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109th Congress Press Releases
HOUSE PASSES $70 BILLION IN VA FUNDING FOR FY 06
Friday, November 18, 2005
Washington, D.C. — Today, the house passed H.R. 2528, the Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006, which appropriates $70.038 billon for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Funding for Veterans medical care has increased by 18% over the last two years. For the first time ever, this bill allocates $2.2 billion solely for mental healthcare and doubles funding for mental health research.
HOUSE PASSES COST-OF-LIVING-ADJUSTMENT FOR VETERANS
Thursday, November 17, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, by unanimous consent, the House passed S. 1234, the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2005. S. 1234 will provide, effective December 1, 2005, a cost-of-living adjustment to the rates of disability compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation paid to certain spouses and dependent children of service-disabled veterans. S. 1234 will be sent to the President for his signature.
BUYER PRAISES OLYMPIC PARTNERSHIP FOR VETERANS
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Washington, D.C.—Flanked by Gordon H. Mansfield, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) and United States Olympic Committee (USOC) President Jim Scherr, Chairman Steve Buyer (R-IN), praised the unveiling of a new partnership designed to promote the involvement of disabled veterans in U.S. Paralympic sports.
BUYER AGREES WITH VA DECISION TO CONCLUDE PTSD REVIEW BASED ON CURRENT FINDINGS
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Washington, D.C. — Today the Department of Veterans Affairs announced their decision to conclude the review of 72,000 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) cases after gathering enough information from the completed review of 2,100 claims. Very few claims were found to be fraudulent. "The problems with these files appear to be administrative in nature, such as missing documents, and not fraud,” said the Honorable R. James Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs supports the VA’s decision to end the review based on sufficient data collected to date.
Chairman Buyer holds Veterans Summit announcing new hearing schedule
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Washington, DC – House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), announced that he will hold full committee hearings starting in February during which veterans’ groups can present their priorities and offer guidance earlier in the budget process. Calling on veterans’ groups to play a more influential role in developing the annual Department of Veterans Affairs budget, Buyer presented his plan to engage them early in the annual budget process.
Veterans Day: Their precious service; our renewed obligation
Friday, November 04, 2005
America’s veterans embody the ideals upon which America was founded more than 229 years ago. Since the Revolution, eight generations of America’s veterans have established an unbroken commitment to freedom.
House Unanimously Passes Legislation to Streamline VA IT
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, by a vote of 408-0, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4061, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Information Technology Management Improvement Act of 2005. After years of cost overruns, mismanagement and lack of accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs, this legislation will make the VA Chief Information Officer (CIO) accountable for the VA’s entire IT infrastructure, with authority over its budget, as well as control over IT policies, procedures, personnel and assets. The VA has historically funded IT efforts in the general administration accounts of the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration and the National Cemetery Administration, essentially spending billions of dollars on three separate IT infrastructures within the Department.