President Obama And General Shinseki Are Still Failing Our Wounded

VA Secretary and retired Army General Eric Shinseki

What the heck's going on at the Department of Veterans Affairs? Despite the promises from President Obama and VA Secretary Secretary Eric Shinseki to fix the broken disability claims system, the department remains woefully unable to process veterans’ claims in a timely or accurate manner. Things were supposed to get better by now for our wounded warriors. Shinseki promised that by 2015 the notorious backlog of disability claims would be at zero. Fat chance of that happening now. It's a national disgrace.

I've always admired Shinseki. A retired Army general and disabled Vietnam War veteran, he seems sincere about wanting to make positive changes at VA for his fellow vets. I know his job isn't easy. VA is a deeply entrenched bureaucracy that is very difficult for one man or even one administration to fix. But at what point is it time to say that he has failed in this job? I'd say that time is right about now.

Here's the hard fact: On January 21, 2009, there were 167,745 appeals pending.  Now, as of February 24, there are 272,110 appeals languishing at VA. This is a dramatic spike of more than 62 percent. That's just not gonna get it done, General! 

Last week, McClatchy News reported that wait times for veterans are soaring. The average time for a denied claim to work its way through the cumbersome VA appeals process shot up to more than 900 days last year. That is double the department’s long-term target. 

After hovering between 500 and 750 days for the past decade, what the VA refers to as its “appeals resolution time” hit 923 days in fiscal 2013. That was a 37 percent jump in one year, from 675 in fiscal 2012, according to a review of the department’s annual performance report.

VA has made efforts to modernize and computerize its antiquated claims system and hire more staff, including more mental health staff. The department's long-term goal is to get that figure above to 400 days. But the trend over the past decade has been in the opposite direction.

Last December, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, demanded that VA provide Congress with plan to fix the new backlog of claim appeals created while VA focused only on new claims. As of today, VA has not submitted a plan to senators.

VA’s disaster is described as the “claim delay and error crisis” because the American Legion testified before Congress last year that they found a 55 percent error rate in VA’s disability decisions. When VA makes mistakes on a veteran’s claim, the new appeal is then added back into VA’s inventory.  

Joe Moore, a former VA attorney and now a partner at Bergmann & Moore who represents veterans with VA disability claim appeals, noted that when comparing December 2012 to December 2013, VA’s disability claim inventory remained stagnant at nearly 1.4 million.  

"Poor leadership, untrained staff, chronic staff shortages, and overworked staff caused VA to make mistakes in 30 percent to 55 percent of claim decisions," Moore told The Reno Dispatch this week. "In addition, VA’s improper, myopic focus on veterans’ new claims means that VA ignores appealed claims, even though Congress ordered that appealed claims be given priority. VA’s claim appeal backlog rose 62 percent in five years, and it hit a new record of more than 272,000 claims in March 2014."

But Moore added that VA’s only response to the claim delay and error crisis that VA created "was to propose harmful new regulations making it far more difficult for disabled veterans to file claims and appeal VA decisions. Instead of blocking claims and appeals, VA leaders must quickly improve the accuracy of VA claim decisions by hiring and training staff to follow existing laws. That includes a 2004 law, ignored by VA, that requires VA to expedite claim appeals. While computers should shorten claim and appeal processing time, veterans are far better served when there is greater accountability for VA leaders unable to produce accurate and timely claim decisions."

Bergmann & Moore's blog on January 14 described the nearly one million new disability claims filed by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, which is certainly one of the main causes of the ongoing VA claims fiasco. And the firm's blog two days later reported the firestorm over VA’s proposed regulation to prevent 600,000 claims per year by mandating new forms. This is VA’s underhanded “Trojan Horse” to eliminate the backlog with a new regulation that effectively prevents about half of disabled veterans from filing a new claim or starting an appeal.

Do I even have to say it? This is completely untenable and unacceptable! It's time to get a new leader at VA!

