After years of non-stop efforts to sound the alarm about the scandals at Walter Reed and the bureaucratic nightmares at VA, the needs of our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are now a major issue in America.  Finally, the press and Congress are fully aware of the problems.  Now there can be no more excuses -- the Administration and Congress better act immediately to fix the problems.  No band-aids this time.  The medical care and disability benefits systems within the military and VA need a complete overhaul.

Veterans for Common Sense led the way on this issue.  Starting today, at least once a week you’ll get a new blog describing our actions publicizing veterans problems and promoting practical solutions.  I’ll also be writing about national security issues, especially those related to the Iraq War and Afghanistan War.

For this week’s blog, here’s an update of my recent activities.  Last week was very busy and very successful, as I met with Senators, Representatives, and reporters in Washington so that delays getting quality healthcare and disability benefits are ended.

First on my schedule was a meeting with the Senate leadership for more than one hour in the Capitol, including Senators Akaka, Levin, Webb, Stabenow, McCaskill, Whitehouse, Casey, Lincoln, Kerry, Tester, Sanders, Milkuski, Brown, Cardin, Kennedy, and Rockefeller. 

The senators were very clear: the needs of our service members and veterans are a top priority for this Congress.  Several senators repeated the message: “seamless transition from the military to veteran status is broken.”

Some senators were far more harsh on VA, saying that DoD went to war and VA didn’t -- and veterans fell through the cracks when they came home because the government wasn't prepared.

At the meeting, VCS provided copies and expressed our strong support for S. 117, the “Lane Evans Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act,” and S. 713, the “Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act.”  You can help veterans right now by picking up the phone and calling Congress today and asking them to pass these bills right now.

Here’s a press release from Senator Obama describing the current status of S. 713.

http://obama.senate.gov/press/070330-obama_calls_on_bush_to_improve_care_for_service_members_by_supporting_the_dignity_for_wounded_warriors_act/index.html

Other veterans groups were at the meeting, too, and they uniformly denounced the problems caused by the military and VA when it comes to our veterans seeing doctors immediately and getting timely benefit payments.  The bottom line is that there should be no more preventable and tragic cases such as Jonathan Shulze.

Next on my schedule was meetings with the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, as they had more questions and wanted more documents as a result of my testimony on March 8th. Again, we emphasized the lack of Congressional oversight for VA during the past six years, which resulted in budget shortfalls and veterans falling through the cracks.

Here’s a newspaper article from Representative Salazar about how VA lost $35 million for computer security upgrades at the same time VA was losing laptops containing millions of highly sensitive veterans’ medical records and disability information because there was no meaningful oversight of VA since 2001:

http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/30/local_news/4.txt

And last on my schedule was a meeting with two investigative reporters looking into how VA failed to hire more doctors and claim processors since the war started.  Sounds simple, right?  When we go to war, we should make sure our wounded get prompt care when they get back, right?  Well not at VA.

Instead, VA fights against veterans and fails to collect information about the number of veterans deployed and wounded so it can promptly respond to the medical needs of our returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. 

The last month has been a whirlwind: the press and Congress, newly empowered since January 2007, shined a huge spotlight on serious problems veterans face obtaining prompt outpatient medical care and disability payments at Walter Reed and VA. 

VCS led the way with dozens of press interviews, Congressional hearings, and legislation to fix the mess in Washington resulting from the Iraq War fiasco.  We will continue pressing forward on this issue.

I look forward to writing more blogs each week about issues important for veterans and our Nation’s national security.  Please drop me a note if you have any feedback on how we can be more effective raising concerns and finding solutions.

Paul Sullivan
Executive Director
Veterans For Common Sense
Paul@VeteransForCommonSense.org