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REPUBLICAN PRESS RELEASE

May 10, 2007

Buyer sees progress and concerns with seamless transition task force report

Washington, DC —The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs learned yesterday of recommendations made by a presidential task force on the transition of servicemembers from the military to VA. While the committee was generally supportive of the task force findings, Members raised concerns regarding the proposed deadlines and who was in overall charge of implementing the task force’s 25 recommendations.

“The continuing problems with seamless transition are apparently what compelled the president to intervene, forming the task force and making clear his intent to improve the process across the administration, although most of the issues rest with VA and the Department of Defense (DoD),” said Ranking Member Steve Buyer (R-Ind.).

Created by President Bush on March 6, 2007, the Task Force of Returning Global War on Terror Heroes comprises the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, serving as task force chair, with the secretaries of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Education, plus the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the administrator of the Small Business Administration, and the director of the Office of Personnel Management with a goal to establish a truly seamless transition for servicemembers between the military and VA, as well as other agencies providing services to veterans.

Over the past 15 years, several commission and task force reports have been produced. According to Buyer, there are few new discoveries. Rather, what is now needed is implementation, which has been inadequate across the federal government.

Since 2003, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs has held more than 10 hearings and conducted at least 15 site visits focusing on seamless transition. These experiences corroborate the value offered by many of the 25 recommendations from the task force report. Among them, a handful alone would dramatically improve transition:

* Development of a system of co-management and case management for returning servicemembers to facilitate transition between the Department of Defense and VA.
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Screening all Global War on Terror veterans seen in VA health care facilities for mild to moderate traumatic brain injury.
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Expanding VA access to DoD records to coordinate an improved transfer of a servicemember’s medical care through patient “hand-off.”

Development of a joint DoD/VA process for disability benefit determinations by establishing a cooperative Medical and Physical Evaluation Board process within the military service branches and VA care system.

Not all recommendations address health care. Those that would help servicemembers transition into civilian life were also welcome by the committee and would be very productive.

“Among my goals here on the committee, is to ensure that veterans have every opportunity to live full and healthy lives – that they can take advantage of the economic opportunities their service helped preserve,” said Buyer, who also supports development of an electronic DD-214.

Key recommendations that would help veterans transition into civilian life include:

* Increasing attendance at the Transition Assistance and Disabled Transition Assistance Programs for active duty, guard and reserve.
* Requiring the Department of Education, in cooperation with the Department of Labor, to participate in DoD job fairs to provide returning servicemembers and their families with an awareness of the post-secondary education benefits.

Requiring the Department of Labor, through the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, to participate in the Workforce Investment System in every state and territory; and partnering with private and public sector job fairs to expand the number of employers involved in active veteran recruitment.

According to Buyer, with the 25 valuable recommendations there still seems to be reason for concern over implementation. The target dates for 12 actions supporting the accomplishment of nearly half of those recommendations has already passed. Of additional concern is an apparent lack of a single point of accountability short of the President to ensure interdepartmental action.

“It is unclear to me who in the administration is responsible for monitoring and enforcing timelines and implementation. Our odyssey with this issue, as well as our experience with moving the department to a centralized system of information technology management unequivocally attests to the supreme importance of accountability,” Buyer said.

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Larry Scott

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