IAVA Daily Brief 11.03.09

 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) IAVA Urges Passage of Veterans Health Care Bill [2]

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is trying to bring pressure on the Senate to bring a veterans health care bill up for debate despite the anonymous hold on the bill placed by a senator. The bill in question is S 1963, the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009, which includes three top priorities of the veterans organization. It contains a package of improvements for female veterans, including more training for mental health providers in treating sexual trauma, a pilot program to offer child care so that veterans who have children find it easier make appointments, and a trial counseling program in which newly separated female veterans would be treated in retreat-like settings. IAVA is encouraging people to take action [3] by calling your Senators now. Tell them to pass the VA budget, so that veterans get the care they deserve. Click here to place your call - our online tool makes it easy.

2) Suicide Toll Fuels Worry that Army is Strained [4]

The Wall Street Journal reports that in October, 16 US soldiers killed themselves while on duty abroad or domestically, bringing the 2009 total of active-duty suicides to 134 and indicating that the 2008 record of 140 active-duty may be broken. Now, as the Obama Administration is considering deploying more troops to Afghanistan, some military experts worry that longer deployments and decreased time between deployments could contribute further to rising suicide rates. An ongoing suicide-prevention effort by the US Army has shown some modest effects, but officials from the Army are still trying to ascertain if October's suicide figures were anomalous or indicative of a true rise in the number of military suicides.

3) President Obama Admonishes Karzai about Corruption [5]

President Obama on Monday admonished President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan that he must take on what American officials have said he avoided during his first term: the rampant corruption and drug trade that have fueled the resurgence of the Taliban. As Mr. Karzai was officially declared the winner of the much-disputed presidential election, Mr. Obama placed a congratulatory call in which he asked for a “new chapter” in the legitimacy of the Afghan government. What he is seeking, Mr. Obama told reporters afterward, is “a sense on the part of President Karzai that, after some difficult years in which there has been some drift, that in fact he’s going to move boldly and forcefully forward and take advantage of the international community’s interest in his country to initiate reforms internally. That has to be one of our highest priorities.” In response [6], President Hamid Karzai, in his first speech since he was declared the winner of the much disputed presidential election, said Tuesday that he wanted to tackle corruption but made no specific commitments to reorganize his administration.

4) Summit Aims to End Homelessness Among Vets in Five Years [7]

Government and military officials will meet for the next three days with state, local, religious and other community leaders for the biggest-ever government-sponsored summit on homeless veterans. The goal of the summit is to end homelessness among veterans [8] in the next five years. One-third of adult homeless men and nearly one-fifth of all homeless adults in the U.S. are military veterans, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Estimates suggest 131,000 veterans may be homeless on any given night, and about twice the number are homeless at some point during a year. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki has vowed to cut the number of veterans sleeping on the streets and wants to ensure the department does what it can to help vets avoid homelessness. He will address the summit Tuesday afternoon.

AFGHANISTAN

The U.S. government does not know exactly how many contractors [9] it employs in Afghanistan, a U.S. commission said on Monday, raising basic questions about oversight of wartime operations. Contractors in Afghanistan outnumber U.S. troops there and scandals involving misconduct by employees of private firms on the U.S. payroll in Afghanistan and Iraq have prompted calls by Congress for greater accountability.

A Foreign Service officer who resigned in protest over U.S. policy in Afghanistan says America shouldn't be bogged down in "a civil war" [10] in South Asia. Matthew Hoh is a former Marine who fought in Iraq and became a diplomat in a Taliban stronghold. He said on NBC's "Today" show Monday he's gotten support for stepping down after only six months in the job. Hoh also said "there's been no ill will" from the Obama administration. Hoh said the Afghan people view U.S. troops as occupiers and that it makes no sense to carry on.

IRAQ

A U.N. special envoy has met with top Iraqi officials [11] to discuss government complaints of outside involvement in the recent wave of terrorism. Official figures, just released, show the number of terror casualties doubled for the month of October. Iraqi officials are praising the mission of U.N. envoy Oscar Fernandez-Taranco to Baghdad to investigate allegations of foreign involvement in recent bloody suicide bombings. Taranco's arrival follows lengthy lobbying by the government to hold an independent international inquiry. 

