Issue Position: No Veteran Left Behind

Issue Position

Our commitment to Connecticut's veterans must be unwavering. Yet, too often the men and women who have stepped forward are left behind. The Administration has taken strong steps in the right direction to pursue his stated goal of building a 21st century Veterans Administration (VA), which will help support caregivers of seriously injured Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, improving services to women veterans, expanding the availability of health care, and helping prevent veteran homelessness.

But we must do more. Today, more than 131,000 veterans are homeless. The unemployment rate among veterans has doubled in the past three years. Twenty percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while the average veteran must wait almost half a year for a claims decision from the Veterans Administration.

I have called for a comprehensive "No Veteran Left Behind" program to ensure that the depth of our country's commitment to our veterans reflects the depth of their sacrifices on our behalf. My ideas include:

Modernize the Veterans Administration. A 21st century VA must include streamlined service from health professionals and administrators, seamless transitioning of individuals from active service to the VA, a modernized claims processing system, and reduced delays on appeals from claim decisions.

* Improve the Claims Processing System and End the Backlog. The VA's disability system is outdated, error-prone, and mired in red tape -- forcing hundreds of thousands of veterans to wait months and sometimes years for disability compensation. All paper records should be scanned and digitized, allowing claims processors to search and evaluate a veteran's claims more easily. Our evaluation of these processors, which currently focuses on quantity of work, must instead be shifted to focus on its accuracy and quality.
* Accelerate Appeals. In 2008, veterans waited an average of 776 days--more than two years--for the resolution of their appeals regarding disability payments and other benefits. This is inexcusable. The VA must implement procedures to reduce the appeals backlog.
* Transition to Electronic Medical Records. Electronic records reduce error and improve efficiency. I support requiring the VA to incorporate all Defense Department personnel records into its own data system. The Board of Veterans' Appeals must also be able to access all medical and evaluation records electronically.
* Streamline Military-to-VA Transition. Requiring service members to navigate two different health systems--one run by the Department of Defense, the other by the Veterans Administration--causes redundancies, waste, and confusion, and too often leaves veterans with less than their full allowable benefits. All troops should be automatically enrolled in VA health care upon leaving active duty, with an option to opt out.

Secure Job Opportunities for our Veterans. The unemployment rate of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans doubled from 2007 to 2010. We must do everything we can to help returning veterans secure jobs and transition to civilian work.

* New Incentives to Hire Veterans. The stimulus included a tax credit for employers hiring Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. We should extend this credit and also provide training incentives for businesses so that veterans can compete with their civilian peers. Employers receiving government contracts in excess of $100,000 must now disclose to the government the number of veterans they employ. I support making these disclosures public.
* Support for Veteran Entrepreneurship. I support a new Veterans' Center within the federal Small Business Association to help our veterans access the resources, training, and guidance needed to start new businesses and help create jobs.

Improve Veteran Health Care and Mental Health Services. The VA runs 153 veterans' hospitals nationwide as well as hundreds of community clinics and Vet Centers, serving roughly 5.5 million patients annually. Our veterans deserve the best health care the U.S. government can provide. Some steps we can take to improve VA health care include:

* Improve Mental Health Services. Twenty percent of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from mental trauma, including PTSD. Congress must provide the VA and the Department of Defense (DOD) with adequate funding and authority to recruit and retain critically needed behavioral health specialists. And we must make sure that both active military personnel and veterans have adequate access to mental health services.
* Reduce the Stigma of Mental Health Services. Military officers, the Department of Defense, VA, and political leaders must work to reduce the stigma of mental illness, which deters so many from seeking potentially life-saving treatment. We should advance a nationwide campaign to promote the use of DOD and VA mental health services such as the Veterans National Suicide Prevention Hotline, which has received more than 293,000 calls since it began in 2008.

Provide Training and Higher Education. The new GI Bill, signed into law in July 2008, represented the most significant investment in our veterans since World War II, providing a number of education benefits, including up to 36 months of full tuition and fee coverage. These benefits have already been accessed by 300,000 individuals. Going forward, there is more that we must do:

* Provide GI Bill Benefits for Vocational Programs. The new GI Bill did not cover veterans who choose to enroll in apprenticeships, vocational training, or on-the-job training programs. We should expand the law to ensure these veterans have the support they need to acquire the skills to compete in today's economy.
* Speed up Payments. While the new GI bill went into effect on August 1, 2009, implementation has been mired by late payments to qualifying veterans, leaving many struggling to pay living and scholastic expenses. We must work harder to ensure that veterans receive GI Bill benefits in a timely manner.

Support for Women Veterans. Women make up 15 percent of today's military, and there are 1.8 million female veterans nationwide. Yet too often they do not receive the same level of support in the military and at the VA as their male counterparts. Steps we can take to rectify this imbalance include:

* Improving Women's Health. The VA should increase funding for the hiring of female medical practitioners, especially those who specialize in women's healthcare.
* Reducing Sexual Assault. Sexual assault in the military rose by 11 percent in FY2009, with more than 3,000 reported cases. The VA should identify, track and report to Congress the outcomes of claims involving sexual assault and sexual harassment, including data on denial rates, length of processing time, and the types of related disabilities reported.

End Veteran Homelessness. More than 131,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, and nearly twice that number will be homeless at some point during the year. In early 2008, foreclosure rates in military towns were increasing at four times the national average. Failing to ensure that our veterans have minimally adequate shelter is unforgiveable. I support expanding the HUD-VA Supportive Housing voucher program, extending its availability to reach all homeless veterans, and providing Section 8 vouchers to veterans in need of permanent housing.

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