Blog post

IAVA Daily Brief 9.24.09
Posted by Terrell Frazier on September 24

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA.  Prefer to receive real-time updates about major stories and legislation that IAVA is tracking?  Follow us on Twitter @IAVAPressRoom.

1) VA says it has processed less than half of GI Bill education benefits

In a statement, the VA said Wednesday that while it has paid more than 61,000 benefits claims totaling $50 million since August, it still has processed less than half of the pending education benefits claims veterans are entitled to under the Post-9/11 GI bill claims.  Currently, the VA estimates it has a total of 172,662 education claims pending, which includes the new GI bill claims as well as other education programs.

2) IAVA Calls for Immediate Response to GI Bill Check Delays  

On Wednesday, the IAVA issued a statement in response to the delay of payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to the colleges and universities attended by student veterans pursuing their education on the new Post-9/11 GI Bill. The VA has issued checks to just 11 percent of the 277,403 veterans who have applied for their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits. The statement calls this “absolutely unacceptable” and asks leaders to “move quickly, aggressively and with total transparency” to ensure veterans are not forced to choose between footing the bill or dropping out of school. IAVA will continue to push the White House and VA to address this problem with haste.

3) Top General Denies Rift With Obama on Afghan War

While warning against taking too long to settle on a final Afghan strategy, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the senior American commander in Afghanistan, rejected any suggestion Wendesday that his grim assessment of the war has driven a wedge between the military and the Obama administration.  “A policy debate is warranted,” General McChrystal said in a telephone interview from his headquarters in Kabul. “We should not have any ambiguities, as a nation or a coalition... At the end of the day, we’re putting young people in harm’s way.”  Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Wednesday that McChrystal's request for additional troops would be submitted this week, even though no decisions would be made until the White House has finished its newest review of Afghanistan policy. 

AFGHANISTAN

The Pentagon said Wednesday that a request for new troops from the U.S. commander in Afghanistan may have to be revised now that there is growing uncertainty inside the Obama administration over whether to escalate the American commitment to the eight-year war. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the troop request from U.S. and NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal will be delivered by the week's end. He also signaled that the number of troops that McChrystal will ask for — believed to be as high as 40,000 — could change after the report is received if the White House reverses its Afghanistan strategy.

President Barack Obama faces significant doubts from the American public about the war in Afghanistan and his handling of foreign policy, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. As Obama ramps up his focus on diplomacy this week -- at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and then hosting a summit of world leaders in Pittsburgh -- approval of the job he is doing on foreign policy has dropped to 50% from 57% in July. Americans are pessimistic about the prospects of victory in Afghanistan; 59% say they are feeling less confident that the war will come to a successful conclusion. And 51% say they would oppose sending more troops to the conflict.

President Obama’s top advisers are rethinking the strategy that Mr. Obama unveiled in March, amid a growing political divide in the United States over how to proceed and confusion among allies that have fighting forces in Afghanistan. The options under review are part of what administration officials described as a wholesale reconsideration of a strategy the president announced with fanfare just six months ago. Two new intelligence reports are being conducted to evaluate Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials said.

IRAQ

Five al-Qaida-linked prisoners awaiting execution and 11 other inmates broke out of a prison in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, prompting a massive manhunt Thursday, officials said. Iraq's overcrowded prison and judicial systems are struggling to handle the thousands of detainees being handed over to Iraqi authorities this year by the U.S. military under the requirements of a security pact between the two countries. One of the five prisoners was recaptured early Thursday in the Tikrit area - a 19-year-old from a town near the city. Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf would not comment on the inmates' possible links to al-Qaida, saying only that six of the escaped convicts are considered "dangerous.  


A bomb exploded Wednesday outside a home in southwestern Baghdad, killing a woman and her two children, as other bombings killed at least seven Iraqi security personnel and a local politician in the capital and a volatile northern area. Though violence has eased across Iraq overall, attacks have persisted in Baghdad and the restive city of Mosul in northern Iraq. Roadside bombings in Baghdad and in an around Mosul killed a policeman and six Iraqi soldiers on Wednesday, police said. A bomb attached to a car also killed a city council member in Baghdad's western outskirts.