Nearly half of all Iraqis [12] who died in October perished in a single coordinated attack against government offices in Baghdad, a tally by The Associated Press showed Monday. Of the 364 Iraqis killed over the past month, according to the AP count, 155 died in two nearly simultaneous bombs targeting government buildings Oct. 25 in downtown Baghdad — the worst coordinated attack in more than two years.

A Kurdish member of Iraq's parliament said Monday that [13] the United States is pressuring the "highest levels of the Kurdish leadership" to accept a compromise that would dictate how national elections would be held in January. Mahmoud Othman said the United States urged the Kurdish majority in the northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk to agree to a proposal that would settle issues about the law that spells out how the election will be carried out.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

Serious safety issues continued to plague a southern Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital even after major surgeries were suspended two years ago because of a spike in patient deaths, according to a federal report released Monday. Surgeons at the VA medical center [14] in Marion, Ill., performed procedures without proper authorization, patient deaths were not assessed adequately and miscommunication between staff members persisted, the Veterans Affairs Department's inspector general said in the report, which covers the fiscal year that recently ended. The hospital has been under intense scrutiny since 2007 when a former surgeon resigned three days after a patient bled to death following gall bladder surgery. The VA said 10 patients died after receiving questionable care that complicated their health.

A new survey out from the Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership shows Americans have significantly higher confidence in military leaders than leaders in government, business and the media -- and that this confidence rose over the past year, in spite of two ongoing, unresolved conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Washington Post gathered a panel of experts [15] that seeks to explain the high level of trust in military leadership and what leaders in other sectors can learn from the military.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

A little more than two months ago, Brock McIntosh was fighting in Afghanistan, a member of the Army National Guard. This week, he's walking the halls of Congress, trying to end a war [16] that began when he was 13 years old.  McIntosh, now 21, and four other vets are in Washington for something of a preemptive strike. A new group calling itself Vets For Freedom plans to begin lobbying Congress Thursday, pushing for an escalation. The anti-war vets hope to head them off.

President Obama has run out of "excuses" [17] for delaying a decision on whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, House Minority Leader John Boehner said Monday after Afghan President Hamid Karzai was declared the winner of his nation's presidential election by default. Obama administration officials had suggested that a decision on American troop levels should be withheld until Afghanistan's runoff election was over. But now that Karzai's challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, has dropped out of the race and handed the election over to Karzai for another five-year term, lawmakers are urging the U.S. president to finalize his overhaul of America's war strategy. 

Congress on Monday sent President Barack Obama a bill that allows [18] military spouses to claim residency in the same state as their wives or husbands. Under current law, service members can choose to keep their original residency as they relocate. Spouses who lobbied for the change said having that same right would prevent hassles associated with every move, such as obtaining a new driver's license and reregistering to vote. In some cases, it also eliminates the need for couples to file separate tax returns and lowers the income taxes that some spouses pay.

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

THE SENATE

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

SENATE FLOOR ACTIVITY of INTEREST

The Senate will resume consideration of H.R.3548, [19] Unemployment Benefits Extension Act of 2009, post-cloture.

FUTURE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST

November 5, 2009  Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Hearing on cooperation between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service.  10:00 a.m.; 418 Russell

THE HOUSE of  REPRESENTATIVES


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

HOUSE FLOOR ACTIVITY of INTEREST Suspensions:

H.Res. 868 [20] - Honoring and recognizing the service and achievements of current and former female members of the Armed Forces (Rep. Davis (CA) - Armed Services)

H.Con.Res. 139 [21] - Congratulating the first graduating class of the United States Air Force Academy on their 50th graduation anniversary and recognizing their contributions to the Nation (Rep. Lamborn - Armed Services)

H.Res. 856 [22] - Recognizing the Commissioning of the USS New York LPD 21 (Rep. Nadler - Armed Services)

HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of  INTEREST



No issues today

FUTURE  HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of  INTEREST



November 5, 2009   Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Hearing:  Adaptive Housing Grants  1:00 p.m.;  334 Cannon HOB

November 19, 2009  Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health Hearing:  Review of VA Contract Health Care: Project HERO  10:00 a.m.; 334 Cannon

December 3, 2009  Veterans‚ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Roundtable  1:00 p.m.; 334 Cannon HOB

A wide-range of views, positions, and publications are represented in these articles. These views, positions and publications are not endorsed by nor do they necessarily represent the views of IAVA.