Congressman Geoff Davis : Serving Kentucky's Fourth District

Veterans

If you are a veteran and need assistance dealing with the Veterans’ Administration or the Department of Defense, please call my office at (859) 426-0080. My staff and I are here to serve you.

We have a responsibility to uphold our commitment to the veterans who have sacrificed to preserve our freedom. As a former enlisted soldier and officer in the Army, I understand how important it is that we continue to provide quality medical care and other benefits to all veterans; both to those who served their country a generation ago and to those just returning from fighting in the war against radical Islam.

Congress Modernizes the GI Bill

In the summer of 2008, Congress passed an emergency supplemental funding bill for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to ensuring that American men and women serving our nation abroad have the equipment they need to safely succeed in their mission, the bill also modernized an antiquated GI bill to ensure our veterans have access to quality education. Whereas previous law granted veterans the opportunity to receive up to $1,100 a month in tuition benefits, the new law will pay tuition equal to in-State fees charged at the most expensive public institution in the State where the veteran is enrolled. It will also provide monthly stipends to cover living expenses. This new bill also allows service members who complete several reenlistments to transfer these benefits to spouses and children. I was proud to vote for these additional benefits for our nation’s heroes. You can learn more about the updated GI bill HERE.

National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

As you may know, our nation’s national defense policy is outlined in yearly legislation known as the National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA. Among other provisions, this legislation outlines the priorities for defense policy and military personnel. I was proud to support the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 (H.R. 2647) which passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 389-22 on June 25, 2009. The Senate passed the bill on July 23, 2009. This legislation contains the following important provisions that enhance the welfare of our service members and military retirees:

A basic pay raise of 3.4%, which is .5% above the president’s request. I had previously co-sponsored a separate bill, H.R. 1864, which would have provided this pay raise, and I am delighted its provisions were included in the NDAA.
Authorization of 547,400 active-duty personnel for the Army for FY 2010, up from 480,000 in FY 2001. Also authorizes an additional 30,000 active-duty troops for the Army during the FY 2011 and 2012 period. Greater end strength will reduce the number of deployments required of individual soldiers and more time at home between deployments. The bill also authorizes strength increases for the other branches of the armed forces.
Extension of TRICARE coverage to retired reservists who are not yet age sixty. Under current law, retired reservists who have completed twenty years of service but have not yet reached the age of sixty (so called "grey-area" retirees), are not eligible for TRICARE benefits.

Additionally, the NDAA does not contain any provisions to increase TRICARE enrollment fees, deductibles, co-payments and retail pharmacy cost shares. This is an issue of concern to me and prior to NDAA passage I co-sponsored a bill, the Military Retirees Health Care Protection Act (H.R. 816), to prohibit any such increases.

Disability Retirement Pay

The House-passed NDAA for FY 2009 included an important provision that I offered. This provision would have increased disability retirement pay for reservists/veterans who are severely and permanently disabled from being wounded in action.

Under current law, a reservist only gets credit for the time he actually spends in uniform. For instance, a soldier who has spent thirteen years in the Kentucky Army National Guard may have only four years of service when his duty days are calculated. As a result, the reservist/veteran may receive less disability retirement pay than his active counterpart. Even if two personnel receive identical wounds from the same firefight in Iraq or Afghanistan, the reservist may still receive less disability retirement pay.

My provision would have eliminated this inequity between active and reserve personnel. Any reservist/veteran who earned the Purple Heart for wounds incurred in battle and was medically retired as a result of that action would have had his or her disability pay calculated based on the total number of years served in the reserves or National Guard. Unfortunately, this provision was not included in the final version of the NDAA because of opposition by the Department of Defense and lack of support in the Senate. However, I will continue to fight for the inclusion of this provision in future versions of the National Defense Authorization Act.

As referenced above, almost all defense policy is set through a single annual law known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). While most of our effort is focused on successfully including this provision in the NDAA, I have also introduced stand-alone legislation, the Citizen Soldier Equality Act (H.R. 1994). For more information about the Citizen Soldier Equality Act, click here.

Hardship Duty Pay

As a result of an amendment I offered for the NDAA of Fiscal Year 2008, Hardship Duty Pay for our service men and women was increased to a maximum of $1500 per month, doubling the previous maximum of $750 per month. The new maximum will enable all branches of the armed forces to pay more to service members deployed to combat zones and other arduous assignments. In particular, the services will be able to provide additional compensation to the increasing number of our troops who are being required to make multiple combat deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Wounded Warrior Legislation

The NDAA for FY2009 included “Wounded Warrior” assistance legislation to address specific challenges faced by our recovering service members, veterans and their families. As you may know, the Wounded Warrior legislation resulted from the discovery of grossly inadequate care for recovering service members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. While disciplinary action was taken against the command at Walter Reed, this legislation was primarily designed to prevent situations like this from arising in the future. The law mandated a telephone hotline that service members and their families can use to report deficiencies in medical care.

The Army’s Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline can be accessed at (800) 984-8523. The number for the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Call Center is (877) 487-6299. The number for the Navy’s Safe Harbor Hotline is (877) 746-8563. The number to call for Air Force wounded warrior issues is (800) 581-9437. Anyone can call (800) 488-8244 to report suspected waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement at VA facilities. Additionally, separating members will now receive a written plan to ensure a smoother transition to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs from the Department of Defense. These and other provisions of last year’s defense authorization act have led to recognizable improvements in veterans’ care. Nonetheless, this is still a fairly new program that will require close scrutiny.

