[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
FISCAL YEAR 2020 PRESIDENT'S BUDGET: REQUESTS RELATED TO VETERANS'
READJUSTMENT BENEFITS
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2019
__________
Serial No. 116-8
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Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
38-958 WASHINGTON : 2021
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COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
MARK TAKANO, California, Chairman
JULIA BROWNLEY, California DAVID P. ROE, Tenessee, Ranking
KATHLEEN M. RICE, New York Member
CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania, Vice- GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida
Chairman AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN,
MIKE LEVIN, California American Samoa
MAX ROSE, New York MIKE BOST, Illinois
CHRIS PAPPAS, New Hampshire NEAL P. DUNN, Florida
ELAINE G. LURIA, Virginia JACK BERGMAN, Michigan
SUSIE LEE, Nevada JIM BANKS, Indiana
JOE CUNNINGHAM, South Carolina ANDY BARR, Kentucky
GILBERT RAY CISNEROS, JR., DANIEL MEUSER, Pennsylvania
California STEVE WATKINS, Kansas
COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota CHIP ROY, Texas
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, W. GREGORY STEUBE, Florida
Northern Mariana Islands
COLIN Z. ALLRED, Texas
LAUREN UNDERWOOD, Illinois
ANTHONY BRINDISI, New York
Ray Kelley, Democratic Staff Director
Jon Towers, Republican Staff Director
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
MIKE LEVIN, California, Chairman
KATHLEEN M. RICE, New York GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida, Ranking
ANTHONY BRINDISI, New York Member
CHRIS PAPPAS, New Hampshire JACK BERGMAN, Michigan
ELAINE G. LURIA, Virginia JIM BANKS, Indiana
SUSIE LEE, Nevada ANDY BARR, Kentucky
JOE CUNNINGHAM, South Carolina DANIEL MEUSER, Pennsylvania
Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public
hearing records of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs are also
published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the
official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare
both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process
of converting between various electronic formats may introduce
unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the
current publication process and should diminish as the process is
further refined.
C O N T E N T S
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Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Page
Fiscal Year 2020 President's Budget: Requests Related To
Veterans' Readjustment Benefits................................ 1
OPENING STATEMENTS
Honorable Mike Levin, Chairman................................... 1
Honorable Gus M. Bilirakis, Ranking Member....................... 2
WITNESSES
Ms. Margarita Devlin,Principal Deputy Under Secretary for
Benefits, Veterans Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs............................................... 5
Prepared Statement........................................... 33
Accompanied by:
Mr. Dominic Cussatt, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary,
Office of Information and Technology,U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs
Mr. Brian Davis, Director, Defense Personnel and Family Support
Center, Department of Defense.................................. 7
Prepared Statement........................................... 37
Mr. Patrick Murray, Deputy Director, National Legislative
Service, The Veterans of Foreign Wars.......................... 21
Prepared Statement........................................... 42
Accompanied by:
Steven Henry, Associate Legislative Director, Paralyzed
Veterans of America
Mr. Jeremy Villanueva, Associate National Legislative
Director, Disabled American Veterans
Larry Lohmann, Senior Legislative Associate, The American Legion. 23
Prepared Statement........................................... 47
Mr. William Hubbard, Chief of Staff, Student Veterans of America. 25
Prepared Statement........................................... 51
Mr. Sam Shallenberger, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Veterans
Employment and Training Service, Department of Labor, Prepared
Statement only................................................. 58
STATEMENTS FOR THE RECORD
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development................. 63
FISCAL YEAR 2020 PRESIDENT'S BUDGET: REQUESTS RELATED TO VETERANS'
READJUSTMENT BENEFITS
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Tuesday April 30, 2019
Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
U. S. House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:20 a.m., in
Room 2253, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Mike Levin
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Levin, Brindisi, Pappas, Luria,
Lee, Cunningham, Bilirakis, Bergman, and Mueser.
OPENING STATEMENT OF MIKE LEVIN, CHAIRMAN
Mr. Levin. Good afternoon. I call this hearing to order. I
want to thank everyone for joining us today in the Veterans
Affairs' Economic Opportunity Subcommittee.
This Subcommittee's responsibility is extensive and reaches
all the programs our veterans depend on as they begin their
lives outside the Armed Services. Today's hearing will review
the fiscal year 2020 budget for the Department of Veterans
Affairs, as well as other relevant programs such as those
within the Departments of Defense and Labor.
The President's budget reflects his Administration's
priorities and there are some areas in which we agree; however,
this budget proposal is not without fault. I have several
questions for our witnesses from the Administration regarding
the scope of what they aim to accomplish in the coming fiscal
year, and, perhaps more importantly, I would like to discuss
whether or not the budget they are presenting today will give
them the necessary resources to achieve their goals.
I am pleased that the Administration has not proposed cuts
to the overall VA budget as it has to virtually every other
Federal agency. The Department of Veterans Affairs budget
before us is an increase of 9.5 percent over fiscal year 2019
appropriated levels, but this increase would not apply to all
programs across the Department. The Veterans Benefits
Administration, which administers most of the programs within
this Subcommittee's jurisdiction, would receive only a 1.5
percent increase. Some of the programs within the VBA would
remain level or even be cut.
For example, funding for veterans' homelessness programs,
which are crucial in my congressional district, would remain
static. And for the VA Education Service the budget requests a
reduction of $6 million, despite projecting a higher volume of
claims. This is especially concerning given the delays in the
Forever GI Bill implementation, as well as the proliferation of
school closures.
Last week, this Subcommittee held a joint field hearing in
San Diego where we discussed the harmful impact that predatory
educational institutions are having on our Nation's veterans.
This is not new, and I want to ensure this budget would do
enough to crack down on these bad actors.
Last Congress, this Committee had to provide over $300
million to veterans by school closures, and we may need to
assist our veterans once again if the VA and the Department of
Education do not improve oversight of these colleges. The VA
must be a better steward of veterans' resources and taxpayer
dollars.
And, lastly, while our Committee's primary jurisdiction
relates to the Department of Veterans Affairs, we must remember
that veterans' programs do not exist in a vacuum. Funding for
every Federal agency in one way or another impacts our
veterans. For instance, cuts to SNAP would affect benefits for
1.7 million veterans.
I am committed to working with my colleagues on the other
authorizing committees, as well as the Appropriations
Committee, to protect veterans from harmful proposals in their
jurisdictions.
I look forward to hearing our witnesses' testimony
regarding each aspect of the budget and how it would serve our
veterans, but first I will recognize my friend Ranking Member
Bilirakis for 5 minutes for his opening remarks.
OPENING STATEMENT OF GUS M. BILIRAKIS, RANKING MEMBER
Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate it,
and I apologize for being late. You all know when you have that
reoccurring dream, maybe it is just me, where you can't find
your classroom.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Bilirakis. Well, I forgot the number of the room, and
it looks like I will probably have that recurring dream
tonight, and I apologize for being late again. Maybe I am the
only one that has that dream, but in any case--
Mr. Levin. No.
Mr. Bilirakis [continued]. --it is a nightmare.
Folks--thank you, Mr. Chairman, again--thank you for all of
you being here today. Thanks for being with us for this hearing
with the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity as we examine the
budget request for fiscal year 2020.
The budget requests $220 billion, a 9.5 percent increase
above fiscal year 2019 budget for all VA. And I know on this
Committee our veterans are our top priority and it is great to
see that the Administration feels the same way. While the
fiscal year 2020 budget request has grown considerably, I am
glad we are here today to focus on the programs under the
Subcommittee's jurisdiction that are often overlooked, but do
empower veterans' everyday lives.
