[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 62 (Thursday, April 29, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2805-S2807]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SPECTER:
  S. 3282. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend 
the work opportunity tax credit for employers of certain veterans; to 
the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, the health and future of Pennsylvania's 
veterans has been a longstanding concern of mine. The first veteran I 
knew was my father, Harry Specter, a veteran of WWI.
  My father received terrific care from the VA following his service to 
our Nation. I want to make sure today's veterans, whatever their age, 
receive the benefits and services we owe them.
  I have had the privilege of serving for 6 of my nearly 30 years in 
the Senate as chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee. Under my 
chairmanship from 1998 to 2002, funding for the VA increased by 28 
percent, and from 2004 to 2006, funding increased a further 16 percent. 
Such funding increases have allowed the VA to expand to meet increasing 
challenges.
  I want to note at this time that I recently cosponsored legislation 
to restore collective bargaining rights to VA medical personnel, as 
their well being is vital to ensuring that veterans get the best 
possible care.

[[Page S2806]]

  The ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, coupled with the 
recession, have put tremendous stress on the VA, and necessitate 
further improvements. Today I will outline proposals for making 
improvements in five related areas: reducing the claims backlog; 
increasing veterans' employment opportunities; combating homelessness 
among veterans; widening education opportunities through the Post-9/11 
GI Bill; and expanding veterans courts.
  In a slap at the men and women who fight our wars, a court created by 
Congress expressly to handle appeals of veterans' disability claims 
turned down the appeal of a disabled Korean War veteran because he 
missed a filing deadline.
  The veteran, David L. Henderson, served in the military from 1950 to 
1952. He was discharged following a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia 
and assigned a 100 percent disability rating. In 2001, he applied for 
in-home care and was turned down by a regional Veterans Administration 
department.

  The congressionally established Court of Appeals for Veterans 
Claims--the Veterans Court--then refused to hear his appeal on grounds 
that he missed the filing deadline by 15 days. A divided federal 
appeals court upheld the decision.
  After fighting a war and suffering long-term disability as a result, 
Henderson in later life has been penalized because he took 135 days, 
instead of 120, to file his claims appeal.
  The fact that he had good reason for missing the deadline didn't 
matter. His psychiatrist called him ``incapable of rational thought or 
deliberate decisionmaking.''
  On April 12, 2010, I introduced the Fair Access to Veterans Benefits 
Act, to provide for the tolling of the timing of review for appeals of 
final decisions of the Board of Veterans' Appeals. Its main provision 
would require the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, 
known as the Veterans Court, to hear appeals by veterans of 
administrative decisions denying them benefits when circumstances 
beyond their control--sometimes the very service-related disabilities 
that entitle them to benefits--render them unable to meet the deadline 
for filing an appeal.
  On January 28, 2010, I met with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki in my 
Washington, DC office. Secretary Shinseki identified reducing the VA 
claims backlog--which currently numbers 400,000--as being his top 
priority this year. The average processing time for an individual claim 
was 161 days in January 2010. This is simply too long.
  In January 2010, Secretary Shinseki initiated a pilot project at the 
VA Pittsburgh Regional Office to identify opportunities to reduce the 
time required for the VA to request and receive evidence required to 
support veterans' claims. I believe that efforts such as this, which 
leverage the expertise of veterans' service organizations, will help to 
decrease significantly the claims backlog by streamlining each claims 
submission, and so improving the care and benefits given to our 
veterans. I recently requested that the Milcon/VA Appropriations 
Subcommittee increase funding by $1 million in fiscal year 2011 for 
costs associated with expanding the pilot program.
  Beyond this pilot program, I am introducing legislation to give the 
Secretary of the Veterans Affairs the authority to award grants to 
state and local agencies, and non-profit organizations such as VSOs, to 
assist in collecting evidence and submitting claims. I believe this 
pre-submission assistance will aid the Veterans Benefits Administration 
in reducing the claims backlog.
  The National Guard has played a vital role in ensuring our nation's 
security since September 11, 2001. The citizen soldiers and airmen 
serving in the Guard have been called upon to serve both domestically 
and overseas.
  Current law protects Guardsmen who are called up to serve overseas 
from losing their civilian jobs, but the same degree of protection does 
not extend to domestic missions. After repeated deployments, Guardsmen 
could soon find themselves having to chose between critical national 
security missions--like protecting the southern border or responding to 
natural disasters--and keeping their civilian job due to a five-year 
cap on cumulative service for employment protection, which can be 
waived for overseas service but currently not domestic.
  Legislation is needed to ensure that Guardsmen receive the same 
employment protection whether they are called to serve domestically or 
overseas.
  Congress took an important step when it established a tax credit 
incentivizing the hiring of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans as part of 
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This tax credit is set to 
expire in August 2011, and I am introducing legislation to extend 
through 2010 the veteran-specific provisions of the tax credit to 
assist recently discharged veterans secure employment.
  On November 3, 2009, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki 
unveiled an ambitious five-year plan to end homelessness among the 
nation's veterans. According to the VA's latest estimates, there are 
currently 107,000 homeless veterans, down from 131,000 in 2008.
  The VA's fiscal year 2011 budget request includes $4.2 billion to 
prevent and reduce homelessness among Veterans--over $3.4 billion for 
core medical services and $799 million for specific homeless programs 
and expanded medical programs.
  On November 11, 2009, I held a field hearing on the issue of 
unemployment and homelessness among veterans. Among those who testified 
were four formerly homeless veterans who have benefited from HUD-VASH 
vouchers and VA job training programs. The hearing highlighted the 
success of the HUD-VASH voucher program and the need to expand it, so I 
cosponsored Sen. Reed's Zero Tolerance for Veterans Homelessness Act of 
2009, which would increase the number of vouchers by 60,000 over the 
next four years. Additionally, two of the witnesses were single 
mothers. Their testimony underscored the importance of tailoring 
assistance to the needs of individual veterans, and to ensuring that 
the specific needs of veterans with special needs, such as homeless 
female veterans and homeless veterans with children are addressed. I 
cosponsored Senator Murray's Homeless Women Veterans and Homeless 
Veterans with Children Act, which would authorize $10 million a year in 
grants for five years to assist homeless veterans with special needs or 
dependents. I voted for this legislation when it was passed by the 
Veterans Affairs Committee on January 28, 2010.

