News Alert
July 14, 2008
Homes for Heroes
On Wednesday, July 9th, the House passed The Homes for Heroes Act, H.R. 3329, to help low-income veterans avoid homelessness. It passed the House with a vote of 214-9. The bill has two key features that are meant to alleviate the housing strains on veterans. The first is the creation of a $200 million assistance program for veterans making less than 50% of the median income in the area they reside and the second is the distribution of $20,000 in annual rental assistance vouchers to veterans. Rep. Al Green (D-TX) is the chief sponsor of H.R. 3329. He addressed this important issue because of an alarming statistic that he has referenced in his comments in support of the bill. There are 800,000 homeless people in the United States and approximately one quarter of them are veterans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs currently offers 19,000 beds to homeless veterans and organizes numerous programs to try and keep the vets off the streets, but it hasn’t been enough. This legislation will also create a special post at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to oversee veterans programs.
Now that H.R. 3329 has passed the House, it is sent over to the Senate to be rolled into a more voluminous Senate veterans package that the Senate hopes to push through before the general election in November.
Report reveals disparities in health care premiums among retired vets
A new report released by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs reveals that some retired veterans are paying more for healthcare than others. Military retirees that were disabled in Iraq or Afghanistan are footing a larger bill than other retirees. The report suggested waiving the Medicare Part B premiums for life. If you are deemed “medically retired” because you are now unfit to serve after suffering an injury in the course of duty, you are able to receive health benefits from the VA. But if you do not live near a VA facility, you must go to a civilian doctor and enroll in Medicare. Unfortunately, this means you will pay $1600 annually more in premiums than those retirees that live near a VA facility.
“Since 2005, DOD and VA made significant progress modifying, updating and improving the systems supporting injured service members and veterans,” the report said. “The final step will be to ensure implementation.”
The recommendation is being considered.
Should Gays serve openly in the military?
Recently, a group of retired military officers did a study on whether gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve in the military. The end result was the recommendation that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve regardless of their sexual orientation. The group consisted of four retired military officers, one from each branch. The study involved a series of interviews with Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, military policy experts and members of the Clinton Administration.
When you ask an American, “What is the current policy regarding gays in the military?” they will almost certainly answer “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” This however, is a misconception and demonstrates the power of a catch phrase. The actual statute, Section 654, Title 10, was passed by Congress in 1993 with overwhelming bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate and it states that the presence of gay service members would present an “unacceptable risk” to troop morale and discipline.
President Clinton confused the meaning of the statute by creating regulations “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” This is not the law.
In the study, officers write that allowing gays to serve openly “is unlikely to pose any significant risks to morale, good order, discipline and cohesion” because tolerance among military members to the presence of gays has “grown dramatically.”
A Congressional hearing has been scheduled for July 23rd to once again discuss the restrictions of gays and lesbians joining the military.
Families billed for education benefits
Prior to June 30th, families of servicemembers who were killed in Iraq or Afghanistan were given a bill by the Department of Veterans Affairs for education benefits they never got to use. One provision of the Iraq Supplemental Appropriations bill that was signed into law by President Bush on June 30, 2008 will halt this practice and authorize refunds to those families that paid a recoupment of education benefits bill after September 11, 2001.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) is the chief sponsor of this provision. “Who would have thought that someone who dies serving our country in Iraq and leaves behind a $300 bill due [to the VA] for education benefits — that they were not able to finish because they gave their life in the war — would then get a bill?” Hutchison said June 26 as the Senate was about to pass the bill.
Hutchison revealed specific cases of Texas families who were billed for overpayments. One soldier’s family was billed for $2,282 in outstanding loans after the sergeant, who was married with four children, was killed in an explosion on his second tour in Iraq.