Like all of my colleagues here today, I believe the
veterans and their families deserve the best services,
benefits, and care that we can provide to them. However, at the
same time I believe in protecting the American taxpayer and
ensuring that our government is running efficiently, and there
is no--we don't want to waste taxpayer dollars where they could
be better invested elsewhere, but I can't think of a better
place to invest them. If we are going to be spending the money,
we need to spend it on our veterans, but it must be efficient.
The programs we are examining today should be the crown
jewel of the VA benefits and services as empower veterans to
lead a more productive and fulfilling life. While I am
supportive of this strong budget, the proof will be in the
details and implementation that at times in the past has been
lacking.
Last year we witnessed VA fail to fully implement the
Forever GI Bill, causing long delays in student housing
payments. We also watched the Office of the Information and
Technology spend $12 million a new case management system for
VocRehab counselors that did not work and had to be scrapped
entirely. However, I believe we may have turned a corner with
the VocRehab, as I am encouraged by the funding that has been
provided and requested to hire additional counselors and
improve systems.
With that being said, I am still skeptical of the funding
being provided for the Education Service. This request includes
a reduction of $6.5 million for the Education Service's budget
compared to fiscal year 2019. I know that the reasoning for
this reduction is for the assumed efficiencies that will come
with the changes to the GI Bill IT system, but, as we saw last
year, we should not count on these systems to always work. I
look forward to hearing from our VA witnesses what their back-
up plan is in case of another IT failure, as we can't let what
happened last year ever happen again. This is very, very
important and we can't have that happen again. So we are going
to ask the questions and we are going to hold the VA
accountable.
I am also interested in learning what the Department's plan
is to go back and pay veterans what they are owed from the
changes that were supposed to be implemented on August 1st,
2018. The other item that I am interested in learning more
about today is how the proposed budget for VA, the Department
of Labor, and the Department of Defense supports the changes to
the Transition Assistance Program, or TAP, that were enacted as
part of the fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization
Act. These changes included one-on-one transition counseling
for transitioning servicemembers, very important, and an
overhaul to the 5-day structure of TAP that will provide
additional choices in training, as well as other improvements.
And we are going to make more implements, right, Mr.
Chairman--
Mr. Levin. That is right.
Mr. Bilirakis [continued]. --to the transition program, but
this was a good start last year.
These changes were the most significant revisions to TAP
since 2011, and I am interested to see how this budget will
support their successful implementation when they are supposed
to go live in just 5 short months at the beginning of fiscal
year 2020.
Mr. Chairman, before I yield back, I wanted to comment on
the lack of attendance by the U.S. Department of Labor. I share
your frustration with DOL not sending a witness to testify at
today's hearing. Congress has a constitutional role in
providing oversight of the Department of Labor and it is
unfortunate that today, like several times last Congress, the
Department of Labor has refused to send a witness.
However, Congress also has a constitutional role in
reviewing and approving nominations submitted by the President.
It is my understanding that the nominee for the Assistant
Secretary for Veterans' Employment and Training has been
languishing in the Senate for over a year now. The nominee, Mr.
John Lowery, III, a decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran with a
strong track record in the private industry, was voted out
unanimously by the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs on June
19th, 2019, and the approval of his nomination is being held up
by at least one Senator of the minority party. We should expect
DOL to do its job and provide a witness, and we should also
expect the Senate to do their job and make decisions on
President Trump's nominations.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I would like to take a moment to
recognize and welcome back U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Staff
Sergeant Will Hubbard, who is testifying on our second panel.
Staff Sergeant Hubbard just recently completed a tour of duty,
serving alongside the Special Operations Joint Task Force in
Kabul City, Afghanistan.
Staff Sergeant Hubbard, thank you for your service and
welcome home.
[Applause.]
Mr. Bilirakis. Mr. Chairman, it is clear that we have a lot
of work to do, a lot of ground to cover, so I yield back my
time and say again thank you to our witnesses for joining us
this afternoon. And I look forward to working with you and
getting a lot done this year, Mr. Chairman--
Mr. Levin. Well, thank you--
Mr. Bilirakis [continued]. --and I am very grateful for the
time. I yield back.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member. Staff Sergeant,
it is great to have you here.
We did leave an empty seat for the Department of Labor
representative, maybe he will show before this is over--
probably not.
With that, I would like to introduce our witnesses. Thank
you all, again, for being here.
Appearing on the first panel are Ms. Margarita Devlin,
Principal Deputy Under Secretary at the Veterans Benefits
Administration--good to see you again--who is accompanied by
Mr. Dominic Cussatt--did I get that right or is it Cussatt?
Mr. Cussatt. Cussatt.
Mr. Levin. Cussatt. All right, I won't mess it up again.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of
Information and Technology at the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs.
Mr. Brian Davis, Director of the Defense Personnel and
Family Support Center at the Department of Defense. Thank you
for being with us, sir.
On behalf of the Independent Budget, we have Mr. Patrick
Murray, Deputy Director of the National Legislative Service for
the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who is accompanied by Steven
Henry, Associate Legislative Director of the Paralyzed Veterans
of America, and Mr. Jeremy Villanueva, Associate National
Legislative Director of Disabled American Veterans.
We also have Mr. Larry Lohmann, Senior Legislative
Associate with The American Legion, and Mr. William Hubbard,
Chief of Staff of the Student Veterans of America.
Finally, we had invited, as Mr. Bilirakis mentioned, the
Department of Labor to join us to discuss the Veterans'
Employment and Training Service and, while they did submit
testimony for the record, I am equally disappointed they are
not here to answer questions about their budget. I hope they
join us soon, so we can learn more about how they intend to
serve our Nation's veterans.
Thank you to everyone who is here today to speak with us.
You will each have five minutes, and, without objection, the
witnesses' full statements will be added to the record.
And with that, Ms. Devlin, you are now recognized for 5
minutes.
STATEMENT OF MARGARITA DEVLIN
Ms. Devlin. Thank you, Chairman Levin and Ranking Member
Bilirakis, and Members of the Subcommittee. It is my pleasure
to be here to talk about the Veterans Benefits Administration
budget, with a particular emphasis on the economic opportunity
programs.
I will specifically address the budgetary request for
Education; Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, or
VETERANS AFFAIRS&E; Loan Guaranty; and VBA's newly created
Office of Transition and Economic Development, or TED.
For Education, VBA requested $223.5 million in
discretionary funds to sustain administrative expenses, which
include the 1,985 FTE needed to support the delivery of
education benefits, including the new initiatives of VET TEC
and STEM. In 2020, we estimate more than 4.2 million education
claims will be processed for over a million eligible
beneficiaries. The funds will further sustain the continued
enactment of Sections 107 and 501 of the Colmery Act.
For VETERANS AFFAIRS&E, VBA requests $245.4 million in
discretionary funds, which will benefit an estimated 124,000
veterans participating in the program, and support our
continued efforts to achieve the 1-to-125 hiring ratio. I am
happy to report that out of the 169 new positions we have
added, we have filled 160 and we have seven in the selection
process. The budget request will also support the
implementation of the Case Management Solution. This system is
part of VBA's modernization efforts, which will allow
counselors to efficiently manage their workload and dedicate
more time to working directly with veterans to develop the
skills they need to succeed in the competitive job market.