I will continue to monitor the implementation of the “Wounded Warrior” provisions included in the NDAA and the efforts to provide the best possible care for our wounded heroes.

Recent Legislation

A number of veterans related bills have recently passed the House of Representatives. These include:

H.R. 1377 allows reimbursements to veterans who receive emergency treatment at a facility outside of the VA at any time before the date of enactment.

H.R. 3155, the Caregiver Assistance and Resource Enhancement Act, requires the VA to pay a monthly stipend to family members who care for certain veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. These are veterans with severe disabilities who are unable to perform activities of daily living (such as bathing, feeding, and dressing), and require caregiver services to such an extent that without those services, they would require care in an institutional setting (such as a hospital or nursing home).

H.R. 1016, the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009, authorizes Congress to write two budgets for the VA this year. The first would authorize FY 2010 funding for the entire department; the second would authorize FY 2011 funding for VA medical programs, which would begin the process of funding medical accounts a year in advance in order to provide VA greater predictability for medical funding.

H.R. 1171, the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, authorizes $300 million over five years for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program. Also establishes a grant program for homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children that would fund programs providing job training, counseling, placement services and child care services.

Just before Memorial Day, 2009, the House passed H.R. 2352, the Job Creation through Entrepreneurship Act. The bill would authorize ten million dollars in fiscal year 2011 and twelve million dollars in fiscal year 2012 for the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish The Veterans Business Centers Program, a new small business assistance program for veterans. The centers would provide veterans and their surviving spouses with entrepreneurial training and counseling. Additionally, the bill authorizes funding that the SBA can provide to centers for securing capital, procurement assessment grants, and grants tailored to service-disabled veterans.

Co-sponsorship of Legislation Supporting Our Troops and Veterans

I am a proud co-sponsor of four bills that support the welfare of our troops and veterans:

H.R.704, the Supply Our Soldier Act of 2009, directs the Secretary of Defense to provide a program under which postal benefits (in the form of vouchers) are provided to members of the armed forces who are serving in Iraq or Afghanistan or hospitalized in a military medical facility as a result of such service.

H.R. 816, the Military Retirees Health Care Protection Act, prohibits an increase in a premium, deductible, co-payment, or other charges for medical and dental health care coverage for military personnel.

H.R. 1182, the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, amends the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act to allow spouses the same provisions as their service members regarding aspects such as voting in their home of record, keeping a driver’s license in the home of record, and paying personal property taxes and State income taxes in the home of record.

H.R. 1203, the Federal and Military Retiree Health Care Equity Act, amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow Federal civilian and military retirees to pay health insurance premiums on a pretax basis and to allow a deduction for TRICARE supplemental premiums.

H.R. 1864 would provide a pay increase of 3.4 percent for members of the uniformed services for fiscal year 2010.

Veterans Programs in Kentucky

Locally, several advantageous programs have been developed for veterans. In March 2008, the Veterans Health Administration announced the opening of a new Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Carrollton. These outpatient clinics work with the VA Medical Centers to provide primary health care and specialized services closer to the homes of veterans. It makes preventative care easier for patients, improves access to care, stimulates doctor-patient relationships and permits easier follow-ups for people with chronic problems. This facility will be serving patients in a rural area that is medically underserved and has a primary care health professional shortage.

On August 22, 2008, the Fourth District of Kentucky was honored to open its first Veterans Cemetery, the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery North just south of Williamstown. The Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs (KDVA) opened the cemetery for veterans and their spouses. Construction of the ninety-nine acre cemetery began in March, 2007. For more information about the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery North, please visit http://veterans.ky.gov/cemeteries/kvcn.htm.

KDVA is also working on opening a new seventy-eight acre Kentucky Veterans Cemetery Northeast in Greenup County. The KDVA acquired land near I-64 and is looking to complete the project within the next few years. These cemeteries are funded through a combination of State and federal funds and are designed to provide dignified interment for veterans as a tribute to their service to the Commonwealth and the nation. In September, 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs awarded a $6 million grant to cover all of the costs to build the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery Northeast.

Additionally, in the spring of 2009, the Kentucky Small Business Development Center (KSBDC) launched a website, http://www.kyvetbiz.com, for veterans interested in starting a small business. This service provides planning, consulting, and training for veterans and access is available before, during, and after deployment. For more information, please visit http://www.kyvetbiz.com or call (270) 763-6961.

As a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), veterans may receive a one-time payment of $250. These payments are expected to begin in June 2009. To be eligible for the $250 payment, VA beneficiaries must have received compensation, pension, dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC), or spina bifida benefits at any time between November 2008 and January 2009. No application is necessary. VA will use its existing payment records to determine eligibility for the $250 payment and beneficiaries will receive their payments the same way they receive their monthly VA benefits. VA beneficiaries who also receive benefits from the Social Security Administration or Railroad Retirement Board will be paid through those agencies, and will therefore not receive the payment from VA. For more information, please visit http://www.va.gov/recovery/.

How Can We Help You?

My offices are available to help you with any problems you may encounter with the federal government. Our constituent liaisons are trained to assist residents of Kentucky’s Fourth District who need help resolving issues with a variety of organizations, including the Internal Revenue Service, Medicare and Social Security, among others. We also have extensive resources for servicemembers and veterans. To learn more about our constituent liaison services, click HERE or contact my Fort Mitchell office at (859) 426-0080.