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Weekly newsletter of the Fleet Reserve Association August 3 2018 NED Testifies Before SVAC NDAA Goes to President FRA Part of Discussion with Democrats  HVAC Reviews Disability Appeal Reform  No Newsbytes Next Week NED Snee Testifies Before SVAC on AOBWN National Executive Director Thomas Snee testified before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC) urging the Committee to approve the “Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act” (H.R.299) without amendment and send it to the Senate floor for final passage. Then send it onto the President to sign it into law. Snee’s dramatic testimony can be seen online. The bill recently passed the House without any “No” votes (382-0). The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) also testified during the Senate hearing on the bill and is actively opposing the legislation. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), the sponsor of Senate bill (S.422) and Senator Steve Daines (Mont.) the first original co-sponsor of S.422 also provided emotional testimony supporting the House bill. He urged the Committee to approve the bill and send it to the Senate floor for final passage.   The original FRA-supported proposal would clarify that service members serving off the coast of the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam conflict have a presumption for filing disability claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for ailments associated with exposure to the Agent Orange herbicide. During the committee markup in the House, the legislation was amended to extend the presumption of herbicide exposure for veterans who served on or near the Korean DMZ between September 1, 1967 and August 31, 1971. As amended, the legislation will now also extend health care, vocational training & rehabilitation and monetary allowance to a child who was born with spina bifida if at least one of the child’s parents served in Thailand between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975 and the VA determines at least one of the parents had been exposed to an herbicide agent during that period. The bill also now includes changes to VA’s home loan program. You can read the Military Times story on this issue, which includes a quote from NED Tom Snee. FRA believes Congress should recognize veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange and authorize presumptive status for VA disability claims associated with this exposure. Now is the time to contact your Senators to ask them to support this bill. The committee did not indicate when the bill will be up for a vote.  Members are strongly urged to use the FRA Action Center to ask their Senators to support this bill.                  NDAA Goes to President to be Signed into Law As predicted in last week’s NewsBytes the Senate passed (87-10) the final version of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA-H.R.5515). The bill now goes to President Trump to sign into law.  This is the first time since 1996 that the NDAA will be sent to the President on time (before October 1).   Key provisions of the bill include: • Blocking a huge TRICARE fee increase that would have doubled annual fees for TRICARE beneficiaries younger than 65; • Expanding the VA caregiver program to include all severely disabled veterans. The original program applied to badly disabled veterans who were injured after September 11, 2001; • Limiting rent increases for residents at Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH) for next year and prohibiting AFRH from removing residents only because they are unable to pay rent; • Increasing Navy and Marine Corps reserve and active duty end strength for FY2019;   • Increasing annual active duty pay (2.6%) to keep pace with civilian pay increases; • Repealing a scheduled one percent cut in Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for active duty;  • Expanding availability of Military One Source for retired and discharged members of the Armed Forces; • Allowing Purple Heart, Medal of Honor, former POW, service-connected disability veterans and caregivers for disabled veterans to use commissaries and MWR facilities;  • Permitting veterans who have a 100 percent service-connected disability to utilize a travel benefit currently extended to active duty and retired military members and their families to travel on military aircraft when there is extra space onboard; and • Mandating maximum life insurance coverage for service members deployed in a combat zone.  This final bill provides an overall increase in topline funding to support our troops and readiness recovery. FRA wants to thank our Shipmates for using the FRA Action Center on issues pertaining to the NDAA. Your efforts complement the FRA Legislative Team’s efforts to protect and expand your earned benefits.  FRA Contributes in MSO/VSO Round Table Discussion with House Democrats  John Davis, Director of FRA Legislative Programs, along with VSO/MSO attendees, participated in a roundtable discussion with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Reps. Mark Takano (Calif.), Conor Lamb (Pa.), and Julia Brownley (Calif.), members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC). Also Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.), and Rep. Seth Moulton (Mass.), both members of the House Democratic Caucus, were also in attendance. The focus of the meeting was implementation and funding of the VA Mission Act. The FRA-supported bill was recently signed into law and will do the following:  • Expand the VA Caregiver program to include all disabled veterans; • Consolidate seven VA community care programs into one to improve access to care;  • Fund for the VA Choice program; and • Audit VA infrastructure. The House Minority leader expressed serious concerns that the current appropriations bills (MilCon/VA-H.R.5895/S.3024) do not provide enough funding for the Act and spending caps, created by the Budget Control Act, limit additional funding. FRA staff has discussed this with House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee staff.  Both bills have passed their chamber of origin and a conference committee has been appointed to resolve the differences between the two bills. FRA will continue to monitor the appropriations process to ensure adequate funding for all VA programs. HVAC Reviews Enacted VA Disability Claims Appeal Reform  The House Veterans Affairs Committee recently held an oversight hearing on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) implementation of the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act (H.R.2288-Public Law 115-55) that was enacted in August of 2017 and first reported in May 12, 2017 Newsbytes. The enacted law sponsored by Rep. Mike Bost (Ill.), will create three “lanes” for veterans’ appeals:  • Local Higher-Level Review Lane where an adjudicator reviews the same evidence considered by the original claims processor; • New Evidence Lane where the veteran could submit new evidence for review and have a hearing; and • Board Lane where jurisdiction for the appeal would transfer immediately to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. The lanes are supposed to be established by November 1, 2018. Under the new law the Secretary has authority to test the new system prior to full implementation. It would also allow some veterans, already going through the appeals process, to opt into the new system. FRA welcomes the oversight hearing that will keep pressure on the VA bureaucracy to implement the law in a timely manner.   No NewsBytes Next Week There will be no NewsBytes next week since the House is on recess until September 4, 2018 and the Senate will not be in next week. The next issue of NewsBytes will be August 17, 2018.

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