By Thom Wilborn & Joseph R. Chenelly
May 5, 2010


The Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs committee says winning the decades-long battle for sufficient, timely and predictable funding for the VA health care system is one of the most significant legislative victories for veterans in recent years. And it was the strength and determination of the DAV and the political leadership on Capitol Hill that made passage of the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act a reality.

“DAV was a key player in helping me to bring advance appropriations about,” said Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) in an interview with DAV Magazine. “It was a need that we [Congress] were aware of, but were unable to move forward all these years.”

“We have long sought the sufficient, timely and predictable funding that is now guaranteed by the new law,” said National Adjutant Arthur H. Wilson. “It was Chairman Akaka’s leadership and his skill in moving this bill that was nearly unanimously passed by Congress.”

“We were delighted with Chairman Akaka’s support,” National Legislative Director Joseph A. Violante said. “We worked with him and in support of him and others in Congress and the administration. It became a law because of the thousands of DAV members who provided the grassroots support that pushed this initiative forward.”

“I give credit to DAV for supporting what we were doing in Congress,” said Akaka. “We were able to pass it with the DAV’s support and with the help of its membership. I am grateful for all their support.”

The law, signed Oct. 22, 2009, authorizes Congress to fund VA health care one year in advance at the start of each fiscal year. This means the VA will no longer be forced to ration health care to veterans because of funding delays.

Chairman Akaka, who introduced advance appropriations legislation in the Senate, recognized the moment he assumed leadership of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee that the VA’s annual appropriations battle was siphoning funds away from the health care system. “I began to hear the cries from those who work with veterans to reform a broken funding process,” he said. “In the history of VA funding, we on the committee witnessed the broken process in which the appropriations were late in 20 out of 23 years.”

“I felt that it needed to change. Advance appropriations was that effort, and what was so great about it was there was great support from the DAV.”

“Through DAV, we were able to get other senators to support it, and throughout the states DAV members talked to their senators. Soon there was a groundswell of support and we in Congress were able to revise this broken system,” Akaka said.

To move the bill forward, Sen. Akaka coordinated his legislative strategy with the DAV. “It was one kind of support that we needed to reach the members of Congress,” he said. “I started in 2008 and in 2009 I introduced the bill again, and that was the year we were able to pass it.”

Chairman Akaka says he was very pleased with the support he received for the bill. “There is a genuine feeling [in Congress] to help veterans,” he said. “Policy makers genuinely feel strongly about helping veterans and this was a part of that. I feel it is our responsibility to provide the resources for veterans and working with the DAV it turned out quite well.”

The senator agrees the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act is one of the most important laws passed during his legislative career. “It is something the VA really needs so they can plan a year ahead for the funding they must have,” said Akaka. “It’s going to be a process and a system that we need to study as it moves along for the sake of seeing that it is efficient and effective, but also to report the benefits of the veterans.”

But Chairman Akaka’s work on behalf of veterans is not over. Next on his list is improving the accuracy and timeliness of the VA claims adjudication process. “This is a huge problem,” he said. “We have been working on it. We need to fix this broken system.”

“As we move forward with our proposed Veterans Benefits Approval System reform, we are looking for Chairman Akaka and Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-N.C.) to be leaders and author legislation in the Senate needed to eliminate the claims backlog,” said Violante. “Clearly, the complexity and ambiguity of the current system can be changed to both help veterans and allow the VA to do a better job with greater accountability.”

Akaka understands what veterans are going through and feels major reforms are needed, up to and including creating a new claims system to help veterans. “I don’t want an adjustment of what is now there,” he said. “Using new technology is the way it should develop, and I feel that’s an answer to the claims backlog.”

Support for veterans is part of Akaka’s mission as Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “I look at advance appropriations as bringing a better quality of care that veterans haven’t had before,” he said. “They may not understand or feel that advance appropriations will affect them, but they will receive a better quality of care than they did before, in timely fashion. I hope that will finally come to be in my time. Advance appropriations is something new, and I am glad that the VA health care system is moving forward under this beneficial law.”

“We worked closely with Congress and the Administration to create legislation that helped the funding for VA health care,” said Violante. “Now we face another complex and daunting issue—claims reform. But with advocates like Chairman Akaka, the DAV can provide the grassroots support that will give him the support he needs to change the system for the better.”