  The GI Bill of Rights, which had remained largely unchanged for over 
two decades, was in need of revision. I was pleased to cosponsor and 
advocate for the Post-9/11 GI bill, which was signed into law in June 
2008. This bill, which went into effect in August 2009, will provide 
for this generation what the post-WWII GI Bill provided for veterans of 
that conflict. As our men and women serving today will continue to lead 
and serve our country tomorrow, it is in our best interest to ensure 
that they are afforded higher educational opportunities.
  Yet there remain aspects of this legislation which need improvement. 
While all veterans deserve educational opportunities, they also deserve 
the right to choose where to secure their education. For some, a 
vocational program, apprenticeship, or on the job training is more 
appealing than a traditional university education. We should support 
such decisions, and so I recently cosponsored the Veterans Training 
Act, introduced by Senator Lincoln, to make this enhancement.
  Various studies report that between 20- and 50-percent of the 
veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will suffer from 
post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, depression, traumatic brain 
injury, TBI, or other mental disorders, and half of those veterans will 
not receive the mental health care they need.
  The symptoms and subsequent behavior associated with PTSD and TBI, as 
well as the abuse of drugs and alcohol by veterans suffering from these 
symptoms, bring many of these veterans into contact with the criminal 
justice system. Veterans account for 9 of every 100 inmates in U.S. 
jails and prisons. In Pennsylvania state prisons, there are 
approximately 3,000 male and female military veterans currently 
incarcerated, according to Dr. Mark L. Dembert, Chief of Psychiatry, 
Bureau of Health Care Services, Pennsylvania

[[Page S2807]]

Department of Corrections. That number does not include those locked up 
in county jails.
  The chief goal of the Veterans Court program is to direct veterans 
who have been charged with a crime into an intensely monitored network 
of support coordinated by the VA and the courts. While Veterans Courts 
are voluntary, they will offer participating veterans a pathway to 
rehabilitation and reduced rates of recidivism. Following my February 
2010 hearing on veterans courts in Pittsburgh, I cosponsored 
legislation, S. 902, the Services, Education, and Rehabilitation for 
Veterans Act, introduced by Senators Kerry and Murkowski, which would 
authorize the Attorney General to award grants up to $25 million over 5 
years to assist States in the development of Veterans Courts.
  Our freedom has been assured by the courageous service of our 
veterans. Our gratitude can best be shown by ensuring that their needs 
are met, whether medical, educational, professional or legal. I will 
continue to fight for treatment of our veterans worthy of the 
sacrifices they have made and dedication they have shown.
                                 ______