Kucinich Secures Victories for Disabled Retired Veterans

Statement

Kucinich Secures Victories for Disabled Retired Veterans

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), as Chairman of the Domestic Policy Committee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, helped disabled retired veterans get the benefits that are entitled to them by virtue of their personal sacrifice for their country. Today's hearing examined the failure of Lockheed Martin, as a contractor of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), to provide the "VA Retro pay" benefits in a reasonable time.

Neither DFAS nor Lockheed Martin disputed a single finding from the report released by the Subcommittee, including the finding that applications for benefits by 28,283 veterans were rejected without quality assurance review.

"Over 28,000 veterans may have been denied their benefits just so Lockheed could meet their deadlines that were already years overdue," Kucinich said. "We must have a top-to-bottom review of each of these cases, along with a recalculation of benefits where necessary."

Kucinich also secured a commitment from the Department of Defense's Inspector General to perform a full audit of all the work being performed by Lockheed Martin as a contractor for DFAS. That work includes the processing of Retired and Annuitant Pay as well as VA Retro Pay.

Kucinich opposed the outsourcing of this work away from DFAS when it was first proposed in 2001, because of concerns about the potential for a reduction of work quality.

"We cannot allow Lockheed Martin to profit off the backs of those who selflessly dedicated themselves to their country. Priority number one is to make sure every veteran who qualifies for VA Retro pay gets their due. We also need accountability. I am glad to see the Inspector General take up the task."

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