Newsletter: e-News 8/28/15

Statement

The VA's Record: Disappearing Goals, Huge backlogs

You may have seen some media reports wherein the Veterans Administration is patting itself on the back for reducing its benefit claims backlog below 100,000 -- calling it a "historic milestone" that ONLY98,535 veterans are still waiting for an answer to their appeals.

The VA's self-congratulatory theme is to be expected, but there is one big complication: the VA promised that the backlog would be down to nearly ZERO by now!

You can look it up. The following assertion appears on page 5 of the VA's "Strategic Plan to Eliminate the Compensation Claims Backlog," issued in January 2013:

"This integrated approach to people, process and technology in the VBA Transformation Plan will eliminate the backlog of disability compensation claims by the end of fiscal year 2015."

By the way, the end of "fiscal year 2015" arrives on September 30.

Now the VA has changed its tune, saying that it's not actually possible to eliminate the backlog that it's been promising to eliminate for years. "Zero for us is not an absolute zero," one VA official says.

As for the September 2015 goal, the VA says that was never real:

"The VA originally said the backlog would be eliminated by Sept. 30, 2015, then to the end of the calendar year. Officials now maintain that no firm date was set, but offered only as a way to inspire the department." (Military.com)

So their pledge to end this shameful national health care crisis was just some motivational tactic?

I agree with those who say that Congress can keep passing reforms, only the president can change at the culture at the VA.

President Obama still has no long-term planto fix the VA, which means our veterans continue to pay the price for the VA's incompetence.

Recommended Reading:"The Pentagon's inspector general is investigating allegations that military officials have skewed intelligence assessments about the United States-led campaign in Iraq against the Islamic State to provide a more optimistic account of progress…" Read the New York Times piece, "Inquiry Weighs Whether ISIS Analysis Was Distorted" by Mark Mazzetti and Matt Apuzzo.

Women's Equality Day

Ninety-five years ago, Republican majorities in the House and the Senate passed the 19th amendment to our Constitution, finally giving women the right to vote. Frankly, it stands today as one of the best bills to ever pass Congress. Approval of the 19th Amendment strengthened our nation and our political system.

This week, we marked Women's Equality Day, established in 1971 to commemorate the long struggle of generations of women to gain that right to vote.

The women's suffrage movement began in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York. Convened by suffragist leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, the committee published a "Declaration of Sentiments" which outlined key social, civil and political demands for women, helping the cause of women's suffrage gain national prominence. Nearly 72 years later, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed Aug. 26, 1920.

Of course, we have much more work to do to fully empower women. I believe that every issue is a woman's issue. We're continuing to move forward with a positive agenda that will improve women's lives by helping them find good jobs, provide for their families, and achieve their dreams.

I have just finished reading Scott Berg's excellent biography of New Jersey's Woodrow Wilson, which details much of the struggle to provide equality for women and their right to vote. In fact, my great grandmother, on my paternal side, was one of those arrested and locked up in Washington during the marches and protests.

Since the mid-1970's I have been a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment to the constitution.

Salute: Picatinny Arsenal's Hall of Famers. Three more retired leaders at Picatinny Arsenal were inducted into the "Ammunition Hall of Fame" this week. Michael Devine, Edward Ford and the late John Amerspek helped build the Arsenal into what it is today: the Department of Defense's Joint Center of Excellence for Armaments of all types that allow soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to protect themselves and complete their missions.

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