Legislative News
House PassesVA Appropriations Bill Prior To Recess
On July 31, the House of Representatives completed work on H.R. 6599, the Military Construction and Veterans’ Affairs appropriations bill. The House leadership made it a priority to complete work on this critically important funding bill prior to the August recess during which the Congress will be out of session for more than a month.
Unfortunately, the outlook for final passage of this legislation remains uncertain. Just prior to the recess, the Administration indicated that it opposed the fact that the bill exceeds the budgetary recommendations that it submitted back in February for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The bill provides $2.9 billion more than the President’s Budget Request. In fact, The Independent Budget for FY 2009 - co-authored by AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), and the Veterans of Foreign Wars - concluded that the Administration’s request for VA is approximately $3.0 billion short of the resources needed to fully fund the VA.
However, the Administration did not explicitly threaten to veto the Military Construction and Veterans’ Affairs appropriations bill. Instead it chose to pit the needs of veterans against all other federal programs by threatening to veto any other agency appropriations bill that was not reduced in order to provide for the additional VA funding. The Administration used the same tactic last year to attempt to force the Democratic leadership in Congress to adhere to its budget recommendations for the VA.
Moreover, given the recent budgetary history of the VA, we are astounded that the Administration continues to insist that the VA has been given sufficient funding to meet the health-care and benefits needs of veterans. In fact, this Administration has requested and received several emergency supplemental appropriations primarily to shore up budget crises erupting with regularity in the VA health-care system over a period of several years.
The entire appropriations process has also been delayed by the actions of both the Democratic leadership in Congress and their Republican counterparts. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have indicated that they may bundle all federal appropriations into a continuing resolution through the Presidential election and allow the new Administration to address the funding shortfalls in many federal agencies. Meanwhile, the Republicans have tried to hijack the appropriations process by offering amendments associated with off-shore drilling to any piece of legislation brought to the floor of the House or Senate for
consideration. This has basically brought the legislative process to a standstill. PVA will continue to work with Congress, and the Senate in particular, to ensure that the Military Construction and Veterans’ Affairs appropriations bill is completed prior to adjournment in October. We also encourage all PVA members to contact their representatives and urge them to support expeditious passage of the funding bill.
PVA is pleased that Congress recently made significant improvements to the Specially Adaptive Housing benefits provided by the VA to severely disabled veterans. These changes were incorporated into P.L. 110-289, the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.”
The new housing law makes an appropriate increase in the maximum dollar amount for the Specially Adaptive Housing (SAH) Grant. That amount is increased to $60,000. The last increase was in 2003, when it was increased to $50,000 from $48,000. Construction materials cost for single family homes in recent years has increased approximately 16% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
This needed increase was recommended in The Independent Budget, coauthored by Paralyzed Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and AMVETS. PVA recently testified that the maximum dollar amount paid for the Specially Adaptive Housing Grant has not kept pace with inflation and is inadequate by today’s costs. The new law also makes an adjustment to the maximum amount each year based on the residential home cost-of-construction index.
The law allows for the VA to pay for home improvements and structural alterations for members of the Armed Forces that incur a severe disability and who would otherwise qualify for the SAH grant as a veteran. In the past, active duty service members had to be discharged from military service to apply for the SAH benefit. This new change in the law allows a service member who will not return to active duty because of a service-connected disability, to make the necessary alterations to their home while waiting for their final discharge. The new housing law also allows active duty service members to be eligible for the “Veterans Mortgage Life Insurance” program. Previously, this was only available to veterans.
Another constructive change in the law allows an individual that qualifies for the home modification grant, to use that grant to modify the home of a family member while residing with that family member. It is common for a service member that has suffered a traumatic injury to live with family members during their rehabilitation and a period afterwards.
One of the common injuries associated with service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom is severe burns. This new law will allow individuals that have suffered severe burns to use the Specially Adaptive Housing Grant for necessary modifications in their home environment. These modifications could involve expensive air filter systems and electronic temperature controls for the home.
Hearing on VA Spending
On July 31, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on the Veterans’ Health Administration’s (VHA) financial management procedures. Subcommittee Chairman Harry Mitchell (D-AZ) explained the hearing was requested because the Government Accountability Office (GAO) completed an audit recently that exposed procedures in their purchasing policies that concerned Congress.
The hearing was limited to two panels with staff members from GAO, and management from the VHA testifying. The first panel included witnesses from the GAO office. In their study of efficiency within the VHA, they found that of the 42 VHA locations that were reviewed, only 12 locations used adequate controls for their purchasing of supplies, equipment, and services.
The second panel included four staff members from VHA to explain their business procedures. The main issue that concerned GAO was that they disapproved of the practice of placing a significant amount of purchases under the category of miscellaneous obligations. In 2007 the Veterans Health Administration used miscellaneous obligations to account for $6.9 billion of spending. The VHA staff testified that 75 percent of those obligations were related to providing medical and dental care, pharmaceuticals, and hospital supplies for veterans. The largest expenditure included in miscellaneous obligations ($1.3 billion in FY 2007) was for payments to the Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor for drug purchases.
Chairman Mitchell told the VA that the Subcommittee is not accusing the VA of the fraudulent use of, or misappropriation of, taxpayer’s money. The practice of using one category for combining many purchases is not standard business practice and does not give Congress the information they would like for VHA’s expenditures.
The VA was instructed by the Subcommittee to include a description of what the purchase is for and to include three management signatures on future purchase documents. Another hearing will be scheduled for next February to determine if the VHA is correctly documenting their purchases.
Legislation to Eliminate Category 4 Co-Payment
The full House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 6445, a bill to prohibit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from collecting certain co-payments from veterans who are catastrophically disabled. This issue is important to PVA and the organization has advocated for this financial relief for Category 4 veterans for several years.
