FederalDaily.com > Congressional Opposition to Walter Reed Outsourcing

FederalDaily - March 20, 2006

Congressional Opposition to Walter Reed Outsourcing

A plan to outsource 350 operations support services jobs at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., has drawn opposition from Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md., and several other congressmen. The group sent a letter to Army Secretary Francis Harvey last week urging him to turn down the privatization deal. The letter also questioned the contracting process—suggesting that the Army may have violated provisions of the Defense Appropriations Bill and Office of Management and Budget A-76 regulations. Further, the letter raised the possibility of congressional intervention. “Our federal employees are on the front lines every day, working hard for America,” Mikulski said. “These hardworking men and women deserve to be treated fairly and, at the very least, deserve to have the same rights that contractors do.”

Contaminated Water For Troops in Iraq?

Last week, senators from the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations announced plans to continue investigating whether defense contractor Halliburton provided contaminated water to U.S. troops in Iraq. The subcommittee began an inquiry on the issue on Feb. 7, 2006, and has interviewed Department of Defense and Halliburton officials and reviewed documentation. The chairman of the subcommittee, Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Neb., stated, “I am deeply concerned about any suggestion that our troops who are risking their lives for our national security would have to fear the very water they drink.” Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., also expressed displeasure over the situation. “Based on what we now know from an internal report from Halliburton’s own water quality expert, Halliburton’s delivery of unhealthy water to U.S. troops is completely unacceptable,” Dorgan said.

Focusing on Health Care for Rural Veterans

On March 16, Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Ken Salazar, D-Colo., introduced legislation establishing the position of assistant secretary of Veterans’ Affairs for Rural Veterans, to serve under the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) secretary. Veterans in rural areas often have difficulty obtaining care—sometimes having to drive hundreds of miles—and, as a result, are more likely to forego preventive treatment. There are 5.7 million veterans living in rural areas, according to Thune. He noted a recent VA study showing that rural veterans typically are in poorer health than veterans in urban areas. In addition, 44 percent of military recruits come from rural portions of the U.S. “I’m hopeful this legislation will receive broad bipartisan support in the Senate, so we can move swiftly to improve health care access and quality for rural veterans across the country,” Thune said.

N.C. Servicemembers Assured Voting Rights

The Department of Justice (DOJ) last week announced that it has reached an agreement with North Carolina officials that will help ensure that military and overseas voters have an opportunity to vote in the state’s 2006 second primary election, if one becomes necessary. The agreement, which was filed contemporaneously with a lawsuit filed by DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, creates emergency procedures for this year’s elections to allow military and overseas voters sufficient time to receive, cast and return their ballots and to have their ballots counted. DOJ said the lawsuit was necessary because the four-week period between North Carolina’s primary election and any necessary second primary (i.e., runoff) is too short for runoff ballots to be created, mailed to, and returned from absentee voters, including many who are in distant places such as members of the armed forces serving in Iraq. DOJ said it recently filed a suit against Alabama to remedy a similar problem with its primary run-off timetable.