For Loan Guaranty, VBA requested $200.4 million for loan
administration to cover the costs of the housing loan programs
and $20.8 million in discretionary funds to cover the
Specially-Adapted Housing Program. This request will provide
sufficient funding for 906 FTE to continue administering
programs to over 562,000 beneficiaries.
The budget will also support sustainment of the redesigned
VA Loan Electronic Reporting Interface, or VALERI. Phase 1 of
the system redesign launches next month. The redesigned VALERI
will allow VA to monitor veterans who are in loan default and
conduct oversight to ensure servicing activities completed by
servicers are in the veteran's best interest. Future phases in
2020 will incorporate all aspects of the loan life cycle and
will dramatically enhance the ability to conduct program
oversight, from eligibility to foreclosed property disposition.
TED is the business line responsible for military-to-
civilian transition, as well as the development of economic
initiatives that focus on empowering veterans to achieve
comprehensive well-being. TED administers VA's portion of the
Interagency Transition Assistance Program, or TAP. For 2020,
VBA requests $82.4 million in the budget to fund discretionary
portions of TED, which will support adding VA courses
throughout the military life cycle, increase VA's TAP course
from 6 hours to a full day, and conduct a 5-year longitudinal
study to obtain data on TAP outcomes.
As discussed in the hearing on April 9th, with the creation
of TED we prioritize transition services not only
operationally, but in our budget. For the first time, VA's
investment in military-to-civilian transition and economic
development has a clearly defined budget, which will provide
full transparency into the resources and outcomes associated
with this important mission.
The voluntary course that we administer that is taken by
servicemembers after participating in VA's TAP course currently
reflects a 96 percent satisfaction rate. We also obtain rich,
qualitative data by the comments, the open comments that
servicemembers provide.
Recently, a Navy sailor with less than 4 years on Active
duty who participated in the VA TAP briefing in Southern
California commented that our benefit advisers, quote, ``Have
been amazing. You can truly tell they are all passionate about
their briefings and are willing to answer any and all questions
that we may have. They are all genuine and truly care about us
having an easier transition out of the military,'' end quote.
While my testimony today focused on VBA programs of
interest to this Committee, the 2020 budget supports our
holistic approach to the full complement of veteran benefits,
which provide veterans the opportunity to achieve the American
dream, to include overcoming the effects of illness or injury,
and securing financial independence for themselves and their
families.
VA appreciates the Committee's support in improving
services and resources offered to servicemembers, veterans, and
their families through the requested budget. We look forward to
working with the Committee, as well as our Federal and VSO
partners, to maintain our focus on continuous improvement of
our economic opportunity programs.
Thank you, Chairman Levin and Ranking Member Bilirakis, for
the opportunity to discuss our budget here today, and this
concludes my testimony and I look forward to any questions you
may have.
[The prepared statement of Margarita Devlin appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Ms. Devlin.
Mr. Davis, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF BRIAN DAVIS
Mr. Davis. Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis--
[Audio malfunction in hearing room.]
Mr. Davis. Did you all hear any of that?
Mr. Levin. I heard it.
Mr. Davis. Oh, okay. The new requirement to start the
process 365 days prior to their separation will ensure that our
servicemembers have the appropriate time to focus on a
successful transition. The initial face-to-face session with
the TAP counselor assists the member in completion of a self-
assessments and develops an individual transition plan. Now,
the individual transition plan becomes the roadmap for the
servicemember in meeting their transition goals.
A strong collaboration among the interagency partners, as
we have here today, contributes to the success of our members,
and DoD's partnership with the Departments of Veterans Affairs,
Labor, Homeland Security, Education, Office of Personnel
Management, and the Small Business Administration ensure
delivery of TAP resources and services to the member, and this
includes preparation for employment, education, vocational
training, and entrepreneurship.
But, most importantly, the program takes into account the
well-being of the member, with the goal of assisting them and
their families in preparation for their new chapter in their
civilian life.
As previously stated, the fiscal year 2019 NDAA has driven
significant changes to TAP, and over the past year the
Department has aggressively engaged with the military
components in design and implementation of the legislation, and
we will continue to develop and redesign delivery of TAP
services to our transitioning servicemembers and their
families.
Career readiness in transition assistance preparation is an
absolute must if servicemembers are going to experience a
successful transition to civilian life. We recognize that
preparing servicemembers through their military life cycle to
be career-ready upon transition is essential to sustaining the
all-volunteer force. In order for DoD to continue to attract
the high quality and dedicated volunteers to serve in our Armed
Forces, we must equip this generation of servicemembers with
the ability to positively contribute to the national workforce
and thrive in their military communities.
However, the Department cannot do this alone. We must have
the continued strong collaboration with our interagency
partners, the support and hard work of our military components,
collaboration with other external stakeholders, and we need
you, the Members of Congress.
So, in summary, what I am going to tell you, I will be
honest with you, I have never testified in front of a House
Subcommittee before. So, I am so very pleased and proud and
happy to be here today, and really the word I am looking for is
honored.
Just 2 and a half years ago, I retired from the military. I
was in the Air Force, I was a Wing Commander, and I
transitioned out. And I loved my career, I love what I did, I
loved my job, but as I went up the leadership chain, as I took
roles of responsibility, what I became passionate about, it is
actually what you are passionate about, are the people and
their families. And today I find myself in this really unique
position where as the Director of DFPC--I'm sorry, I couldn't
even say my acronym right--that once again in my life I get
this opportunity, I get this chance to take care of the people
who have taken care of the mission. I mean, these are the men
and women who every day, every day--and I just met a bunch of
veterans back here, but every day they choose, they choose to
put on the uniform, they lace up their boots, and they go about
the very serious business of fighting and winning our Nation's
wars, and at sometimes a great cost.
So, as I said, it is an honor to be with you today. I look
forward to answering any questions you have and I look forward
to your feedback. Thank you for your time.
[The prepared statement of Brian Davis appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Davis. It is extremely well said
and thank you for your service too.
Mr. Davis. Thank you.
Mr. Levin. I now recognize myself for 5 minutes to begin
the question portion of this hearing, and I will start with Ms.
Devlin.
During the Full Committee budget hearing earlier this
month, I asked about VBA's plan to implement Sections 107 and
501 of the Forever GI Bill by the spring of 2020. Specifically,
I asked how the Administration is preparing for potential
hiccups in the adoptions of changes to the IT system.
Under Secretary Lawrence stated, and I quote, ``Worst-case
scenario is we will continue to process it as we have been,''
end quote. However, as I mentioned earlier, VBA is proposing
that Congress eliminate the additional funding we provided in
fiscal year 2019 for the purpose of implementing the Forever GI
Bill. Meanwhile, your written testimony states that the VA has
202 temporary employees supporting the additional workload
associated with implementing the Forever GI Bill.
So my question to you is, can you explain how VBA is
preparing for unforeseen circumstances to ensure it fully
implements the Forever GI Bill?
Ms. Devlin. Thank you for the question.
We feel confident, first of all, that we will accomplish
the mission and have the Sections 107 and 501 deployed on
December 1st, as promised. I have my IT partner here next to
me, we are very committed. Dr. Lawrence is paying very close
attention to this, as is the CIO. We don't feel we need a plan
B; however, having said that, in the event that we did not
implement by December 1st, we would continue paying veterans on
time at the current rates. And I believe that's what Dr.
Lawrence was indicating is that this will not harm veterans
should it not come through, but we have 100 percent confidence
that it will.
