Groups urge faster action to help veterans

Groups urge faster action to help veterans
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jan 27, 2009 16:36:44 EST

A roundtable discussion, aimed at creating a consensus among military and veterans groups about top priorities for the year ahead, focused on how solving some longstanding problems might be especially important today to veterans and their families who are being hurt by the national economic crisis.

The discussion involving 36 organizations representing current and former service members was sponsored by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which has responsibility over some, but not all, veterans programs.

In comparing the views of the groups, committee staff came up with five shared priorities: advance appropriations for veterans’ programs, fixing disability compensation, improving mental health treatment, implementing the new Post-9/11 GI Bill in August and smoothing the transition from military to civilian life.

None of those issues are new, and the problems have proven difficult to fix. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the veterans’ committee chairman, said Congress has tried to eliminate a backlog of disability claims that have forced veterans to wait, on average, more than 180 days for a simple claim to be approved and years of delay if the claim is complicated. Congress boosted VA staff so that more people are processing claims, which may be a long-term solution — but while new employees are being found and trained, “the backlog is growing,” Filner said.

Congress has faced similar problems in trying to improve job training and rehabilitation programs, creating programs that reduce homelessness and expanding access to veterans’ health care.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/01/military_veterans_roundtable_012709w/%2e