Federal Daily - March 31, 2009

Bill Would Expand TRICARE Coverage for Guard Retirees, Reserves

Senators introduced a bill on March 27 that would—if passed into law—expand TRICARE coverage eligibility to more National Guard and Reserve retirees. Currently, retired members of the National Guard and Reserves with 20 or more years of military service who are eligible to receive military retirement pay must wait until age 60 to access TRICARE coverage. The bill, the TRICARE Continuity of Coverage for National Guard and Reserve Families Act, would allow those under-60 retirees to access the benefit earlier by paying 100 percent of the premium for the TRICARE Standard coverage. The bill was sponsored by Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. The Congressional Budget Office says the legislation would be nearly budget-neutral because the premiums paid by the beneficiaries would offset the costs. According to DoD, as of the end of last year there were 225,226 retirees nationwide who would be eligible for TRICARE coverage under the legislation. “Our reserve components are engaged in all fronts of our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and now require greater vigilance on our part and delivery on our obligation to provide them with the care they require,” Nelson said. To see more, go to: http://bennelson.senate.gov/news/details.cfm?id=310637&&.

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Lawmakers Urge Pentagon to halt DoD A-76 competitions

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, are urging that DoD abandon all pending privatization competitions and refrain for launching any new A-76 reviews pending a full review of the system. In a March 27 letter to Peter Orzag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and DoD Secretary Robert Gates, Skelton and Ortiz said the A-76 competitions had gotten out of hand. “It became almost a mandate in recent years for pushing more and more work into the private sector, even work that is closely associated with inherently governmental functions, in order to meet arbitrary competition goals,” the letter said. The lawmakers pointed out that many of DoD’s A-76 studies have dragged on far beyond the authorized time limits, which creates an unfair burden on the affected federal employees, as well as on the contractors who have submitted bids for work. In many cases, an individual service has requested a cancellation, only to be denied by DoD, the letter said. Lawmakers noted that Congress had implemented a government-wide privatization moratorium via the Fiscal Year 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act that expires on Sept. 30. The letter asked DoD to extend that moratorium until Congress and President Obama had time to review the entire A-76 process. To see more, go to: http://armedservices.house.gov/apps/list/press/
armedsvc_dem/skeltonortizpr032709.shtml.

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Senate Passes Measure to Expand National Service

By a wide margin, the Senate last week passed a bill that would expand public service opportunities for students and create a one-year public-service fellowship program for older adults. The bill, H.R. 1388, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, was adopted by the Senate by a vote of 78 to 19. It now heads to the House for final approval before being sent to President Obama for his signature. The bill would create a “Summer of Service” program to encourage middle and high school students to engage in a summer of community service to put them on a path to a lifetime of service, said Kennedy, the longtime Democratic senator from Massachusetts. The bill would also create “Encore Fellowships” to give those over age 50 the opportunity to transition into part-time or full-time service to carry out projects of national need. “The bill is a major expansion of existing national and community programs,” Kennedy said. “Its goal is to tap much more deeply into Americans’ enthusiasm to serve, and direct it to areas and issues where it can make the biggest difference.” The bill would also authorize a Community Solutions Fund pilot program that would award competitive matching grants to promote social entrepreneurs who are working to solve community-based problems. To see more, go to: http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?
id=9EB3F7B7-868B-4ACF-99B7-DD55AD532504&type=archive.

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