This issue has an impact on PVA members that are enrolled in Priority Group 4 for health-care eligibility and are required to pay co-payments. Those PVA members with non-service connected disabilities who are enrolled in Priority Group 4, who because of their incomes would otherwise be enrolled in Priority Group 7 or 8, are subject to Priority Group 7 or 8 co-payments.
This bill had the full support of House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman, Bob Filner (D-CA) and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, Mike Michaud (D-ME). The original legislation also has the support of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the members of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Unfortunately, the bill has not been brought to the Senate floor for consideration. PVA will be working with the House and Senate VA Committees to ensure that this bill is included in their conference agreement on veterans’ legislation.
Senate Introduces ADA Amendments
Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced S. 3406, the Senate ADA Amendments Act, on July 31, with 57 co-sponsors. Hatch and Harkin brought the bill to the floor with 30 members signed on, and worked the Senate floor to get 27 more co-sponsors – a very unusual and welcome effort! By the next day, when Congress left Washington for the summer recess, 64 senators were co-sponsors.
This bill has seen an unprecedented coalition – representatives of disability organizations have worked with employers to draft legislation that both groups can agree to. The employer/disability negotiating team stuck together through thick and thin, through numerous variations of proposed language, and came up with provisions acceptable to all parties, including the Senators.
This bill, as introduced, and the recently passed H. R. 3195 both differ significantly from the original bills introduced in 2007. In the Senate bill, critical language is placed in the “Findings and Purposes” section, basically telling the Supreme Court they’ve got it wrong. For instance, “..in particular, the Supreme Court …interpreted the term ‘substantially limits’ to require a greater degree of limitation than was intended by Congress.” A stated purpose is “...to convey congressional intent that the standard created by the Supreme Court…has created an inappropriately high level of limitation necessary to obtain coverage under the ADA.”
Other sections make clear that Congress intends courts to focus on the discriminatory action rather than severity of disability, mitigating measures are not to be considered, and temporary or minor impairments are not considered disabilities. If this bill passes both houses and is signed into law, the effective date will be January 1, 2009.
The exact text of S. 3406 can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov
Reeve Paralysis Act Blocked in Senate
The Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act (S.1183 / H.R.1727), legislation to enhance research on paralysis and to improve rehabilitation and the quality of life for people living with paralysis and other physical disabilities, was blocked in the Senate on July 28 by a procedural vote. The legislation had passed the House by a substantial bipartisan vote in 2007 and was one of 36 bills combined by Senate majority into a mega-bill called the “Advancing America's Priorities Act of 2008” (S.3297). These bills were bundled in an attempt to bypass objections from Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), who recently has used senatorial procedures to stop action on any legislation not addressing oil exploration. The majority failed to gather the 60 votes needed to cut off debate on S. 3297.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will not bring the measure up again in the 110th Congress because of time constraints before the Election and the end of the Congress.
Bipartisan Electronic Reform Act (S. 3212) Introduced
On July 1, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Bob Bennett (R-UT), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, introduced bipartisan legislation that would require electronic voting systems used in federal elections to produce an independent voter-verified record of each ballot cast.
Under the Act, voters casting their ballots using direct recording electronic (touch screen) voting systems would be able to simultaneously verify their choices by means of an independent paper, electronic, audio, video, or pictorial record. Such records would be auditable and would also be available for review in the event of a recount. The effective date for implementing this requirement would be January 1, 2012, unless a state obtains a waiver until January 1, 2014.
Veterans Voting Support Act (S. 3308 / H.R. 6625) Introduced
Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), John Kerry (D-MA) and Representative Robert Brady (D-PA) introduced “The Veterans Voting Support Act”, a bill to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to permit facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to be designated as voter registration agencies. The bill requires the Secretary to permit a state to designate VA facilities as voter registration agencies under section 7 of the “National Voter Registration Act of 1993”.
VA facilities would provide information on absentee ballots, assist in proper delivery of absentee applications and ballots, and permit opportunities for non-partisan organizations to provide voter registration at VA facilities.
National Council on Independent Living Annual Conference
The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) held its 2008 annual conference in mid-July. Independent living (IL) advocates from across the country gathered in Washington, DC to attend workshops on a variety of issues, hear presentations from leading disability activists and prepare for Congressional visits to advance NCIL's legislative agenda.
Topics covered in the workshops included nursing home transition strategies, organizing grassroots advocacy efforts, and expanding IL networks and programs. Passage of the “ADA Amendments Act” was the major focus of participant discussions with their elected representatives during NCIL's day on Capitol Hill. At the NCIL Awards Banquet, Senator Tom Harkin presented NCIL's Frank Harkin Memorial Award to Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) in recognition of his lifetime of work on behalf of people with disabilities.
A special veterans' forum was added to the conference to give attendees an opportunity to discuss ways to link the IL community and veterans with disabilities more closely. Several participants spoke of the efforts undertaken by their Centers for Independent Living (CILs) to reach out to veterans with disabilities in their areas and the value that these veterans can bring as leaders in the disability movement. Members of the NCIL Veterans Committee have met with officials of the IL program at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to learn more about its benefits and to outline how CILs could supplement the work of VA IL services. NCIL Executive Director, John Lancaster, spoke of his ongoing efforts to educate the VA about the nationwide network of community IL services that could assist veterans with disabilities. Lancaster, a PVA member, has testified before the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees urging cross-training between veterans' service organizations and CILs. He also recommends that the VA fund a program to place a disabled veteran at each CIL to serve as an outreach coordinator and to create partnerships between the disability and veterans communities.