Mr. Levin. Thank you for that clarification.
I wanted to turn to an issue that was a subject of the
field hearing that I referenced when I was back in the district
the last couple of weeks, along with the Education and Labor
Committee. We had a joint field hearing on the GI Bill and
specifically some of the issues around predatory lending and
predatory institutions, you know, taking advantage of veterans,
the 9010 loophole and the like. I am concerned about this
getting worse, not better. Some of the oversight that was
present may or may not still be present. And I wanted to ask
about Section 4(e) of Executive Order 13607, which ordered the
DoD and the VA to, and I quote, ``establish new uniform rules
and strengthen existing procedures for access to military
installations by educational institutions,'' end quote.
Mr. Davis and Ms. Devlin, what is the status of your
efforts to implement this directive?
Ms. Devlin. I would have differed with my DoD partners on
the directive as it pertains to military installations.
Mr. Davis. Let me make sure I understood the question
right, sir.
Mr. Levin. Sure.
Mr. Davis. What you are looking at is predatory--university
and colleges' predatory practices on the members there and
taking their GI Bill money and they are not getting a degree,
is that what--is that the question?
Mr. Levin. Yes, sir, and specifically the section of the
Executive Order 13607 that ordered the DoD and VA both to, and
I quote, ``establish new uniform rules and strengthen existing
procedures for access to military installations by educational
institutions.''
So I just wanted to ask what the status was of your efforts
to implement that directive.
Mr. Davis. Okay, I can tell you what we are doing, exactly
what we are doing. So this is why the 365-day TAP governs, we
moved the--you know, moved it out to 365 days for the
transitioning member, that gives us time when they have the
face-to-face counseling and they have the self-assessment
basically to figure out, okay, what do I need, what do I need
when I transition out. And it also is on--and I will tell you
this just from what I did in a past life, it is also with the
commanders and their unit commanders and that community that
helps them along. So they self--they assess.
So let's just say that they want to be an electrician. So,
what do I do, what courses do I have to take? And you can take
those through transition assistance and not utilize the GI
Bill, but what you utilize the GI Bill is for your higher
education.
So I believe what we are doing through our transition and
our counseling is explain to them, okay, so if you want to be
an architect, these are the things you need to look at. And so
it gets them early on into the process, so they can decide,
they can decide what they have to do. And there are all kinds
of benefits and resources out there, from online to community
college, they can prepare themselves with.
But I hope I answered that question.
Ms. Devlin. And if you look--
Mr. Levin. Sort of.
Mr. Davis. Okay.
Ms. Devlin [continued]. --more information in terms of
oversight. As you may know, the VA partners with state-
approving agencies who have the, by legislation right--so we
don't have the authority to approve or disapprove schools in
the VA, we partner with state approving agencies, we provide
them with the criteria based on the legislative authorities and
then they administer the criteria for us.
So we watch over the state approving agencies, but we
partner with them; we have contracts with them, we have
specific and clear expectations, and we do watch to ensure that
they are complying with their oversight requirements as well.
Mr. Levin. Thank you. And I know I am short of time, but if
my colleagues will entertain one more question.
Ms. Devlin, in your written testimony you mention VA will
soon begin a 5-year post-separation TAP longitudinal study. And
I am curious, what metrics will you be tracking in the study
and how will the information be used to improve the TAP
program?
Ms. Devlin. Thank you. Yes, we are starting it this year.
We got the survey approved by OMB and we will be administering
the survey at three touch points post-transition, at 6 months
post-transition, 1 year and 3 years, so we can really take a
look at the outcomes of TAP.
The domains that we are looking at with the survey include
employment, entrepreneurship, mental and physical health,
social relationships, financial situation, and housing.
Mr. Levin. Thank you.
Ranking Member Bilirakis is now recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate it.
Ms. Devlin, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being complete
failure and 10 being fully functioning, where do you believe
the IT system for full implementation of the Forever GI Bill
Section 107 and 501 will be December 1st, 2019--
Ms. Devlin. As I indicated--
Mr. Bilirakis [continued]. --on a scale from 1 to 10?
Ms. Devlin [continued]. --I am 100-percent confident I
would give it a 10.
Mr. Bilirakis. All right. Okay. Well, that is encouraging.
We will check back on the 1st of December.
Ms. Devlin, one of the most important provisions of the
Forever GI Bill are the changes against Section 107 and Section
501 of the law, which calculated students' living stipend based
on the location at which the student takes the majority of
their classes. How does this budget support the implementation
of this section and when will the final policy guidelines, the
guidance on how VA will go back and make students impacted by
the significant delay in implementing this section whole be
released by the Department?
Ms. Devlin. Our funding allows for the continuation of the
staffing levels, so that we can maintain the human intervention
on claims processing that doesn't get accomplished by
automation. So our contractor is required to meet the current
automation rate, which is 37 percent, and then our FTE will
manage the off-ramped claims that have to be touched by a
human. So our budget supports that additional FTE.
And also, I just wanted to mention, we are conducting
roundtable discussions with stakeholders in schools to really
talk about the impact on schools and the impact on students and
make sure that, as we are developing these policies for the
school location for Section 107, that we incorporate the
feedback of the schools, because really they are the ones that
are going to have to be processing the paperwork to enable us
to pay the student at the correct amount. So we are working
with them, we are getting a lot of great insights and, once we
implement Sections 107 and 501, our key priority is going to be
to make sure that veteran students get paid on time; the second
priority is going back and retroactively making them whole for
the semesters that they did not get the proper rate, if the
rate would have been higher.
Mr. Bilirakis. Okay, very good.
Okay, Mr. Davis, one of the changes to TAP enacted in last
year's NDAA was the requirement for transitioning
servicemembers to undergo one-on-one transition counseling. The
services have expressed their concern to the Subcommittee staff
that additional resources are needed to complete this
requirement. How does the budget proposal account for this
change?
Mr. Davis. So, sir, to answer that very quickly, the
budget--so it will be the military component who decide their
budgets, to manage their budgets, how they do that. And I can't
answer that right now, but I can certainly put, I believe you
say, for the record and get that information to you--
Mr. Bilirakis. Yes, please do, because that is so very
important.
Mr. Davis. That is very important. And if I can, if I have
got just a second, I want to go back to the Chairman's
question, because I didn't answer it.
Mr. Bilirakis. Okay, go ahead. No, no, please.
Mr. Davis. And I am sorry about that--
Mr. Levin. It happens all the time around here.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Davis. I am finding that out.
Mr. Bilirakis. But we do want--we want an answer, so go
ahead, please.
Mr. Davis. And, sir, I can get you that. And so we will in
coordination with the military components find out, because
they control their budgets and they manage their budgets. But
as for us in the governance of TAP, that is not something we
have visibility on, but we will get it.
But for you, sir, the one question that I want to have
answered is what you asked me, because if universities and
colleges are preying on our veterans, that has got to stop. And
so I--okay, that is for the record, right? I say that is for
the record, it is for the record, and we will get you an
answer. I will work to get you an answer.
I was answering his question and then yours.
Mr. Bilirakis. No, no, no, I understand. And we passed
legislation a few years ago to address that issue as well. I
would like to find out how that is working as well with regard
to the predatory practices by some of these for-profit
universities. Okay?
Mr. Davis. Yes.
Mr. Bilirakis. So give us some data on that.
Mr. Davis. Absolutely. And I am completely transparent, I
actually got the opportunity to visit a university about 4
weeks ago in Florida, which is I believe where you are from--
Mr. Bilirakis. Yes.
