LEGISLATIVE GOALS FOR
THE 111th CONGRESS
Strong National Defense
Goal:
Ensure Congress and the President pursue adequate funding for the security of our Nation, the protection of our homeland, and the defense of our people as their highest duty.
Objective:
- Promote adequate funding of the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to ensure the security of our country, our citizens, and our military personnel stationed overseas.
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Military
Health Care
Goal:
Ensure comprehensive, lifelong medical and dental
care for all Uniformed Service beneficiaries regardless of age,
status or location, as promised.
Objectives:
- Promote adequate funding of the Defense
Health Program Budget to provide access to the military health
care system for all
uniformed services beneficiaries.
• Protect the TRICARE Benefit
from unwarranted cost shifting to the beneficiary.
• Guard against conversion of military health care personnel to civilian positions.
- TRICARE
Coverage
• Stop or minimize increases in TRICARE fees, deductibles or copays.
• Enhance the program to ensure quality provider participation.
- Maintain a comprehensive
Uniform Pharmacy benefit.
• Stop or minimize any future
co-payment increases.
• Monitor the placement or removal of drugs from the DoD Uniform Formulary.
• Promote wider usage of the TRICARE Mail Order Pharmacy.
- Medicare
• Fix the Medicare/TRICARE Physicians Reimbursement to ensure access to care providers for military retirees using TIRCARE for Life (TFL).
• Pursue Medicare subvention to military facilities as provided civilian care providers.
- Move full funding of the under-65
retiree
and retiree family member
health care from DoD to the entitlements portion
of the federal budget where
it
will no longer have to compete for
funding with other military accounts.
...................................................................... Veterans
Health Care
Goal:
Ensure adequate healthcare funding, so all eligible veterans
are provided comprehensive medical care in accordance with
established access standards
at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Objectives:
- Ensure adequate resources to provide quality
care and accessible medical services for veterans by providing
full funding through
modifications to the current appropriations
process and using mandatory funding or some other change in the process that
achieves the desired goal.
- Enact legislation for two-year advanced funding for VA health care.
- Authorize Medicare subvention to allow VA to collect
and retain Medicare dollars for treatment of Medicare-eligible
VA patients.
- Enhance timely implementation of seamless transition
activities between VA and DoD with bi-directional, interoperable
electronic medical records, post-deployment
health assessments, electronic DD214s, and effective congressional oversight.
- Provide pharmaceutical benefit and make it available to all veterans.
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Veterans Disability Claims Process
Goal:
Ensure adequate funding for the timely and accurate processing of veterans claims for disability compensation.
Objectives:
- Ensure sufficient funding for hiring and training of qualified claims processing personnel and provide necessary up-to-date IT equipment and software.
- Significantly reduce claims backlog to manageable level.
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Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay
Goal:
Provide full concurrent receipt to all active duty and reserve component disabled retirees regardless of disability rating or cause.
Objectives:
- Implement full concurrent receipt for
all service-connected disabled military retirees.
- Maintain the Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) program to preserve the tax-free status of awards for combat wounded and injured.
- Provide concurrent receipt to Chapter
61 retirees discharged from service prior
to 20 years due to service-connected disability.
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Postal Assistance Benefit
Goal:
Assist families with troops deployed overseas in sending letters and packages to their loved ones in combat or in hospital care due to combat.
Objective:
- Establish a program giving combat zone servicemembers and those in hospitals due to wounds incurred in combat a monthly voucher they could give to anyone they choose, such as family members or a loved one, to receive limited free mail from their families and other back home, boosting morale and lessening the financial burden on the family.
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Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP)
and Survivor Improvements
Goal:
Provide
for concurrent receipt of Dependency and Indemnity Compensation
(DIC) and the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP).
Objective:
- End offset of Dependency and Indemnity Compensation
against Survivor Benefit Plan.
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National Guard and Reserve
Goal:
Modernize retirement for Guard and Reserve to reflect the enormous sacrifice and contribution to the defense and security of the Nation.
Objective:
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Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act
Goal:
Identify, address and correct Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act (USFSPA) inequities.
Objectives:
- Continue discussions with DoD, regarding the urgent need to adequately brief all personnel on the USFSPA and its possible implications to a military career.
- Work with Congress for hearings regarding the USFSPA prior to the markup of the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act.
- Work to identify members of Congress to introduce meaningful legislation to address many of the problems, for all parties, that currently exist within the USFSPA.
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Fund Military MWR/Quality of Life Activities
Goal:
Provide adequate funding for military Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) activities for military bases affected by re-basing of troops and dependents from overseas bases and increases in troop strength and dependents for bases affected by shifts mandated by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), to ensure continuation of these services and facilities for eligible personnel, including retirees.
Objectives:
- Provide funding to supplement income from installation MWR activities to have these activities ready for arrival of additional personnel.
- Provide funding for additional post housing to accommodate arriving personnel.
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Funding for Retirement Services Activities
Goal:
Ensure adequate funding at Service level to continue and enhance the Retirement Services Program.
Objectives:
- Provide adequate funding for publication of Base Retiree Newsletters and mailings of announcement of retiree activities through a line item in the Service Budget.
- Mandate that local base commanders use the funds provided for Retiree Appreciation, Activitiy and Seminar Days and not divert such resources for other purposes.
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Tax Relief for Payment of Health Insurance
Goal:
Tax relief for military retirees who are not on Medicare and TRICARE For Life.
Objective:
- Pass "Premium Conversion" legislation to allow health insurance premiums and long-term care insurance to be deducted on a "pre-tax" basis before income is calculated for tax purposes, making health and long term-care insurance more affordable.
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Commissary and Exchange Benefits
Goal:
Improve and maintain the
commissary and
exchange benefits.
Objectives:
- Ensure full funding of the current
commissary system to ensure the
benefit and preclude an increase in
the customer
surcharge.
- Stop any initiative that suggests
commissary privatization.
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Flag Protection
Goal:
Provide Congress the power to prohibit desecration of the flag of the United States.
Objectives:
- Strongly advocate for providing Congress the power to prohibit physical desecration of the American flag and return the decision to the people of the United States.
- Urge the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to approve a joint resolution.
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Merchant Mariner "Belated Thank You"
Goal:
Right a historic wrong to offer a “belated thank you” to those Merchant Mariners who served in World War II.
Objective:
- Pass legislation to recognize properly Merchant Mariners of WWII for their exceptional contribution in the World War II struggle to secure the American victory.
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Guarantee Voting Rights for Members of the Uniformed Services
Goal:
Fortify process of military absentee ballots to make sure every vote is counted.
Objective:
- Gain legislation protecting members of the Armed Forces and their families from challenges to their voting rights based on spurious grounds. Schedule a hearing on the issue.
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Senior Issues
Goal:
Correct the inequity of the Government Pension Offset/Windfall Elimination Provisions (GPO/WEP) of the Social Security Act.
Objective:
- Support legislation that protects, strengthens and improves retirement benefits.
Goal:
Correct the inequity in the Cost of Living Adjustment for Seniors.
Objective:
- Support legislation for the Consumer Price Index-Elderly (CPI-E) in the computation of the annual Cost of Living Adjustment for Seniors.
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