Issue Position: Honoring Our Veterans
Issue Position
Our veterans risked everything to keep our country safe, but now it's up to us to hold up our nation's commitment to these brave men and women.
When our service personnel come home, they should have the opportunity to find a job, find a place to settle with their families, and use their know-how to help build strong communities. And just as our service members heeded our nation's call, they should be confident that our country will live up to the commitments it has made to these brave men and women.
But our government isn't living up to its obligations. Having fought to keep our nation secure, veterans are forced into a different battle where they struggle to get claims processed and access their benefits. These veterans shouldn't be denied the care they deserve just because government has been ill-prepared to respond to their needs.
Some 775,000 veterans call Georgia home and as Georgia's senator, I will do everything I can to honor their sacrifice. Here are a few of my ideas of where Congress should start:
Living Up To Our Nation's Promises To Veterans.
After serving our nation, many veterans return home to find that our nation simply isn't living up to its promises. These men and women shouldn't have to wait months for medical care and they shouldn't be forced to navigate multiple layers of government bureaucracy in order to get the care they have been promised.
Clearing the Claims Backlog: Veterans shouldn't be forced to wait months for the VA to process their claims. The VA backlog has forced hundreds of thousands of veterans to wait in line for the benefits they earned through their service. And the backlog has hit our youngest veterans especially hard. In January of this year, the Atlanta regional office of the VA had 31,000 veterans waiting for a decision on their benefits claims, and the average VA disability claim in the Atlanta office of the VA had been pending for 317.8 days. The VA reports that pending claims are declining but we have to hold individuals accountable -- if those in charge fail to make progress -- they should be replaced by people who will.
Expanding access to health coverage: In 2012, 1.3 million veterans lacked health insurance, and even those who are enrolled in the VA health system do not always receive the services they need and deserve. Sometimes, this is because simply getting to a treatment facility is a struggle. We need to expand access to these services by requiring the VA to offer transportation to veterans who have difficulty getting to their vocational rehabilitation, counseling, treatment, or healthcare facilities.
Integrating Health Records: For years, our veterans have had to deal with two separate healthcare records systems - one for the Dept. of Defense, one for the VA. Just last year, the two departments announced that they wasted $1.3 billion during the last four years trying unsuccessfully to develop a single electronic health-records system. This is unacceptable. Georgia veterans need the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to integrate their health systems to allow veterans to keep track of the medical care they have received both during and after their service. The VA and DoD must modernize their systems to ensure that important records are not lost and veterans get the care they deserve.
Helping Veterans Find Jobs
While far too many people in this country can't find work, an even higher percentage of our veterans find themselves unemployed. Unemployment is particularly high for those who have served since September 11. With the U.S.'s withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Defense transitioned about 220,000 service members in 2012 and is projecting to transition 800 service members per day for the next two to three years. It's critical that we enlist every tool and remove any barriers to give these veterans an opportunity to succeed here at home:
Incentivize Businesses To Hire Veterans: With so many veterans struggling to find work, we need to support businesses that hire those who have sacrificed so much for their nation. But Congress allowed tax credits for businesses that hire veterans to expire at the end of 2013. We need to make those tax credits permanent and extend the tax credit for businesses that hire members of the U.S. National Guard and Reserves.
Remove Credentialing Barriers: Veterans should be allowed to use the technical and professional skills they acquired in the armed forces without being forced to navigate needless bureaucracies. The Department of Defense's Military Credentialing and Licensing Task Force has made a good start breaking down some of these credentialing barriers on the federal level, but it needs to continue to work with states to identify redundant credentialing requirements in state level regulations.
Strengthen Collaboration Between Agencies and Private Sector: While government must do everything it can to help returning veterans transition into the workforce, the businesses and private groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Hiring Our Heroes program are doing great work putting veterans to work. Many Fortune 500 companies are providing veterans professional support, reaching out to newly hired veterans, and guiding their companies in searching for the best veteran applicants. We need to encourage the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration to continue to work collaboratively with the private sector to address the systemic employment issues facing veterans.
Improve Educational Benefits: We need to expand access to education benefits for veterans and for their families. Every state should offer recently-separated veterans, their spouses, and their dependent children in-state tuition at public universities, as states like Georgia have already done.
Easing the Transition Into Civilian Life
Our country must do a better job during our service members' transition from active duty to civilian life. Easing the burdens on service members and military families during this critical time could have profound impacts on their success for years to come.
Expand the Community Blueprint: Although there are many resources available for returning veterans, what has been missing is a one-stop shop where veterans can access information on both public and private services that are available to them. We need one place for anyone in need to go for these housing, educational, mental health, and other services provided by generous and grateful Americans. As CEO of Points of Light, I was proud to support a new collaborative initiative for returning veterans: the Community Blueprint. Now being implemented in five Georgia communities, the Blueprint is a set of resources for local communities that allow for better coordination between local agencies that serve veterans. We should find ways to replicate these innovative, locally-driven in communities across the country.
Strengthen Military Families: We know the transition of service members from active duty to civilian life can also impact their families and children. A recent survey by Blue Star Families showed that military families are concerned about their financial well-being, changes to retirement benefits, and spouse employment issues. Simplifying the tax code, bringing down the cost of childcare and college, and strengthening equal pay for equal work will help military families in Georgia -- especially those transitioning into civilian life.
Helping Homeless Vets: There were 57,849 homeless veterans on a single night in January 2013, 1,805 in Georgia. Our cities and towns have made great strides in addressing this population because they recognize that it costs more to pay for emergency room visits or nights in jail than to ensure that every veteran has a roof over their head. That's why I support current partnerships between the VA, local governments, and private organizations to end homelessness among our nation's veterans.
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