April 7 2017

In this issue:

House Subcommittee Reviews Agent Orange Blue Water Navy Bill
VA Choice Bill Approved and Sent to President to Be Signed Into Law
HVAC Reviews VA Crisis Line
Navy Reserve Sailor of the Year, 2016
100 Year Anniversary for U.S. Entering World War I

House Subcommittee Reviews Agent Orange Blue Water Navy Bill
The House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs held a hearing this week on several legislative proposals that include the “Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act” (H.R. 299), sponsored by Rep. David Valadao (Calif.). The bill 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. FRA has long supported this change and it has been many years since a House Subcommittee reviewed this proposal.  The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a similar hearing during the last session of Congress in 2015.  

FRA submitted a written statement to the subcommittee and would like to thank Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Mike Bost (Ill.) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Esty (Conn.) for including this FRA-supported bill to be on the hearing agenda.  The House bill currently has 258 co-sponsors and the Senate companion bill, sponsored by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) currently has 40 co-sponsors.  The large number of co-sponsors indicates that the messages sent through the FRA Action Center are having an impact.  Members are strongly urged to use the FRA Action Center to ask their legislators to support this bill.  

VA Choice Bill Approved and Sent to President to Be Signed Into Law
Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Senator Jon Tester (Mont.) introduced legislation (S.544) that has recently passed the Senate and House. The bill now goes to the President to be signed into law. Rep. Phil Roe (Tenn.), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs introduced a House companion bill that was voted out of committee and was awaiting action on the House floor. These bills eliminate the expiration date of the original law (August 2017) and cut some of the red tape that slows down veterans’ access to care in their communities. The original act provides a $10 billion fund to pay for non-VA care for veterans who live 40 or more miles from a VA facility or have been experiencing wait times for care of more than 30 days.

FRA believes Congress should pass additional legislation to provide for a transformational change of VA health care by creating an integrated network of VA and community health care providers, with the VA serving as the coordinator and primary care provider.  The networks could make decisions about access to community care, based upon clinical determinations and veterans preferences, rather than subjective time and distance, which is the current practice in the choice program.

HVAC Reviews VA Crisis Line
The House Committee on Veterans Affairs recently held an oversight hearing about the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) VA Crisis Line. As reported in the March 24, 2017 “Newsbytes” there was a recent press report that the VA Crisis Line is still sending nearly a third of calls to outside back-up call centers. This is still happening despite pledges in 2016 by VA officials to stop the practice, in response to a report from the Office of Inspector General that found call centers routed veterans to voicemail. The VA established the call center in 2007, anticipating 10 percent of calls would be routed to a backup call center if all the phone lines are busy. However, the number of rerouted calls remains high, even though a second call center was opened in 2016.  The VA estimates 20 veterans commit suicide every day and therefore FRA gives suicide prevention programs a high priority, and welcomes Congressional oversight to ensure that these programs help our veterans.  

Navy Reserve Sailor of the Year 2016
FRA participated with the 16th annual Navy Reserve Sailor of the Year Recognition Ceremony held at the Navy Memorial in Washington, DC.  FRA hosted a lunch for the five candidates and their families.  Thursday, National Executive Director Thomas J. Snee, on behalf of the National President, presented recognition letters, an FRA membership and FRA coin during the ceremony.

This year’s selectees were: 

• Navy Reserve Sailor of the Year, and overall winner, AWRC (Sel) (NAC/AW/SW) Mark W. Brown II, Naval Reserve Center, Detroit, Mich.
• MM1 (SS) Michael J. Demercado, CORIVRON ONE, San Diego, Calif.
• MA1 (EXW) Jason M. Guthrie, SEAL TEAM 17, San Diego, Calif.
• PR1 (AW/SW) Robert D. Johnson, VFC-12
• MA1 Thomas Lubawski, Naval Reserve Center, Baltimore, Md. 

​Each of the winners were awarded the Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal by VADM Luke M. McCollum, Chief of Navy Reserve/Commander Navy Reserve Force followed by a reception.  The next step for AWRC (Sel) Brown is to attend the Chief of Naval Operations Sailor of the Year, May 15-19 2017 in Washington, DC.

100th Year Anniversary for U.S. Entering World War I
This week marks the 100th year anniversary of the United States entering World War I.  The war started almost three years earlier and has been known as the “Great War” and “the War to End All Wars.” The war is remembered by its very high casualty rate caused by the belligerent’s technological sophistication and the tactical stalemate of trench warfare. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in human history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions, in many of the warring nations. 

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