Congressional, Executive Branch, and White House Updates

By Ken Greenberg, National Executive Director

JWV advocacy and outreach to Capitol Hill, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Department of Defense, and other VSOs continued to be robust during the last few months. JWV has been at the forefront with House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees as staff were engaged on high profile issues including, Electronic Health Records, Toxic Exposure and the PACT Act, Concurrent Receipt (Richard Star Act), Caregivers, and ANC new eligibility rules which will be published shortly. JWV continues to encourage members to contact their Senators and Congressman on these important issues. Updates can be found on JWV’s posts on Facebook and Twitter, as well as in JWV’s weekly e-newsletter. JWV’s strong work with The Military Coalition, and the TEAM and NMVA coalitions continues to improve our relations with VSOs as we successfully negotiate program changes and legislative improvements. JWV continues to hold VA accountable on previous legislation including the MISSION Act requirements (Caregivers, AIR Commission), the Deborah Sampson Act, and Suicide Prevention and mental health.

JWV joins the National Coalition of Homeless Veterans
JWV recently joined the National Coalition of Homeless Veterans (NCHV) and helped sponsor its annual meeting June 1-3, 2022. NC Paley was interviewed and JWV will be featured in an upcoming NCHV newsletter. NCHV is one of the most important organizations in fighting veterans’ homelessness, as it brings together all of the resources of VA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other government agencies.

Honoring our PACT ACT Major Win for JWV and Veterans on Toxic Exposure
On June 16, the Senate passed the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022, by a vote of 84-14. This is the largest bill in American history to address service members’ exposure to burn pits and other toxic substances. The bill is estimated to cost $278.5 billion over 10 years.

The bill will provide expanded access to health care and disability benefits for veterans harmed by certain toxic exposures, whether in the jungles of Vietnam or the mountains of Afghanistan. It will also let the Department of Veterans Affairs move more quickly and comprehensively in the future to determine if illnesses are related to military service, and it will offer critical support to survivors who were harmed by exposures, including from water contamination at Camp LeJeune. Importantly, the bill includes the tools and resources to ensure that the VA can effectively implement it.

JWV is proud to be a leader in supporting veterans as this legislation makes good to care for veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. JWV applauds Chairman Tester and Ranking Member Moran for their hard work to pass the PACT Act. The House is expected to swiftly pass the Senate version so that it can be sent to the President for signature.
The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022 will:

  • Expand VA health care eligibility to Post-9/11 combat veterans, which includes more than 3.5 million toxic-exposed veterans;
  • Create a framework for the establishment of future presumptions of service connection related to toxic exposure;
  • Add 23 burn pit and toxic exposure-related conditions to VA’s list of service presumptions, including hypertension;
  • Expand presumptions related to Agent Orange exposure;
    • Includes Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Guam, American Samoa, and Johnston Atoll as locations for Agent Orange exposure;
  • Strengthen federal research on toxic exposure;
  • Improve VA’s resources and training for toxic-exposed veterans; and
  • Set VA and veterans up for success by investing in:
    • VA claims processing;
    • VA’s workforce;
    • VA health care facilities.

Call to Action Time is Now – Richard Star Act (Concurrent Receipt)
JWV continues to participate in the work of the Richard Star Act Working Group. We need your help to get this legislation passed. As of June 17, we have 58 cosponsors in the Senate and 243 cosponsors in the House. Please contact National Programs and Public Relations Director Cara Rinkoff at (202) 265-6285 or crinkoff@jwv.org if you are interested in writing a letter/calling your member of Congress to ask them to become of a sponsor of the Richard Star Act.

JWV’s Hard Work Pays Off – VA Suspends Caregiver Reassessments on June 9, 2022
Veterans Affairs officials will suspend all annual reassessments of families in their caregiver stipend program, citing continued work into revising rules and policies associated with the benefit.

The move comes after months of controversy over the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers, which provides monthly financial support to about 33,000 veterans in need of full-time at-home care. JWV was one of nine VSOs to participate in three days of roundtable discussions with Veterans Health Administration, General Counsel and Congressional Affairs staff, that also included a presentation by Deputy Secretary Donald Remy.