Mr. Davis [continued]. --and what a magnificent university,
what a magnificent veterans' association. They don't just have
a veterans' office, they have got a veterans' suite. And they
do what TAP does and they do what--and you probably know who I
am talking about--
Mr. Bilirakis. I bet I do. It might be in my district.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Davis. Well, I can't say that, but okay. But that was
an amazing trip for me, and it was an uplifting and enjoying
trip and I got to talk to a lot of veterans that were there,
and how that university takes care of their students and their
veterans was just amazing. So, if we can get all of our
universities to do that--
Mr. Bilirakis. Yeah, let's chat afterwards, because I want
to find out which one it is.
Mr. Davis. Okay, sir--
Mr. Bilirakis. We could use it as a model for the rest of
the country. I think it might be the one that I am thinking of
too. All right, we won't say.
All right, I guess I better yield back. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. I appreciate it.
Mr. Levin. Thank you.
Mr. Pappas is now recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Pappas. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and to the
Ranking Member for holding this hearing.
Thank you very much for your testimony, Mr. Davis and Ms.
Devlin, this morning--this afternoon, I guess. I am very
encouraged by some of the things that I have heard, but
continue to have some concerns about one particular program
that I just wanted to explore a little bit with you, the
Vocational Rehabilitation and Education Program.
We have learned and I think we will hear a little bit later
today from our VSOs that robust funding is critically important
for that program, it is a lifeline for our veterans. And the
coauthors of the Independent Budget highlighted a drop in the
number of disabled veterans that are utilizing the VETERANS
AFFAIRS&E program. There has been a decline from 2016 to 2018
of 173,000 to 164,000 veterans, a drop of about five percent.
VETERANS AFFAIRS&E's caseload dropped from 137,000 to about
125,000, an 8.4 percent decline over that same period.
I am wondering if you can explain what led to the decline
in utilization of that critical program.
Ms. Devlin. Thank you for the question.
We share your concern and we are looking very closely at
this. We don't know what caused it, but we have been looking at
several factors that we think can impact more veterans
participating in the program. For example, we did see--and this
is historical, for quite a period of time--that veterans tend
to not show for their first appointment for orientation. The
process by which we schedule veterans for that first initial
appointment is they get a letter with an appointment date and
time. And in order for us to do what most industry does today
with reminder calls to make sure that they know that their
appointment is coming up, we would have to have people,
VocRehab counselors, going through their files, figuring out
who has got an appointment today, and making a phone call. It
is not sustainable, so a lot of times those reminder calls
don't get made.
We are embarking--we just awarded a contract to conduct
artificial intelligence-type activities to do things like give
reminder calls to veterans when they have their first
appointment. Obviously, if a great percentage of them are not
showing up for their first appointment, they are not going to
enter into a rehab plan. So that is one thing we are
implementing in short order.
The other thing that we are doing is we are taking a look
at how many veterans who do show up for the first appointment,
are found entitled and eligible, but don't participate in a
plan, and in order to encourage more VocRehab counselors to
work with their veterans to get them in a plan as quickly as is
feasible for that veteran, recognizing it is an individualized
program and every veteran has individual needs. We are asking
our directors by putting it in their performance plan of the
regional offices to increase the plan rate, which is the rate
of veterans who are found entitled to participate in a plan, to
have them work with their VocRehab officers and VocRehab
counselors to ensure that they are paying attention to those
eligible veterans and figuring out how do we make sure you
actually take advantage of this important program and get into
a plan of services, so we can start serving you.
Mr. Pappas. Well, thanks for the response.
Disabled veterans experience unemployment at a higher rate
than the veteran population as a whole or the population of
Americans as a whole, so it is critical that we continue to
take steps to address that. I appreciate your response.
Does the number of counselors at all play into this in
terms of the decreasing utilization of the program?
Ms. Devlin. While there isn't probably a direct
correlation, there may be an indirect correlation, because if
you have more veterans on your caseload to work with you might
not have as much time to spread your attention across that
veteran population that you serve. So we were very excited to
be able to fund the 1-to-125 ratio and we are almost there in
getting the people on board.
Mr. Pappas. One follow-up. You said reminder calls are an
important way to make sure folks don't miss appointments. Do
you have text capability, is there another way to make sure we
get to those vets?
Ms. Devlin. That is exactly what this artificial
intelligence will enable us to do is text messages, phone
calls, both, right? Because we know a lot of our veterans are
using their phones for texting and would rather receive a text
message than a phone call.
Mr. Pappas. Great. Thank you.
I yield back.
Mr. Levin. Thank you.
Mr. Bergman is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Bergman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to the
panel. Good to see you all again.
At the last time we got together, I think, Ms. Devlin, you
and I went back and forth a little bit and I requested some
information, and thank you for providing it, because I think
one of my questions was what is the breakdown percentage-wise
between retirees and people just separating with less than,
shall we say, 20 years. So I guess what I have got here is it
is about 20 percent 20-plus-year retirees and about 80 percent
before that time, first-term, second-term separations.
So it is a norm that has been I think held steady for a
long period of time, so we can--we really are thinking about in
80 percent of the cases getting someone an initial start in
their career life post-military, because the 20-plus-year
retirees are--they are starting again, but they are coming out
with a pension and they have got a little bit of a cast cushion
to go forward at that point, and that focus really goes on that
80 percent. So when you are getting an 80 percent bang for the
buck, you are doing pretty well.
And we also talked about, you know, the Guard and Reserve
and how we are looking at that, and I guess there is a
different platform.
So I guess my question, you know, today would start with
the Montgomery GI Bill allowed the Selected Reserve up to 36
months for education benefits. Can you compare the percentage
of Selected Reserve versus Active duty servicemembers using
their GI Bill benefits? So, in other words, those who are
eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill, are they using it as much
as those leaving Active duty, or any thoughts? Do you want to
take it for the record?
Ms. Devlin. Well, I would have to take that one for the
record; I don't have that data in front of me.
I do believe we capture in our systems the status of the
veteran in terms of Active duty or Reserve, but I am not 100
percent sure. But, if we do track it, we can get you that data.
Mr. Bergman. Well, the relevance of the data is that so
many of our young servicemembers when they leave their service
time, whether it is active or Reserve, they are focused
elsewhere, and unless we find a way to maintain that contact at
whatever loose level. So when all of a sudden, they wake up one
morning and go, oh, yeah, I think I had education benefits or I
think I had this, you know, how do we tap into that.
And, having said that, what is the VA doing to--if you
will, to be ready to when they do wake up to inform, include,
facilitate, you know, Reserve participation in the GI Bill? I
know largely through TAP it is going to be active; how about
the Reserves, how about the Guard?
Ms. Devlin. Well, for all servicemembers, whether Active
duty or Reservists who get called up to Active duty and then
participate in TAP, that point in time later on when you kind
of go, okay, I have been through getting all this information,
they say, you know, it is like through a fire hose, there is
just so much information about my benefits coming at me,
wouldn't it be great if we would reach out to them afterwards
and kind of say, hey, you know, we are just reaching out to you
to make sure you know about your benefits and what is available
to you, we are in the process of standing that capability up.
It was part of the executive order that President Trump signed
a little over a year ago to help--it was in the interest of
suicide prevention, to make sure that these servicemembers once
they become veterans, they know that we are there for them and
that we are doing this outreach.
