Printer Friendly Page

       

---------------

REPUBLICAN PRESS RELEASE

March 21, 2007

Buyer: VA committee chairman confuses ‘turf’ with ‘responsibility’

Washington D.C. — House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) made the following response to a statement by Committee Chairman Bob Filner (D-Calif.) that Buyer should “stop worrying” about turf in developing an amendment to the Wounded Warriors Assistance Act of 2007. Buyer’s language, introduced by Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), would improve the seamless transition of servicemembers from the military to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Buyer offered the language after Filner waived his jurisdiction on the issue and consented to the Armed Service Committee’s bill language.

“Chairman Bob Filner confuses ‘turf’ with ‘responsibility’ when he gripes that I am too worried about turf in insisting that the Veterans’ Committee has a say in how we care for our newest veterans. Given a choice between controlling the process and controlling the policy, an effective representative controls the process; inadequate process guts good policy. That is exactly what was about to happen when Mr. Filner confused turf with responsibility. He forfeited responsibility on veterans’ issues to the Armed Services Committee.

The initial version of the Wounded Warriors Assistance Act of 2007, H.R. 1538, was a good effort, but it did not make substantive changes necessary to achieve truly seamless transition for our servicemembers and their families. Chairman Skelton was rushed by his leadership to get the bill to the floor. Despite the time constraints, I applaud him and Ranking Member Hunter for their effort. However, after reviewing the bill, it was my opinion that we could dramatically improve the bill’s power to enhance the seamless transition of servicemembers from the military to the VA system.

The bill had a requirement for a year-long pilot program on transition. Pilot programs can be very useful in exploring new ground. Seamless transition, over five years into a war, is emphatically not new ground. Congress directed VA and DoD to collaborate on health care 25 years ago in the 1982 Public Law 97-174. The effective Benefits Delivery at Discharge joint physical was successfully demonstrated from 1995 through 1998 and still isn’t universally adopted. This is why I asked Mr. Hunter to offer my amendment.

The amendment replaces the pilot project with system-wide changes. It would require use of a uniform separation and evaluation physical by DoD and VA that VA could use for disability ratings. It would require an interoperable electronic exchange of critical medical information between the departments and the use of an electronic DD Form 214, which DoD would provide to VA.

The amendment would also require a written transition plan for the servicemember, co-location of VA benefit teams at military treatment facilities and other agreed-upon sites to facilitate the transition of recovering servicemembers, pre-separation counseling for recovering servicemembers and the transmittal of records for recovering servicemembers before the date of separation or retirement.

My own personal experience of over a decade validates the importance of these reforms. My experience with this issue as well as information technology centralization at VA brings home the necessity of direct, focused and sustained action as the most effective way to make the bureaucracies do the right thing.

When we look at this problem through the eyes of a soldier, we realize that we must act. We are accountable and must take responsibility. I encourage Chairman Filner to work with the minority to fulfill our responsibility for sound legislation and strong, effective oversight on behalf of our veterans and their families.”

---------------

Larry Scott

Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage