO reported mixed results for claims workloads, noting that the number of appeals resolved increased 22 percent, from more than 72,000 cases in fiscal year 2003 to almost 88,000 cases in fiscal year 2008; however, it took on average 96 days longer in fiscal year 2008 to resolve appeals than in fiscal year 2003. Major reasons for the backlog? The GAO cited "increases in disability claims received, growing complexity of claims, court decisions and changes in regulation." Click here [3] to review the GAO’s preliminary findings.

(2) Women veterans memorial in financial trouble [4]

The Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation which maintains and operates the nation’s only major memorial to female veterans has launched a fundraising campaign it hopes will help maintain operations — and ultimately stave off closure. The memorial, located on a 4.2-acre site at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, is the only national memorial honoring what the foundation estimates are the 2½ million women who have served in the armed forces. Dedicated in 1997, it is visited by some 200,000 people each year. However, the foundation has been forced to launch a $500,000 fundraiser to help offset funding cuts from Congress. In the past, the foundation, which has an annual operating budget of about $2.7 million, has relied upon a combination of private donations and congressional appropriations including $1 million from Congress in each of the past three years. The House version of the 2010 defense appropriations bill pending in Congress includes $2 million for the foundation. Hopefully the measure will pass, foundation president Air Force Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught said closure is not imminent. “We all go through tough times,” Vaught said Wednesday. But “there is no question that we’re going to meet our financial requirements. And we will be open. We will continue to be open. We will work our way through this.”

(3) Vietnam Vets Press VA on Agent Orange, Parkinson’s Connection [5]

Military.com reports today that Vietnam Veterans of America is petitioning VA Secretary General Eric Shinseki to add three illnesses -- including high blood pressure -- to the long list of deadly or debilitating ailments that have been linked to Agent Orange exposure. The VVA’s outreach is the latest in a long fight between some Vietnam veterans’ organizations and the U.S. government to connect a wider range of ailments to the chemical defoliant used throughout the conflict to strip away the enemy’s jungle sanctuaries. “With the body of scientific evidence that currently exists, as well as [your] authority to take immediate action through administrative rulemaking, VVA believes that there is now no factual or legal impediment to presumptive service connection for ischemic heart disease, hypertension, and Parkinson’s disease,” VVA President John Rowan wrote in a July 27 letter to Shinseki. In 2006 the Institute -- which by law conducts the Agent Orange studies every two years – found "limited or suggestive evidence" of an association between high blood pressure and Agent Orange exposure. But the VA did not include the condition on the list of disease presumed to be caused by exposure to the defoliant. In response, a VA spokesman said the agency has formed a working group to review the Institute of Medicine's findings and will make recommendations to Shinseki when it is finished.

AFGHANISTAN

Following a trip to the region earlier this week, U.S. Envoy Richard Holbrooke [6] cast doubt Wednesday on the efficacy of Pakistan’s recent offensive to remove the Taliban from the Swat Valley along Afghanistan’s border. "We don't know exactly to what extent the Pakistani army dispersed or destroyed the enemy," Holbrooke told reporters after returning from the trip. "The test of this operation is, of course, when the refugees return. Can they go home? Are they safe? And we're just going to have to wait and see.” Holbrooke’s assessments came as the Taliban in Afghanistan [7] warned Thursday it would attempt to derail next month's presidential election, calling on Afghans to boycott the poll and urging them to "join the trenches of jihad".

To provide better perspective on ground conditions in Afghanistan, NPR's staff photographer David Gilkey released a video segment Wednesday featuring Marines with the 2nd Battalion, 8th regiment as they faced heavy resistance in order to secure parts of Helmand province in the south. Click here [8] to watch.

IRAQ

Iraq's government admitted Thursday that seven Iranian exiles [9] were killed when Iraqi forces took control of Camp Ashraf north of Baghdad on Tuesday. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh earlier denied anyone died in the clashes Tuesday between police and demonstrators who tried to block their entry to the camp, which has been home to the People's Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI) for about two decades. Iraq, Iran and the United States call the dissident group a terrorist organization. Separately, a bomb exploded [10] inside the building of the Reform and Development Movement party in the Iraqi city of Baquba in Diyala province on Thursday, killing seven people and eight. In addition, police are investigating a Baghdad bank robbery [11] where gunmen killed eight security guards Wednesday and stole nearly $8.5 million from a state-run bank.

The violence comes as the Iraqi Parliament left suddenly [12] for summer recess without voting to extend an agreement for the British military to keep a residual training force of 100 soldiers in Iraq. As a result, British troops must withdraw to Kuwait by Friday, according to a British diplomat, who declined to be identified in keeping with his government’s practice.

In a visit to Washington, D.C., British Foreign Secretary David Miliband [13], speaking alongside U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said Wednesday that the British Foreign Office had informed families of two British citizens- held hostage by militants since 2007 – have "very likely" been killed.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

The Marine Corps Association [14] is under fire for reportedly ignoring fraudulent veterans in its ranks, discovered after the organization published a membership directory listing dozens of unearned military decorations. The criticism follows the association’s response to learning that at least 40 profiles printed in the 2009 Marine Corps Association Membership Directory had false or fraudulent medals listed, including 16 Medals of Honor and 16 Navy Crosses. MCA, a nonprofit, has an estimated 80,000 members.

Separately, Nashville veteran [15] Ron Hereford, who had a colonoscopy in 2003 at a VA hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, speculated Wednesday that he could be the source of an HIV infection spread to other veterans at the facility. The VA recently admitted equipment wasn't properly assembled or sterilized at the facility as well as VA hospitals in Miami, Florida and Augusta, Georgia, causing bodily fluids to be passed from one veteran patient to the next. On Monday, Nashville attorney Mike Sheppard said he is preparing to ask the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs [16] to pay disability benefits and damages for hospital mistakes that may have exposed veterans to HIV as well as Hepatitis. Updated records show that among the patients who have heeded VA warnings to get follow-up blood checks, eight have tested positive for HIV. Twelve former patients have tested positive for hepatitis B and 37 have tested positive for hepatitis C. VA records show 9,141 veterans have received follow-up blood test results among the 10,320 former patients who were warned they might have even minimum risk of exposure.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

On Wednesday, IAVA Member Veteran and Paralympian Carlos Leon testified before the House Veterans Affairs Committee at a hearing focusing on meeting the needs of injured veterans in the military paralympic program. Click here [17] to read his testimony, “Meeting the Needs of Injured Veteran- Athletes,” or watch the webcast [18]. (Start: 01:14:00)

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

THE SENATE

The Senate will convene at 9:30 a.m.

FUTURE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST

August 2, 2009 - SVAC will conduct a field hearing on VA’s outreach to returning Guardsmen. 10:00 a.m.; Oahu Veterans Center (Vasquez)
August 28, 2009 - SVAC will conduct a field hearing on the state of VA’s services on Maui, to include an OIG report of the same. 10:00 a.m.; Maui Cultural Center (Vasquez)

THE HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES

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

HR 3326 [19] — Defense spending

FUTURE HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST

July 30, 2009 - Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Hearing: The Implications of VA’s Limited Scope of Gulf War Illness Research 10:00 a.m.; 334 Cannon HOB
July 30, 2009 Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Hearing: VRE Contracts for Veteran Counseling 1:30 p.m.; 340 Cannon HOB
September 10, 2009 - Joint House and Senate Full Committee Hearing: Legislative Presentation of the American Legion 9:30 a.m.; 345 Cannon

IAVA In the NEWS

Outlet: NY Daily News

Title: IAVA Creates Web Site to Help Vets with New GI Bill [20]

Date: Wednesday, July 29^th