If you have ever needed proof that your efforts do make a difference in Washington, D.C., look no further than the Fiscal Year 2015 omnibus spending bill which was enacted into law this month. Several of DAV’s own provisions concerning advance appropriations for VA mandatory spending and care for women veterans, as well as new funding for long term care for injured and ill veterans, are included in this legislation.
The bill, with influence from DAV’s Putting Veterans Funding First Act, authorizes advance funding for compensation and pensions, readjustment benefits and veterans insurance and indemnities. Concerning women veterans, the bill pulls directly from DAV’s 2014 study, Women Veterans: The Long Journey Home, calling for the “VA to conduct a system-wide review of the number of gender-specific healthcare providers currently in the system,” and to “collect and analyze gender-specific data and to develop programs and funding recommendations based on this data.” Lastly, the bill authorizes $7.04 billion for “long term care for the nation’s aging veterans as well as severely wounded combat veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” to include both institutional and home-based care programs. The agreement also “provides $90 million for grants for the construction of state extended care facilities, $10 million more than the request.”
This is a great victory for veterans, their families and survivors and for DAV as an organization. While Washington can be an all-too-frustrating place, staying the course and continuing to drive our message home has helped us win the day on these fronts. From your participation in our Operation: Keep the Promise rally in February to our fall advance appropriations campaign and DAV’s Change.org petition, you should be extremely proud of the work you have done in getting such critical measures passed.
In addition to these provisions, DAV has seen great success this year in getting a number of other items passed into law, consistent with DAV’s resolutions adopted at our 93rd National Convention held in Las Vegas, NV.
H.R. 5404, The Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2014, became Public Law 113-175 on 09/26/2014. The bill extends many important programs for wounded, ill and injured veterans and their families and survivors.
- Amends veterans’ health benefit provisions to extend through 2015:
- requirement that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) provide nursing home care to certain veterans with service-connected disabilities;
- pilot program on counseling in retreat settings for women veterans newly separated from service in the Armed Forces;
- the pilot program on assistance for child care for certain veterans receiving health care;
- VA’s authority to use physicians other than VA employees to conduct medical disability evaluations of VA benefit applicants; and
- funding for the grant program to provide innovative transportation options to veterans in highly rural areas.
- Extensions of Authority Relating to Homelessness:
- Authorization of appropriations for Homeless Veterans Reintegration Programs, through FY2015;
- authority of the Secretary and the Secretary of Labor to enter into a contract to provide referral and counseling services to certain veterans who are at risk of homelessness, through FY2015;
- Secretary’s authority to provide treatment and rehabilitation services for seriously mentally ill and homeless veterans, through FY2015;
- Secretary’s authority to enter into agreements with nonprofit organizations, states, or localities to provide housing assistance to homeless veterans, through FY2015;
- funding for the provision of financial assistance to private nonprofit organizations or consumer cooperatives for supportive services for very low-income veteran families in permanent housing, through FY2015; and
- funding for the grant program for veterans with special needs, through FY2015.
- Extensions of Authority Relating to Benefits:
- Secretary’s authority to provide rehabilitation and vocational benefits to members of the Armed Forces with severe injuries or illnesses, through 2015.
- Other Extensions of Authority.
- Secretary’s authority to transport individuals to and from VA facilities or any other place in connection with vocational rehabilitation, counseling, or health care that is covered by the VA, through 2015; and
- Secretary’s authority to enter into an agreement with National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for a study of the associations between diseases and exposure to dioxin and other chemical compounds in herbicides, through 2015.
S. 2258, enacted into law on Sept. 26, 2014, will increase veterans’ disability compensation, survivor benefits and clothing allowances by the same percentage as Social Security benefit – 1.7% – increases scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2014. For the second consecutive year, and a major step towards ending the unfair practice of rounding down increases to the nearest whole dollar, the COLA will not be rounded down to the nearest whole dollar. Established as a temporary measure over 20 years ago the practice of rounding down has syphoned millions of dollars annually from disabled veterans, their families and survivors for far too long. DAV supported S. 2258, and elimination of the unfair practice of rounding down the COLA for veterans benefit programs.
H.R. 4276, the Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Care Improvement Act, extends and modifies a pilot program on assisted living services for veterans with traumatic brain injury. This law directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit reports to the congressional veterans committees on the pilot to include the number of individuals who participated in the program, the number of individuals who successfully completed the program, the degree to which pilot program participants and their family members were satisfied with the program, and the interim findings and conclusions of the Secretary regarding the success of the program and recommendations for improving it.