Refugees from Iraq's minorities face insecurity and risk losing their religious and cultural identity as they seek refuge in neighboring countries and Western Europe, a minority rights group said on Thursday. The United Nations refugee agency estimates that around 1.9 million people have fled Iraq, which was almost torn apart by sectarian killing in the years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Many undertook dangerous journeys to Europe often only to be met with restrictive asylum policies, discrimination and in some cases forcible return, the group said in a report. "Some communities like Mandaeans, who number a few thousand globally, stand to lose many of their religious and cultural practices, as they are spread across and within countries. They are at risk of cultural eradication," Carl Soderbergh, Minority Rights Group's director of policy, said in a statement.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

A gunman walked into the lobby of the Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center in Chicago early Wednesday and barricaded himself in an exam room after firing a round in the emergency room.  The gunman surrendered after seven hours negotiating with local police and no one was hurt in the incident.

Following a VA probe that found eight veterans suffered potentially preventable vision loss while under the care of optometrists at a Northern California VA facility, the California Medical Association and other groups are petitioning the state of California to suspend a new state law set to take effect in January that would expand the optometrists' ability to care for patients beyond their scope.

Will The Military Friend Facebook Anytime Soon? The higher-ups in the U.S. military are catching on to something their troops could have told them years ago: Facebook, Twitter and other social media are powerful communications tools between the war zone and the home front. The U.S. commander in Iraq is on Facebook, the president's top military adviser is on YouTube and Twitter. But the pentagon is considering a ban for almost all other U.S. troops. Guests on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, discuss an array of issues regarding security, resources, and censorship when it comes to social media and the military.

Fort Hood's commanding general, Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, stepped down from his post Tuesday after leading an unprecedented campaign to combat soldier stress and suicides. Fort Hood has had 10 suicides this year and is only behind Fort Campbell, Ky., which had 16 through August. The Army has logged 110 active-duty suicides from January through last month, 71 of them confirmed. That compares to 89 active-duty suicides at the same time in 2008. A former commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, Lynch handed off command to Lt. Gen. Robert Cone during a ceremony in the post's Abrams Field House .A Fort Hood spokesman, Col. Ben Danner, said Cone would continue Lynch's programs to reduce soldier and family stress. Those programs were designed to stop suicides at Hood, home to a pair of divisions that have racked up three deployments each since 2003.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

Mandatory overtime has been ordered for Veterans Affairs Department claims processors working on Post-9/11 GI Bill certifications as the VA digs out from an avalanche of more 277,000 claims. More people also have been added to answer the VA’s GI Bill hotline, which students complain often has a wait of an hour or longer. Keith Wilson, chief of the VA’s education service, said he knows delayed tuition payments to schools and late book and living allowances for students have left many veterans disappointed and some very angry. “We are doing everything we can,” Wilson said.

At a Wednesday hearing of a House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee, lawmakers on Capitol Hill questioned whether $24 million in bonuses were appropriately awarded to employees in the technology branch of the Veterans Affairs Department.  Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., questioned the sensitivity of the executive bonuses being distributed at the same time the country is "shedding jobs like a dog shedding hair." VA Deputy Secretary W. Scott Gould said the VA will consider the economic recession when reviewing performance awards later this year but that it is "also a time when we need to be encouraging our VA employees."

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

THE SENATE      



The Senate will convene at 9:39 a.m. 

SENATE FLOOR ACTIVITY of  INTEREST   

No Issues

THE HOUSE of  REPRESENTATIVES     

The House will convene at 9:00 a.m.       



HOUSE FLOOR ACTIVITY of INTEREST    

No Issues         


HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of  INTEREST       

September 24, 2009  Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Hearing:  Honoring the Fallen: How Can We Better Serve America’s Veterans and Their Families?  10:00 a.m.; 334 Cannon

September 24, 2009  Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Hearing:  Legislative Hearing H.R. 294, H.R. 1169, H.R. 1182, H.R. 2416, H.R. 2461, H.R. 2614, H.R. 2696, H.R. 2874, H.R. 2928, H.R. 3223, H.R. 3554, H.R. 3561, H.R. 3577, and Draft Legislation   1:00 p.m.; 334 Cannon.

FUTURE  HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of  INTEREST



September 30, 2009  Full Veterans’ Affairs Committee Hearing:  Energy Efficiency at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs  10:00 a.m.; 334 Cannon

October 8, 2009  Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Markup of Pending Legislation   1:00 p.m.; 334 Cannon

October 14, 2009  Full Veterans’ Affairs Committee Hearing:  Update on the State of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs  10:00 a.m.; 334 Cannon HOB

A wide-range of views, positions, and publications are represented in these articles. These views, positions and publications are not endorsed by nor do they necessarily represent the views of IAVA.