So we are calling it early and consistent outreach. We are
setting up sort of a call-center capability where we will have
data from DoD on when the servicemember exited the military,
became a veteran, and we will contact them at consistent
periods of time to just kind of touch base and say, you know,
do you have your benefits all set up, are you interested, do
you have any questions, and have that touch point, because that
is the point at which they might go, you know, I am not sure. I
was curious about this benefit or that benefit, and we can fill
in those blanks and get them connected and get them applying
for those benefits.
Mr. Bergman. You know, based on the hearing we had last
night with the Committee as a whole, you may want to include
the question in there if you are going to reach out to them,
how are you doing? Because sometimes they might be at risk and
just that acknowledgment through the phone call, you are
calling about something else, but how are you doing?
Lastly, and I know my time is running short here, last
Congress this Committee uncovered that VA had spent over $12
million on the creation of a case management system for the
VocRehab program that had to be scrapped because it wasn't
meeting the needs of VETERANS AFFAIRS&E counselors. How does
your budget invest in programs that will provide this
functionality for counselors and how will you avoid the
mistakes of the past?
And I apologize for going over.
Ms. Devlin. That is okay. We have actually--we took that as
a very high priority when Dr. Lawrence and I got into our
current positions back in May of 2018.
One of the things that the Committee at that time asked
was, why didn't you look at industry, to see if industry has
off-the-shelf products that you could procure? Why did you
spend all this money or all this investment in IT development
without first looking to see if industry had products? So we
did that research, and we looked, and we found that industry
does in fact have products that you can either procure off the
shelf or services that you can procure.
So, in working with our IT partners, because there are
different appropriations for IT versus GOE funding, we were
able to identify the ability to pay with GOE dollars for a
software as a service. And in fact just yesterday I signed the
acquisition package to get that request for proposals out on
the street and we are well on our way to get that procurement,
so that we can purchase that software as a service.
Mr. Bergman. Okay. Well, thank you.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Mr. Levin. Thank you.
We now recognize Ms. Luria for 5 minutes.
Ms. Luria. Thank you. It is nice to see you again, Ms.
Devlin.
In your opening statement you said that the VETERANS
AFFAIRS&E 2020 budget request supports performance measures
designed to drive continuous improvement and achieve optimal
outcomes for veterans. In fiscal year 2018, the VA revised the
VETERANS AFFAIRS&E's performance measures to align with
agency's goals and priorities.
I have recently reviewed the 2019 annual performance plan
for the VA and how many performance measures are in that plan
related to the VETERANS AFFAIRS&E's program?
Ms. Devlin. In the APPR?
Ms. Luria. In the VA's annual performance plan.
Ms. Devlin. I believe there is one, but I would have to
take that for the record exactly to see which ones of our
performance measures made it to the plan.
Ms. Luria. Okay. I bring this up, because I also brought up
the measure in that plan related to last night's hearing with
Dr. Stone and it appears that that plan has been written, but
in his level, not necessarily being evaluated and used as an
actual metric for how the programs are working, and now I found
a parallel in two cases with that particular instance.
And so there actually were four performance measures that
were then combined into one, so you are correct about that, but
what is concerning to me is that there was actually no
performance measure listed. So, no percentage accomplishment as
a benchmark, it just says TBD in the plan. So for us to go back
and evaluate or ask how you are making progress, there is no
measure given in the plan.
And so, as an oversight Committee, you know, I think that
we need metrics to be able to judge whether, you know, the
plans are being used effectively. And since there is not one
listed in there, I went to this 115-page document, which is the
annual report talking about the VETERANS AFFAIRS&E
effectiveness. And as I read through it, it just seems to lay
out trends over an every-2-year period, but there is really no
milestone or metric in here to say whether it is effective. It
just basically gives raw numbers, but then doesn't actually use
that data to say whether the program is being effective or not.
So I thought I would just provide that feedback as well on
this document that you have provided each year to Congress.
The last thing I wanted to touch on was the 12-year
requirement that basically says after 12 years someone is no
longer eligible for participating in the VETERANS AFFAIRS&E
program. And I have personally heard from veterans' groups
within my district that there are some concerns about that and
that some veterans could potentially benefit from this program
beyond the 12-year point. Can you give your feedback on that
and have you heard similar remarks from veterans about the
program?
Ms. Devlin. Sure. The 12-year eligibility period begins
either when you transition out of the military or when you get
your first service-connected disability rating that makes you
eligible. So, in some cases, veterans who didn't pursue their
benefits at all and waited until later after being discharged
from the military, their clock starts for their 12 years much
later.
The VETERANS AFFAIRS&E program is unique in that it is very
tailored and individualized. So, while a veteran may have
exceeded his 12-year--his or her 12-year eligibility period,
that doesn't prevent them from applying and becoming eligible
to sit down and have an evaluation with a rehabilitation
counselor. It is at that point that the rehabilitation
counselor makes a decision based on that veteran's unique
circumstances whether the 12-year eligibility period can be
waived.
The waiver of the period will happen if the veteran is
found to have a serious employment handicap and what that means
is, for any veteran to be entitled to the program, they have to
have an employment handicap. A serious employment handicap
would be employment barriers above and beyond the standard
legal requirement for an employment handicap.
So a couple examples would be severe educational deficits,
significant advancement in age where there might be bias on the
part of employers, a visible disability such as disfigurement
or prosthetics that might be visible to an employer that might
result in bias. There are a lot of examples in the regulations
that allow us to bypass that 12-year eligibility period.
But if that was not present in that situation for that
veteran, they didn't have any of those situations, then you are
right that we would not be able to provide services.
Ms. Luria. So if the 12-year requirement were to be
eliminated, would you require additional resources then to
implement the program? Do you believe there would be a larger
audience of people attempting to access and use these benefits,
and would that require more resources on your behalf to meet
the 1-to-125 requirement that you are trying to reach?
Ms. Devlin. Potentially. When we did the analysis for our
cost estimate, and I don't have that in front of me, but we did
do some analysis based on the number of veterans who had
applied for the program, were past their 12 years, and were
denied access, meaning they did not have a serious employment
handicap. While I don't have those numbers in front of me, they
were not very large, but we don't know what the impact of
marketing that type of new information would do in terms of
veterans who might not have applied because they were past
their 12 years.
So we would have to evaluate that and in the next budget
cycle we would put in whatever requirement we had.
Ms. Luria. And, lastly, if someone does apply past the 12-
year point and they are denied, is there any recourse for them
to take that up past that one individual counselor who made
that decision?
Ms. Devlin. Yes, they have several options under the
Appeals Modernization Act. They can ask for a higher-level
review or they can appeal directly to the Board of Veterans
Appeals.
But also, I just want to mention, our rehab counselors are
required by our regulations to also provide them other forms of
assistance if they are not eligible for the VETERANS AFFAIRS&E
program. So they work with Department of Labor through a close
partnership, and they work with other non-profits and other
organizations in the area to make sure that veteran gets a
referral to other programs that they might be eligible for.
Ms. Luria. Thank you.
Mr. Levin. Mr. Meuser is now recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Meuser. Thank you, Chairman Levin, Ranking Member
Bilirakis. Thank you very much to our witnesses and for your
important work.
I represent Pennsylvania's 9th Congressional District. We
are home to about 50,000 veterans, the Lebanon VA, as well as
Fort Indian Town Gap. So we have got quite a military and
veterans' presence.
