NewsBytes September 9, 2022
In this issue:
Congress Works on Continuing Resolution
FRA Endorses Suicide Prevention Effort
VA Mishandled LeJeune Water Contamination Cases
21st Anniversary of September 11 Attack
Congress Works on CR
Congress returned from their summer recess to begin work on a Continuing Resolution (CR) to allow government to remain open after September 30, 2022, the end of the current Fiscal year. The urgency of passing the CR has delayed Senate consideration of the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA S.4543).
When the spending bills do not pass, Congress has to pass a CR to keep the government open. CRs are a terrible way to fund the federal government because they generally continue funding at prior year levels, with no regard to the value of the individual programs. They continue to fund those programs that have outlived their usefulness or badly need reform, and they fail to expand successful programs that need a boost.
FRA Endorses Suicide Prevention Effort
The FRA and 45 other veteran service organizations signed onto a letter urging Congress to approve a resolution recognizing Nov. 13, 2022, as “National Warrior Call Day”. The letter notes that leaders in the U.S. Senate are set to introduce a resolution imminently — timed in conjunction with suicide prevention month and the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The National Warrior Call Day is a national suicide prevention effort aimed at reaching veterans and service members who may be dangerously disconnected from others. The campaign stresses daily connection through calls and unites behind a single day — the Sunday after Veterans Day — to create a groundswell of action from all Americans to “make a call, take a call and be honest”. Congressional backing increases visibility for the initiative and serves to extend the message to the local level.
Lawmakers introduced a similar resolution in 2021 and added it to the National Defense Authorization Act, but it failed to move forward. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.) spearheaded the effort and will do so again this year on a bipartisan basis. Both members serve on the Senate Armed Service Committee and are consistent leaders in supporting the nation’s troops and veterans.
IG Report: VA Mishandled LeJeune Water Contamination Cases
A recent report from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Inspector General (IG) concludes that the VA mishandled more than one-third of all Camp Lejeune water contamination disability claims, possibly cheating as many as 21,000 veterans out of financial compensation. The IG report found that errors in claim effective dates and retroactive payments alone affected nearly 4,000 veterans and totaled about $14 million, but that accounts for only a small portion of the mistakes. Most of the errors impacting more than 17,000 veterans’ cases when VA staff prematurely denied claims without requesting additional evidence of injury. The IG review of more than 57,000 Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, cases handled by VA staff between March 2017 and March 2021, however, the VA inspector general found that many cases not related to the established presumptive conditions were summarily rejected, instead of requesting more information on their conditions. The presumptive conditions were created by FRA-supported legislation that was signed into law in 2012.
21st Anniversary of September 11 Attack
The 21st anniversary of the world’s deadliest terror attack will be remembered in special services and events in New York City, the Pentagon, and throughout the U.S. this weekend. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in New York City, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon during terrorist attacks carried out by Al-Qaida, a Muslim militant group founded by Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was later killed by U.S. military forces in Pakistan during a May 2011 raid .
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