From: FRA NewsBytes [NewsBytes@fra.org]
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 3:59 AM
To: fra@fra367.org
Subject: FRA NewsBytes  06-11-10
In this week's NewsBytes:
Doc Fix/Concurrent Receipt Improvements Stall in Senate
Agent Orange Reform Put on Hold
FRA Opposes Auto Loan Exclusion in Financial Regulation Bill
Changes Proposed to Post-9/11 GI Bill
66th Anniversary of D-Day


Doc Fix/Concurrent Receipt Improvements Stall in Senate
FRA hoped the Senate would approve legislation (H.R. 4213) this week that, in part, addresses cuts to Medicare and TRICARE reimbursement rate that took effect on June 1, 2010. Unfortunately, the legislation has stalled as Senators debate ways to reduce the financial impact of the measure, which also addresses jobs and tax issues.

As reported in previous Newsbytes, the bill also includes language to expand eligibility for the concurrent receipt of military retired pay and VA disability compensation. The measure would authorize service members who are medically retired with less than 20 years of service (Chapter 61 retirees) and have a disability rating of 90 to 100 percent to receive both payments, without offset, starting on January 1, 2011. The following year concurrent receipt would be expanded to those with 70- to 80-percent disability ratings. The concurrent receipt provision is temporary and would expire on October 1, 2012. FRA strongly supports the temporary expansion of concurrent receipt and believes Congress can be persuaded to make the changes permanent before provisions expire.

These are high priority issues for FRA and members are urged use the FRA Action Center (www.fra.org) to ask their senators to resolve the ongoing threat to doctor reimbursement rates and support concurrent receipt improvements.


Agent Orange Reform Put on Hold
Senator James Webb (Va.) recently won approval for an amendment to the FY 2010 War Supplemental bill (H.R. 4899) that would delay new Veterans' Affairs (VA) disability claims for more than 86,000 Vietnam veterans who suffer from ischemic heart disease, Parkinson's disease or B-cell leukemia. Based on medical evidence, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki determined there was a link between these conditions and Agent Orange exposure, and authorized presumptive status to Vietnam vets suffering from these diseases. Despite the policy announcement last fall, the VA has yet to publish the regulation that allows disability payments to be made.

Now Webb, a decorated Vietnam veteran who chairs the Senate Personnel Subcommittee and serves on the VA Committee, wants Congress to delay claims processing by 60 days  until the scientific data can be examined more closely. Additional information on this story is included in Tom Philpott's Military Update column (6-10-10), available at www.fra.org.

Hot Topic:  Are you or someone you know affected by exposure to Agent Orange?  Share your concerns at www.fra.org/hottopics.


FRA Opposes Auto Loan Exclusion in Financial Regulation Bill
A conference committee is deliberating a sweeping financial regulation measure (H.R. 3217) this week that includes language related to questionable lending practices by dealers and others who offer auto loans. Auto loans are a major financial obligation for most service members and FRA strongly opposes efforts to exclude auto dealers from financing and sales restrictions proposed in the bill.

Although the House version of the measure (H.R. 4173) exempts auto loans, FRA, other Military Coalition members, consumer groups and the Pentagon successfully defeated efforts by powerful interest groups to exclude them from the Senate version of bill. FRA urged the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Financial Services Committees to adopt the Senate's stand on this facet of the legislation as the conference committee addresses difference between the two measures.

FRA members are urged to use the FRA Action Center (www.fra.org) to ask their elected officials to keep the regulation of auto loans in the final bill, which must be approved by the full House and Senate before it can be sent to the White House.


Changes Proposed to Post-9/11 GI Bill
Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC) Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) recently introduced "The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act" (S. 3447) that makes extensive changes to the new education benefit program. Among the changes proposed in the bill are replacing the current state-by-state tuition reimbursement formula with a national average formula, expanding the program to reimburse vocational training and some on-the-job-training programs, and providing a reduced monthly stipend (50 percent) for distance-learning students that take on-line internet classes. The measure would also allow active-duty service members and their spouses to receive the $1,000/year book stipend (currently available only to veterans and retirees) and provide a reduced monthly stipend based on number of classes in which the student is enrolled.

Similar legislation is expected to be introduced in the House. FRA is monitoring the legislation and remains committed to improving education benefits for active duty personnel, Reservists, retirees, veterans, family members and survivors.


66th Anniversary of D-Day
This week marks the 66th anniversary of the June 6th invasion of Normandy. D-Day remains the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving nearly three million troops crossing the English Channel to occupied France. FRA salutes all veterans who participated in this extraordinary operation that helped bring an end to World War II.

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