Military Officer - January 2008 - (Page 34) washingtonscene This New Year: Contact My Legislators ■ To protect and improve military pay and benefits, MOAA will need your renewed efforts in 2008 to tell your legislators what’s important to you and your family. Visit http://capwiz .com/moaa/dbq/officials and enter your ZIP code. Then, click on Bills under your legislators’ pictures to find their cosponsorship status on key bills MOAA supports. MOAA Meets With Speaker Leadership delivers on VA funding promises. H ouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), her leadership team, and a total of 23 House members met Nov. 7, 2007, with a group of military and veterans’ association leaders, including MOAA President Vice Adm. Norb Ryan Jr., USN-Ret. The meeting continued the speaker’s previous commitment to meet regularly with association leaders to discuss legislative progress and goals on veterans’ program needs. Pelosi reiterated House leaders have made veterans’ issues their top legislative priority, increasing VA funding by $5.2 billion for FY 2007 and another $6.6 billion in FY 2008 — the largest increases in history, and actually more than proposed by the veterans’ groups themselves. Association leaders acknowledged House leadership has “walked the walk” on veterans’ issues and expressed their collective appreciation for these extremely important funding increases to meet the needs of current and returning veterans. Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas), chair of the Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies asked association leaders to keep these achievements in perspective. “We wouldn’t have been able to get these big increases through this year without your associations’ support,” Edwards said. “Some people are asking you to oppose our timing of the bills or how we package them. Please remember that before this year’s leadership change, we didn’t get a VA funding bill passed on time since 1996. Last year’s House leaders resisted our proposed increases and actually adjourned without passing any VA funding bill, freezing spending at 2006 rates.” Association leaders were further heartened by the comments of Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Ike Skelton (DMo.), who said, “We should be finishing the Defense Authorization Bill [soon] and hope to make some additional progress this year on concurrent receipt and SBP.” Later in the meeting, Ryan took the opportunity to urge House leaders’ support for additional pay raise plus-ups for active duty, Guard, and Reserve troops and prompt action to reverse the 9.9percent cut in Medicare and TRICARE payments to doctors that is scheduled to happen in January unless Congress changes current law. DoD, VA OK Joint Physical Simplified plan is long overdue. R esponding to a major recommendation of the Dole-Shalala Commission on Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Support, DoD and the VA have reached an agreement on a pilot project to adopt a single, joint physical exam for servicemembers completing service. The same physical exam will be used by DoD to determine the medical fitness of injured personnel to remain in uniform and by the VA for awarding disability compensation. “This agreement commits [the] VA and DoD to develop a single process to assess the medical conditions of wounded, injured or ill servicemembers,” said Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Gordon H. Mansfield. “We will make it easier for these heroes to go back to their homes, with the key questions about their eligibility for VA compensation already decided.” MOAA has long endorsed a single separation physical as an essential seamless 34 MILITARY OFFICER JANUARY 2008 http://capwiz.com/moaa/dbq/officials http://capwiz.com/moaa/dbq/officials
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