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I. Significant increase in spending for veterans’ programs in the fiscal year 2002 budget.
· Increases total spending for veterans by $4.3 billion dollars, including a $1.2 billion increase for VA health care, one of the largest in history.
· Provides a 16 percent increase in spending for the Veterans Benefits Administration to remedy the backlog of compensation claims accumulated during the 1990s.
· Provides an additional $300 million for short-term repairs and improvements to VA medical facilities.
Status: approved by House Appropriations Committee; House to consider VA/HUD appropriations week of July 23).
II. Emergency funding for the repair of VA hospitals (H.R. 811, the Veterans Hospital Emergency Repair Act).
· Legislation would authorize $300 million in fiscal year 2002 ($550 over two years) to repair dilapidated and obsolete VA medical facilities.
· VA Secretary may choose individual projects recommended by VA’s capital investments board. (VA has already compiled a list of 20 such projects).
· Projects addressing patient safety, privacy, earthquake protection, and accommodation for disabled veterans to get top priority.
Status: passed the House on March 27, 2001. Pending in the Senate.
III. Family-friendly benefit enhancements.
H.R. 801, the Veterans’ Survivor Benefits Improvements Act of 2001, expands Servicemembers Group Life Insurance (SGLI) to include spouse and children, and:
· Extends last year’s increase of the SGLI maximum ($250,000) retroactively to October 1, 2000 to cover military personnel who have died in more recent service-connected tragedies.
· H.R. 801 also provides the spouses and dependents of severely disabled veterans enrolled in CHAMPVA the same health benefit presently provided to military retirees enrolled in TRICARE.
Status: Signed into law by President Bush June 5, 2001 as Public Law No. 107-14.
H.R. 2540, the Veterans Benefits Act of 2001 provides a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to the compensation of disabled veterans and their survivors. (The VA estimates the COLA will be 2.5 percent). Other provisions of the bill would:
· Add Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2) to the list of service-connected benefits presumed for Vietnam Veterans;
· Authorize the VA Secretary to provide disability compensation payments to Persian Gulf War veterans whose claims for chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, or other hard-to-diagnose illnesses have previously been denied;
· Permit the VA Secretary to continue disability payments to a Persian Gulf War veteran who participates in VA-sponsored medical research and is subsequently diagnosed with a specific disease;
· Authorize the VA Secretary to pay unclaimed National Service Life Insurance and U.S. Government Life Insurance proceeds to an alternate beneficiary when the first beneficiary cannot be located within three years of the insured’s death;
· Extend to 2005 the VA’s direct loan language program for Native American veterans living on tribal trust lands;
· Modify the requirement for loan assumption language in home loan documents, and;
· Require the VA Secretary to establish a two-year pilot expansion of the available hours of the VA’s 1-800 toll-free information service, and to assess the demand for the service.
Status: approved by Veterans’ Affairs Committee July 19, 2001; floor action pending.
IV. A major increase in Montgomery GI Bill assistance for servicemembers and veterans.
Under H.R. 1291, the 21st Century Montgomery GI Bill Enhancement Act, the monthly education benefit would nearly double over three years, putting the dream of a college education within the reach of more veterans
The fiscal year 2002 budget accommodates a three-year phased increase in monthly education benefit from $650 to $1,100.
Status: passed the House on June 19, 2001; pending in the Senate.
V. Overdue Tribute to the Veterans of World War II
· “To expedite the construction of the World War II memorial in the District of Columbia,’ (H.R. 1696) put an end to years of delays and removed the last obstacle to building a national memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C. for those who participated in the greatest war in history.
· According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than three million World War II veterans have died since Congress first authorized the Memorial in 1993.
Status: Signed into law by President Bush May 28, 2001 as Public Law No. 107-11.
VI. A major step forward in encouraging VA/DoD sharing of resources and activities
The Department of Defense-Department of Veterans Affairs Health Resources Access Improvement Act of 2001 would expedite VA-DoD sharing of medical resources, improving the health care of both military personnel and veterans. The General Accounting Office (GAO) reports that American taxpayers could save as much as $300 million a year in pharmaceutical procurement alone with greater coordination between the two agencies. The bill would:
· Establish an integrated demonstration project at five locations where both VA and DoD have health care facilities in close proximity;
· Examine such aspects of integrated operation as unified management systems, technology and staffing, and;
· Authorize the secretaries of both agencies to waive any rules or regulations that impede the purpose of the demonstration project.
Status: To be introduced the week of July 23, 2001.
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