Oakland Tribune - Oakland Tribune Editorial: Fixing Veterans' Benefits Process A National Priority
August 7, 2012
Although it has taken far too long, it appears that the U.S. government is finally beginning to get serious about its treatment of military veterans.
On Monday, President Barack Obama signed the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejune Families Act of 2012. The bill is a bipartisan effort designed to help provide improved health care, housing, education and memorial services for veterans and their families.
It is about time. For decades, really, it has been is a national scandal how poorly combat veterans have been treated by the country that has sent them to war.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden told the Disabled American Veterans' national convention that despite looming cuts to defense spending, the administration intends to protect veterans benefits.
According to The Associated Press, he told the group that Obama is "committed to the core" on taking care of returning service members. He also said that the administration has increased funding to veterans by 30 percent, and promised to end a massive backlog of disability claims by 2015.
We can only hope that is not just election year rhetoric. Frankly, the backlog of benefits claims is simply shameful. As this newspaper has reported, the Oakland office, which handles claims from Bakersfield all the way to the Oregon border, has been ground zero for administrative backlogs that have languished for years.
Several Bay Area members of Congress have heard the complaints from veterans and their families and have begun to apply pressure to bring resolution to the unconscionable backlog of 32,500 cases in the district.
Bay Area News Group reporter Gary Peterson wrote about a weekend "Fix It" summit in San Francisco that had been organized by U.S. Reps. Jackie Speier, D-San Francisco, and Barbara Lee, D-Oakland.
The idea was that many veterans who had cases pending for long periods could meet with the VA officials and tell their stories.
As Speier put it, "The Fix-It meeting put VA headquarters on notice that the claims backlog in California is unacceptable."
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, is one of the members of Congress who has been pushing hard to get the Oakland office cleaned up. Thompson, himself a veteran who was wounded in Vietnam, has conducted a number of similar sessions in his district as well.
Douglas Bragg, the new Oakland VA director, has attended many of the meetings as he did this weekend, which is a good first step. The VA announced a few months ago that it would employ the services of other claims processors from around the country as a means of dealing with the backlog.
Finally, it appears that there is a plan to move the claims along. But the sad fact remains that whatever small gains have been made must be increased exponentially.
It is simply not good enough for our government to send people off to war and then drag its feet in paying their earned benefits when they return. This should not be an election year issue. Regardless of who is elected president, we expect this mess to be fixed.
On Monday, President Barack Obama signed the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejune Families Act of 2012. The bill is a bipartisan effort designed to help provide improved health care, housing, education and memorial services for veterans and their families.
It is about time. For decades, really, it has been is a national scandal how poorly combat veterans have been treated by the country that has sent them to war.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden told the Disabled American Veterans' national convention that despite looming cuts to defense spending, the administration intends to protect veterans benefits.
According to The Associated Press, he told the group that Obama is "committed to the core" on taking care of returning service members. He also said that the administration has increased funding to veterans by 30 percent, and promised to end a massive backlog of disability claims by 2015.
We can only hope that is not just election year rhetoric. Frankly, the backlog of benefits claims is simply shameful. As this newspaper has reported, the Oakland office, which handles claims from Bakersfield all the way to the Oregon border, has been ground zero for administrative backlogs that have languished for years.
Several Bay Area members of Congress have heard the complaints from veterans and their families and have begun to apply pressure to bring resolution to the unconscionable backlog of 32,500 cases in the district.
Bay Area News Group reporter Gary Peterson wrote about a weekend "Fix It" summit in San Francisco that had been organized by U.S. Reps. Jackie Speier, D-San Francisco, and Barbara Lee, D-Oakland.
The idea was that many veterans who had cases pending for long periods could meet with the VA officials and tell their stories.
As Speier put it, "The Fix-It meeting put VA headquarters on notice that the claims backlog in California is unacceptable."
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, is one of the members of Congress who has been pushing hard to get the Oakland office cleaned up. Thompson, himself a veteran who was wounded in Vietnam, has conducted a number of similar sessions in his district as well.
Douglas Bragg, the new Oakland VA director, has attended many of the meetings as he did this weekend, which is a good first step. The VA announced a few months ago that it would employ the services of other claims processors from around the country as a means of dealing with the backlog.
Finally, it appears that there is a plan to move the claims along. But the sad fact remains that whatever small gains have been made must be increased exponentially.
It is simply not good enough for our government to send people off to war and then drag its feet in paying their earned benefits when they return. This should not be an election year issue. Regardless of who is elected president, we expect this mess to be fixed.