Ms. Devlin, I will ask you this, if I could, please. The
VA's fiscal years we have mentioned for 2020 budget request
contains a $20 million increase for Vocational Rehabilitation
Employment programs. Clearly, this plays a very important,
critical role in assisting disabled servicemembers and all
veterans to find meaningful employment. Throughout my district,
we have some really terrific vo-tech schools and career
institutes. Is part of the program an outreach or an
educational forum, so as veterans, disabled as well as not
disabled within the VA, are they given information so as they
can gain access to these schools, become aware, get introduced,
and funding assistance?
Ms. Devlin. Yes. We have several mechanisms for outreach,
but predominantly it is our Transition Assistance Program,
which, by the way, with the ability to increase it to a full
day, we know that one of the areas we need to increase
attention to in our TAP class for VA is vocational rehab.
One of the things I heard consistently from veterans who
had recently discharged is that they don't remember hearing
about the VocRehab program when they were in TAP, even though
it was clearly in the curriculum. So what does that tell us? We
weren't quite getting it right. So we know we need to work on
that.
We are doing a process called human-centered design where
we are meeting individually with servicemembers and veterans to
ask them for their input on how can we do this better. We want
this to work for you. We don't want you to leave the military
and not understand this amazing benefit that is here for you if
you have service-connected disabilities.
The other thing that we do is we have a program called Vet
Success on Campus, and we have vocational rehab counselors on
many campuses across the country, not all of them, but we have
many campuses that have these rehab counselors and they provide
outreach to the entire veteran population on campus, not just
the service-connected veterans. And the reason that is
important is because there is another program that a lot of
people don't know about, we tend to call it Chapter 36, it is
educational and career counseling, and any veteran who is
eligible for any kind of VA education benefit is eligible for
that same rehabilitation counseling experience that a veteran
who is eligible for VocRehab can get. They just don't get the
funding for the training, because they would get the funding
through their GI Bill or Post-9/11 GI Bill.
So those counselors are out there pounding the pavement,
making sure that veteran students know about that program.
Mr. Meuser. And are the VA facilities throughout the
country, as well as in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, made--do you go
over that or do you have a team that assures that this is a
regular part of the training?
Ms. Devlin. I would have to look at Pennsylvania to see
where we have VSOC sites, I am not sure off the top of my head,
but, yes, we conduct outreach around the whole country.
Mr. Meuser. I think they are doing very well at it and
maybe even could be used as a model, as again we have so many
strong vo-tech schools.
Unemployment as a whole with veterans, what would you say
able--or those who are able to work and willing to work
veterans, what would the unemployment rate be approximately?
Ms. Devlin. I don't have the unemployment rate here with
me, but we do partner with DOL and in fact we sent out a VA
benefits bulletin every month, and we connect to the Web site
that DOL uses to put their labor market statistics and we do
monitor them to see any trends. Right now, the trends, as I
remember from the last time I looked, seemed pretty invest, but
that doesn't mean we should not invest heavily in employment
for veterans, because we never know when they are going to need
assistance and what the labor market looks like in their
specific community, because labor markets are very localized.
Mr. Meuser. Right. Are the VAs or any branch of the
services for veterans, do they attend job fairs, and do they
participate with the local chamber of commerce for instance?
Ms. Devlin. Yes. In fact, our TED Office conducted their
first ever hiring event with Hiring Our Heroes, which is a
chamber of commerce-sponsored organization in San Juan, Puerto
Rico. And that was an economic initiative designed to bring
economic assistance to the veterans in Puerto Rico and it was a
huge success, 200 job offers.
Mr. Meuser. I would encourage you to do your best to have
Members of Congress be made more aware of hiring heroes, that
could be something that we could really help promote quite a
bit effectively.
Ms. Devlin. We are happy to invite, and our next event is
going to be in the Puget Sound area.
Mr. Meuser. All right. Thank you.
I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Meuser.
Ms. Lee is now recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, for
holding this important hearing. Thank you all as well for being
here and the work that you do.
You know, this is to me an important kink for us to figure
out, especially after we had our hearing yesterday with suicide
prevention, making sure that we are identifying and engaging
with veterans as early as possible in putting them on a road to
success.
So, Mr. Cussatt, I wanted to ask you--I hope I didn't
butcher that name--I wanted to ask you a question about
information technology. The VFW, the DAV, and Paralyzed
Veterans of America have all expressed concerns with the
process for the VBA integration of the legacy systems into the
transformation of several large programs, notably the Forever
GI Bill. The VSOs note that the VBA must compete with other
OI&T priorities for funding and the VA has asked for an
increase of $240 million for OI&T for fiscal year 2020. I
wanted to ask you, what are the priorities with that funding,
how are you going to prioritize that?
Mr. Cussatt. Thank you, Ms. Lee. I appreciate the question.
So we do take a lot of time to prioritize, because, as you
know, the demand is very high, and the supply is limited for
our budget. We have a generous budget, but it certainly can't
get us everything we need. So we have worked with--we work very
closely with VBA. We do have a prioritized project list for
2019 and 2020.
So it is very clear among both parties where we are setting
our sights, that we are going to declare victory on in any
given year, and we make a commitment to that and focus on that.
And then there are other projects on the list--
Ms. Lee. Can we see that list--
Mr. Cussatt. Absolutely--
Ms. Lee [continued]. --please? Thank you.
Mr. Cussatt [continued]. --we can share that list with you.
Ms. Lee. Yes, just a question. There was concerns about the
202 temporary positions, you know, do you plan on funding those
positions and helping with this workload?
Ms. Devlin. We are funding almost all of the positions in
our 2020 budget, in the VBA budget. We do have sufficient FTE
to manage the off-ramped or the claims that require human
intervention that can't be processed through automation.
Ms. Lee. Great. Thank you.
Ms. Devlin, the Forever GI Bill provides some really
promising opportunities for veterans in terms of increased
education benefits and, as you know, the VET TEC pilot program
will allow veterans to participate in information sciences,
computer programming, you know, advance in an IT career. And as
you mentioned in your testimony, you started to take provider
applications and you mentioned--do you give sole responsibility
to SAAs for vetting those applications or do you vet them as
well?
Ms. Devlin. So by statute the SAAs have the authority to do
school approvals. I am going to have to get back to you on the
record on whether VET TEC has any different stipulations in the
legislation, I feel like there might be a bit of a nuance
there. But, yes, we are taking applications for facilities and
we have started taking applications from veteran students, even
though it is not officially live yet for veteran students, we
are taking the applications.
Ms. Lee. Great. Yeah, I would like to know, just because it
is a pilot program, whether or not you are putting some
guardrails into place on that.
Ms. Devlin, I also wanted to ask you, I understand that the
VBA wants to round down to the nearest dollar the computation
of COLA, the cost-of-living adjustment for veterans with
service-connected disabilities, their survivors, and to those
survivors receiving dependency indemnity compensation. VSOs are
adamantly opposed to this measure and I have received letters
from constituents concerned.
What do you tell veterans who think this is a slippery
slope to the erosion of their other veteran benefits?
Ms. Devlin. What I would tell you is that we are focused on
taking care of our veterans and making sure that we don't at
any time think about cutting benefits. This is a way to
continue veterans' benefits payments consistently, if they are
eligible for service-connected disability or death and
indemnity compensation, that they would continue to get those
payments, they would just not receive the cost-of-living
increase, which would be not an incredible amount of an
increase in dollar value when you think about the monthly
payments.
Ms. Lee. Okay. Thank you.
