Federal Daily - February 11, 2008

VA Chief Promises Improvements Next Year, But Vets Criticize Plan

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake, speaking on Thursday for the first time before the House Veterans Affairs Committee, pledged to greatly shorten the wait times suffered by many veterans seeking health care from the agency. The VA’s own figures show that some 69,000 veterans have had to wait more than 30 days to get care. “Our budget request for 2009 provides the resources necessary for the department to virtually eliminate the waiting list by the end of next year,” Peake said. The administration is asking Congress for $93.7 billion for FY 2009, $3.4 billion more than FY 2008. But several veterans groups object the raw increase is misleading. “Actual veterans health care funding in the new budget is $1.6 billion short of what we think is needed,” Dave Autry, spokesman for the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), told FederalDaily.com. Rick Weidman, a director of the Vietnam Veterans of America, told FederalDaily.com that the FY 2009 proposal “doesn’t even keep up with medical inflation”—and despite administration promises to the contrary, it bars care for new veterans who lack service-related injuries—a policy that Weidman called “nuts.” About 25 percent of federal employees are veterans, according to the Office of Personnel Management. For more, go to www.dav.org and www.vva.org.

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Senators Place Hold On FAA Nominee

Citing air traffic safety and staffing concerns, two senators have placed a hold on the nomination of Robert Sturgell to be the next Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief. Sturgell currently is the agency’s acting administrator. Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Frank Lautenberg, D, N.J., on Feb. 7 announced the hold, which will prevent the nomination from coming to the Senate floor for a vote. “I have raised a number of serious safety and traffic issues with the FAA, and their responses, time and again, have shown minimal concern and a lack of urgency,” said Menendez. The senator was particularly concerned with problems at the Newark, N.J., airport. “This low staffing level (at Newark Tower) is not surprising given the fact that the FAA has forced its controllers to work in such a hostile environment,” Menendez wrote. The controllers “are substantially worse off than they were a number of years ago,” he said. Sturgell is one of about 180 judicial and agency nominees whose appointments have been stalled in the confirmation process. To see more, go to:  http://menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=292402.   

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House Moves to Examine Impact of Student Debt on Public Service

The House has passed legislation that would require the government to study how student debt levels impact college graduates’ decisions about whether to enter a career of public service. The legislation was included as an amendment to H.R. 4137, the College Access and Opportunity Act, passed by the House on Feb. 7. The amendment, sponsored by Reps. Jim Moran, D-Va., and Christopher Shays, R-Conn., would require the study to include an assessment of current recruiting and retention challenges, an evaluation of existing federal programs and recommendations for pilot programs that would increase recruitment. The lawmakers said they hope the study, once completed, will support the creation of a U.S. Public Service Academy, which would offer subsidized education for those entering a career of public service. “On the eve of the retirement of the baby-boom generation, our nation stands ready to receive a new generation of teachers, firefighters, federal employees and other civil servants,” said Moran. To see more, go to: http://moran.house.gov/list/press/va08_moran/EdStudy1.shtml.

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Clinton Probes Reports of Deficient Kevlar Combat Helmets

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., urged DoD to address concerns that as many as 2.2 million Kevlar helmets issued to combat troops may have been substandard and inadequate. In a Feb. 7 letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Clinton expressed concern that troops in the field may have been put at risk by the deficient equipment. The helmets were produced by a manufacturer that recently reached a $2 million out-of-court settlement in a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department, Clinton said. Whistleblowers from within the company accused the manufacturer of shortchanging the armor in the helmets, rendering troops more vulnerable to injury from shrapnel and other projectiles, Clinton said. She noted that, despite the settlement, DoD has awarded the manufacturer a new $74 million contract for more helmets. “Providing military equipment for our men and women in uniform is a public trust and it is reprehensible when any contractor betrays that trust,” Clinton said. To see more, go to: http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=292467&&.

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