VA officials also repeated their promise not to discharge or reduce stipends for any families based on earlier reassessments. Currently the program is open only to veterans who served after 2001 or before 1976, but it is scheduled to expand it to all veterans on October 1, 2022. In preparation for that, officials last year began a review of all existing post-9/11 veteran participants to ensure they still qualified for the stipend under amended rules.

In March, in response to complaints from JWV and families about the process, VA leadership acknowledged that roughly 90% of families who underwent the reviews were scheduled to be booted from the program based on decisions by administrators. That would have dropped almost half of all current families from the program.

VA Secretary Denis McDonough responded by suspending plans to remove any families from the program and promising to develop new eligibility criteria that is more flexible and less punitive for families.

The stipends — awarded to veterans with service-connected injuries that limit their ability to live independently — vary based on where veterans live, but generally hover around $3,000 a month for the most severely wounded individuals and $1,800 for others in need of around-the-clock care.
Advocates have said that losing the stipend could force infirm veterans and their families into financial distress, since many spouses and parents cannot work full-time and care for their loved ones.

McDonough’s announcement in March was met with praise from families, but the reassessments continued in the following weeks, causing confusion among families about whether the promise not to process out participants was still in effect.

In addition, several groups reported families had received notices that they could still be kicked out of the program in coming months. VA’s announcement ends those reviews.

VA officials said caregiver support staff will continue to initiate reassessments for veterans and family caregivers for some purposes, such as when they request to be considered for an increase in stipend levels or if there is evidence of an increased need for personal care services.
And staff will continue to conduct wellness visits to ensure that veterans are receiving the care needed to address their medical needs.
In a statement to program participants, officials wrote that they are “listening to concerns and working diligently to address them as we continue to ensure veterans and their caregivers get the support they need and deserve.”

JWV Strongly Supports Congressional Action Ordering VA to Report Performance of Troubled Electronic Health Records System to Congress
Under new legislation, the VA will need to provide regular reports to Congress on the performance of the Electronic Health Medical Records (EHMR) a. Are you a JWV member in Washington State or Columbus, Ohio that is impacted by VA’s issues in deploying the new records system? We want to hear from you. Please contact us with any feedback you may have.

JWV Commends VA Launch of $20 Million Mission Daybreak Grants to Reduce Veteran Suicide
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has launched Mission Daybreak, a $20 million challenge to reduce veteran suicides. VA calls on innovators to develop suicide prevention solutions that meet the diverse needs of veterans. Mission Daybreak is part of VA’s 10-year strategy to prevent veteran suicide through a comprehensive, public health approach.

Eligible solvers — including veterans, researchers, technologists, advocates, clinicians, and health innovators — should submit detailed concept papers that address one or more of the challenge focus areas by 4:59 p.m. EDT on July 8, 2022. Multidisciplinary panels of reviewers and judges will assess submissions according to Phase one evaluation criteria. Judges will recommend 30 finalists to each receive $250,000 and advance to Phase two, where they will join an eight-week virtual accelerator. An additional 10 teams will each receive a Promise Award of $100,000.

JWV Completes Audit
I am pleased to report that Clifton, Larsen and Allen LLP completed the audit for JWV, the Foundation, and the National Museum of American Jewish Military History for the period ending June 30, 2021. National also filed all 990 forms due to the IRS before the May 16, 2022, deadline. Copies are available by request, by sending an email to jlasher@jwv.org.

Anniversary Dinner and NED Retirement
I enjoyed working with many of you on the 125th Anniversary Dinner which also honored the retirement of former National Executive Director Herb Rosenbleeth on May 5. Congratulations to Herb on his 31 years of service to JWV. On a personal note, thank you for your 20 plus years of friendship, leadership in TMC and in the VSO community. I will do my best to carry on your advocacy and legacy of support for veterans and service members.

I am also pleased to report that the JWV office renovation began in April. Special thanks to Director of Operations Greg Byrne, Melody Jackson, and Janet Greenberg for all their hard work in coordinating new carpet, ceiling tiles, and furniture to renovate the fourth-floor office space. It looks outstanding!

As NED I want to hear about the issues you care about. Are you having difficulty getting VA or DoD to address your benefits or health care concerns? Don’t be silent. Let JWV help by using our contacts to work for you. I am just an email away – so write to me at kgreenberg@jwv.org.

Volume 76. Number 2. 2022

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