Don't Let Senate Republicans "Torpedo" Historic Veterans Bill

Senate Minority Leader Mitch "The Turtle" McConnell (R-KY)

If you've read this news blog for any stretch of time, you know that I'm neither a knee-jerk liberal nor a reactionary conservative. While I lean left on most social issues, I'm demonstrably more conservative than many of my lefty pals. On the other hand, I'm certainly more liberal than my right-wing buddies. And I feel compelled to say that what is happening in Congress right now with regard to an historic bill for America's veterans is despicable. And yes, I'm looking at you, Senate Republicans.

As many of you know, there is a comprehensive, bipartisan veterans bill now before the Senate. The bill, S. 1982, would if passed expand healthcare, education opportunities, employment and other benefits for our former warriors. It would specifically allow more veterans to receive treatment at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, improve care and services for veterans who were victims of military sexual assault, advance the use of alternative medical therapies and treatments, guarantee that veterans going to school on the GI Bill pay in-state tuition, and expand dental care. 

But GOP senators, who are typically sane and less inclined to do something this crazy than their reliably do-nothing counterparts in the House, are demanding a vote on an amendment that would reduce the costs of the $21 billion legislation and add language to the bill imposing new sanctions on Iran if the current political efforts to curb that country's nuclear program don't succeed. 

In other words, these lawmakers, led by Senate Minority Leader and world-class obstructionist Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), are holding this bill and America's veterans hostage over an entirely separate issue. And if these children don't get their way, the bill will likely die. This is beyond shameful. And I think it's gonna backfire. It's never a good idea for legislators to use veterans as pawns in a political chess game. Cynical, exploitative political tactics involving our war heroes just don't sit well with Americans of any and all political stripes.

Even the usually staid American Legion, the nation's largest veterans organization with some 2.4 million members, is getting uncharacteristically feisty about this untenable move by the GOP. Commander Daniel M. Dellinger of the Legion rightly said this week that Iran sanctions language should simply not be part of this legislation. 

“Iran is a serious issue that Congress needs to address, but it cannot be tied to this bill, which is extremely important as our nation prepares to welcome millions of U.S. military servicemen and women home from war,” Dellinger said. “We can deal with Iran – or any other issue unrelated specifically to veterans – with separate legislation.”

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) founder and CEO Paul Rieckhoff also weighed in, saying today, "This bill is a game changer that will change the trajectory for millions of veterans for decades to come. In 2013, veterans were not immune from gridlock in Washington. This year has to be different. We urge the Senate to pass this legislation.”

 If Senate Majority Leader Harry (D-NV) denies Republicans a vote on these amendments, GOP senators reportedly will resort to procedural moves to block the measure from reaching final passage. The thing is, they don't really even like this bill. Several have already said it's too expensive and goes too far and opens up VA facilities to too many veterans, even those who are not there for service-related injuries. God forbid we take care of a war vet who has the flu!

In a characteristically impassioned Senate floor speech, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC) Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), who introduced the legislation, welcomed the strong statements this week from the leading veterans groups and urged Senate Republicans to come to their senses.

“Please do not inject the Iran sanctions issue into a debate on how we can improve the lives of veterans and their families," said Sanders, who in an interview on CNN said the Iran amendment is an attempt “to torpedo this very important piece of legislation.”

That's exactly what it is. But McConnell doesn't want to hear it. He told AP today that attaching the Iran sanctions to the veterans bill is a good idea because it would enhance the prospects for sanctions. He said there is "no excuse for muzzling the Congress on an issue of this importance to our own national security" and the security of other countries.

I hope every veteran and, well, every person living in Kentucky takes heed of what McConnell is doing this week and remembers it come November. National security is of course a hugely important issue, and the debate over what to do about Iran’s nuclear program is obviously a worthy one. But I'm sorry, Mitch, you are not allowed to have this debate at the expense of veterans. If there is any justice you will be voted out of office this year.

I ask that you please call your senators this week, folks, be they Republican, Democrat or Independent, and tell them in no uncertain terms that what these Republican senators are doing with this bill is just flat-out wrong. And tell 'em I sent you. Then you're sure to tick them off.