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Washington D.C. — Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) today commended the work of a presidential commission on care for returning servicemembers, telling its co-chairs that he anticipates the administration’s legislative initiatives reflecting their recommendations.

“Thank you for your work,” Buyer told former Senator Robert Dole and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, co-chairs of the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors.

“We appreciate your service to the nation, generously and capably rendered once again,” Buyer said.  He told the co-chairs that at the outset they had narrowed their focus and gone deep.  “That is why you have such a good product,” Buyer said.  

“We are involved in a long war against global terrorism,” Buyer said. “For this nation’s mothers, fathers, and spouses to trust their sons, daughters and spouses to the nation’s armed forces, they must be confident those sons and daughters will be well cared for should harm come their way.”

“We wanted to do something that might mean something to somebody,” Dole said of the commission’s work.  He said that with the nation spending billions of dollars on the war; it can spend what it takes to return these men and women to as near normal as possible, eliciting applause from committee members.  

During the hearing both Shalala and Dole voiced support for providing severely injured servicemembers and veterans with care on a contractual basis, should appropriate types of government health care not be readily available.  Buyer has long advocated such an approach.

“I personally have been fighting this battle over seamless transition since I arrived in Washington in 1992,” Buyer said, stating that legislation mandating cooperation between the Pentagon and VA dates back to 1982, and that during his tenure as subcommittee and committee chairman, nineteen hearings were held on the subject.

Buyer emphasized that the seamless transition of injured servicemembers from DoD to VA is absolutely essential, yet has not been adequately embraced, especially by the Pentagon.  Buyer has noted that under Defense Secretary Robert Gates, he has seen evidence of progress, but much remains to be done.

“There are still dysfunctional processes. Are the bureaucracies organizationally and culturally ill-suited to making the bold changes necessary for seamless transition?  The bureaucracy tells us they are on top of it, they are fixing it,” Buyer said.  “The bureaucracy has had six years of ground combat to fix this problem. We have developed new combat systems in those six years, perfected new tactics, ushered in new governments. It is time our servicemembers and veterans have a seamless transition.”

Buyer said that he was pleased when President Bush hailed the commission’s report and directed that the administration prepare legislative proposals to implement their recommendations.

“I think I can speak for all here that we look forward to seeing those proposals,” Buyer said.  “We expect to get them soon, so we can act to improve the care of our nation’s veterans.

For more news from House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Republicans, please go to:

http://republicans.veterans.house.gov

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