Military Officer - February 2007 - (Page 36)

washingtonscene ■ competition for funding; ■ supply of quality teachers and counselors; ■ adequacy of housing and housing allowances; and ■ reciprocity and consistency in state teacher certiﬁcation, graduation, and instate tuition requirements. MOAA is partnering with DoD to help with transition efforts. MOAA and The Military Coalition emphasize that support services and infrastructure must be sustained for families at losing installations and must be in place at gaining installations before the scheduled inﬂux of families. New Bills Coming; Check Them Out ■ By the time you receive this magazine, several bills of interest to MOAA members will have been introduced in the new Congress. Check them out at http://capwiz.com/ moaa/issues/bills. Bang and Whimper From Congress Congress’ last gasp didn’t include spending bills. U nfortunately, Congress’ ﬁnal legislative agenda in December didn’t include passing the 11 appropriations bills for FY 2007, which began Oct. 1, 2006. MOAA had hoped Congress would pass the Military Construction/VA Appropriations Bill, which funds VA and military medical programs. To keep these and other government agencies running into the new year, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) that will fund government agencies at 2006 funding levels. Among other things, the CR provides the VA authority to transfer up to $684 million to the Veterans’ Health Administration to fund VA health care systems until the stopgap spending measure expires. While this authority provides some relief, MOAA remains concerned about the VA’s and TRICARE’s ability to meet 2007 medical needs with 2006-level funding. The CR will expire Feb. 15, so Congress must act before then to keep domestic programs running in 2007. Rumors around Capitol Hill at press time were that the new Congress would pass a yearlong stopgap funding measure and focus on FY 2008 appropriations bills. Meanwhile, Congress took action on a number of other topics by including provisions in the CR that: ■ avoided the January 2007 5.1-percent cut in Medicare and TRICARE payments to doctors by freezing 2007 rates at 2006 levels; ■ extended for one more year a waiver of the $1,740 annual cap on Medicare payments for outpatient speech and physical therapy that was scheduled for implementation in January; ■ expanded the ban on protests at military funerals from only federal cemeteries to all funeral sites; ■ authorized the FCC to work with the Defense Department to reduce phone rates for deployed servicemembers; ■ authorized VA initiatives to upgrade facilities and strengthen health care, homeless veterans’, and identity theft protection programs; and ■ delayed congressional pay raises at least until Feb. 16. Panel Talks Disability, Survivors Veterans’ commission looks at SBP, concurrent receipt. A Nov. 16 Veterans’ Disability Beneﬁts Commission (VDBC) hearing considered one of MOAA’s top priorities: repealing the law that reduces military Survivor Beneﬁt Plan (SBP) annuities by the amount of 36 MILITARY OFFICER FEBRUARY 2007 http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - February 2007

Military Officer - February 2007 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Cover Story: Building Stability Reaching Out, Reaching Up 5 Tax-Season Strategies A Capital Event MOAA Member Services Pages of History Information Exchange Advertising Index Member Books Sounding Taps MOAA Calendar Encore

Military Officer - February 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.