Military Officer - November 2008 - (Page 36)

washingtonscene covered hospital stay, with patients facing daily copayments beyond that point. ment. And the president previously said he’d veto a continuing resolution that extended past the end of his term in January. As this article went to press, a potential confrontation on this key issue still loomed. The government will get funding one way or another, but this end-of-year ﬁscal brinksmanship that now seems a way of life in Washington, D.C., is a poor way to fulﬁll national appropriations responsibilities. Omnibus Crash? Spending bill hits snag. C ongress was supposed to pass 13 separate funding bills for the various federal departments by Oct. 1. But that almost never happens anymore, and it sure wasn’t going to happen in a presidential election year, let alone in the shadow of a looming national ﬁnancial crisis. Under national pressure on the ﬁnancial bailout and legislators’ pressure to adjourn and start campaigning for reelection, Congress took several shortcuts to try to make sure the government wouldn’t shut down for lack of funds at the start of FY 2009. House and Senate leaders ﬁnished work on the FY 2009 Defense Appropriations Act to ensure Pentagon needs are fully funded. In an unusual move, the bill also includes language that would require paying an extra $500 a month to servicemembers who are involuntarily extended past their service commitment by service “stop-loss” policies, starting Oct. 1, 2009. Legislators also agreed to increase VA and Department of Homeland Security appropriations to meet the FY 2009 needs. They then wrapped all three of those initiatives — plus a $50 billion “ﬁscal stimulus” package — with a broader “continuing resolution” (H.R. 2638) that would keep the rest of the government operating at FY 2008 funding levels until next March, when Congress envisions working with the new president to address funding needs for the rest of FY 2009. But some on Capitol Hill and in the administration were unhappy with this hurried, hodgepodge, and less-than-transparent approach to funding the govern- Traumatic Brain Injury Benefits Raised Compensation will be based on case-by-case evaluations. T he VA announced in late September changes to its schedule for rating disabilities for traumatic brain injury (TBI) — the “signature wound” of the conﬂicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. A VA press release noted, “Traumatic brain injuries result in immediate effects such as loss or alteration of consciousness, amnesia and sometimes neurological impairments.” In some cases “prolonged or even permanent problems with a wide range of impairment in such areas as physical, mental, and emotional/behavioral functioning may occur.” People with TBI might experience headaches, sleep difﬁculties, decreased memory and attention, slower thinking, irritability, and depression. Roughly 22,000 veterans currently are being compensated for TBI, including 5,800 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Those already receiving compensation for TBIs can be reevaluated under the new rating schedule criteria. The VA stressed, however, veterans with the “most severe” forms of TBI would not receive much, if any, extra compensation, because the current rating schedule pro- 36 MILITARY OFFICER NOVEMBER 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - November 2008

Military Officer - November 2008 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Chapters in Action Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Financial Guidebook Out of the Red 7 Year-End Tax Strategies Cover Story: Memory Survives Something to Say MOAA Scholarship Recipients Pages of History Faces of MOAA Information Exchange Member Books Advertising Index MOAA Member Services MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - November 2008

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