Real quickly, Mr. Davis. The American Legion testimony
basically provided a suggestion that the TAP program possibly
be implemented through intervals during a servicemember's
career. Could you quickly comment on like the possibility and
the oversight of that? And I am running out of time.
Mr. Davis. I think I got my microphone on and I will say it
just as quickly as I can talk, and I talk about--I think about
as fast as I talk. But basically what we do is, it is a
military life cycle is what we are going to, and this is what I
really like. So, as a previous commander, I like the fact that
the touch points for the individual, as they go through this
military life cycle, when they get to their first base or the
installation, they start preparing them for transition.
And that sounds a little crazy, right? So you are coming
into the military and you are preparing for transition, but it
actually makes perfect sense. You are getting them ready for
civilian transition in life, whether it is 20 years or 30
years, it doesn't matter. So, if we talked about predatory
schools, we talked about getting prepared for life, these are
life skills.
And so, yes, ma'am, I think I--I hope I answered your
question. Yes, I think that is what they are talking about. So
when I talk to my friends that are in the VFW and those, that
is what they are looking for.
Did that answer your question?
Ms. Lee. Yes, thank you.
I yield.
Mr. Levin. Well, thank you to our witnesses, thank you to
my colleagues for your great questions.
With that, I would like to excuse our first panel, and I
would like to invite our second panel to join us.
[Pause.]
Mr. Levin. All right. Well, we already introduced you all
before, so we will jump right in.
Mr. Murray, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF PATRICK MURRAY
Mr. Murray. Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis,
Members of the Subcommittee, on behalf of the authors of the
Independent Budget, DAV, PVA, and the VFW, we would like to
thank you for the opportunity to present our views on this
year's budget request specifically related to economic
opportunity programs.
Making sure that veterans are being employed in the right
career for every one of them is incredibly important. One very
important program veterans can use is the Vocational
Rehabilitation and Employment Program, or VETERANS AFFAIRS&E.
It provides critical counseling and other adjunct services
necessary to enable service-disabled veterans to overcome
barriers as they prepare for, find, and maintain gainful
employment. Ensuring veterans achieve meaningful and prosperous
careers will improve their financial situations, thereby
mitigating issues such as unemployment and homelessness.
VA budget documents state that the VETERANS AFFAIRS&E
program will meet and sustain the congressionally-mandated goal
of 1-to-125 counselor-to-client ratio; however, the latest data
in VA's budget document also shows that from 2016 to 2018 the
number of participants dropped by more than five percent, and
during that same period the caseload also saw an 8.4 percent
decline.
It would appear that VA is able to meet the 1-to-125 goal
by serving fewer veterans. However, it is important and
beneficial, the VETERANS AFFAIRS&E program, for disabled
veterans by providing them with the ability to increase their
economic independence. Why are fewer veterans taking advantage
of this program? Has VETERANS AFFAIRS&E instituted any new
policies or practices that have deterred disabled veterans from
seeking these services? What action is VA taking to increase
awareness of the availability of this benefit and service? And
we are concerned that maybe the lack of counselors over the
past few years finally caught up to VA and participation in the
program had dropped because of this.
The IB is also concerned about the lower funding request
for VA's education program. VA requested $6 million less than
the amount appropriated in the previous year and we think that
is taking a step back for this very important office. By VA's
own projections, they will see an estimated increase of almost
800,000 claims over the next 2 years. And there are also
additions to the GI Bill, such as the STEM extension and the
VET TEC program, along with implementation of the basic
allowance for housing changes due to roll out in December. VA's
emergency overtime budget was almost depleted last year due to
the challenges with Forever GI Bill implementation and the IB
believes that VA should be ready for additional overtime during
the implementation this time around as well.
Additionally, VA's aging IT infrastructure routinely
requires additional resources and last-minute work-arounds in
order to administer the education benefits. With these
challenges, the IB believes the VA should be seeking more
funding to make the necessary changes, not less.
Each iteration of the GI Bill has come with its own
challenges during implementation and the Forever GI Bill is
just another example of that. While it is difficult to budget
for breakdowns and failures, the method of planning for the
worst and hoping for the best is something VA should look to do
when making changes to the GI Bill. This lower budget request
seems like VA is planning for the best and hoping for the best,
without taking past challenges into account.
Our organizations are encouraged to see the number of
homeless veterans has decreased over the years, but the
challenge is not over. Many of VA's programs help get veterans
off the streets and many of the other programs aim to keep them
from going back there.
VA's homeless programs are comprehensive, including
medical, dental, and mental health services, as well as
specialized programs for post-traumatic stress disorder, sexual
trauma, substance abuse disorder, and vocational
rehabilitation. VA adopted a model of housing the veterans
first rather than requiring them to be in recovery or treatment
for mental health or substance abuse prior to receiving this
housing assistance. Homeless prevention coordinators and peer
mentors are essential to the success of the program, and help
veterans navigate the system to get the services they need.
We recommend VA increase the use of peer specialists,
particularly those who, you know, went through recovery from
substance abuse or have experienced homelessness. Peers who
have had similar experiences are often able to connect on a
more personal level and can help homeless veterans overcome
challenges, actively engage in treatment, and maintain a
healthy lifestyle.
Lastly, we would like to see VA's adaptive grant programs
revised. The adaptive vehicle and housing grants have monetary
and usage caps that don't align with modern-day users. We would
like these adaptive programs to be revised to allow more
flexibility for disabled veterans to improve their activities
of daily living.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes our testimony. Again, the
members of the Independent Budget thank you and the Ranking
Member for the opportunity to testify on these important
issues.
[The prepared statement of Patrick Murray appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Murray.
Mr. Henry, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. Oh, wait--
Mr. Lohmann, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF LARRY LOHMANN
Mr. Lohmann. Thank you, Chairman.
Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis, and distinguished
Members of the Subcommittee, on behalf of National Commander
Brett P. Reistad and the nearly 2 million members of The
American Legion, we thank you for the opportunity to testify in
this Economic Opportunity Subcommittee hearing.
As we said in the Subcommittee's first hearing of the
session, the 115th Congress and the Subcommittee on Economic
Opportunity were very successful passing legislation. The
success of this Committee is due to its commitment to
bipartisan cooperation to do what is right for veterans that
have served.
Earlier this month before this Committee, we testified that
we generally support the President's proposed budget for fiscal
year 2020. Support for the proposed budget is not an
endorsement that it is the perfect budget or that there is not
more that we should be doing for our veterans. The American
Legion believes it is a good faith estimate that funds the VA
and is responsible to the American taxpayer.
As VA continues to serve the veterans of this Nation, it is
vital that the Secretary has the necessary tools and resources
to ensure veterans receive timely, professional, and courteous
service. The American Legion calls on this Congress to ensure
that funding for VA is maintained by implementing the
President's budget request.
The American Legion recognizes at a time when most Federal
agencies are experiencing a decrease in their respective
budgets under the President's proposal, the VA, with assistance
from this critical Subcommittee and the whole Committee, will
receive a much-needed increase.
While the proposed budget is sufficient, The American
Legion believes VA must provide greater focus on the economic
concerns of our veterans and ensure education services meet the
standards of excellence veterans deserve.
The American Legion has long been concerned programs in the
VA that provide assistance related to economic opportunity for
veterans, their dependents and survivors have been overlooked.
The landscape of education benefits has evolved rapidly, from
the Montgomery GI Bill, Post-9/11 GI Bill, to the present with
the essential implementation requirements of the Harry W.
Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, named for its
author and our past National Commander.
More veterans are using VA Educational and Vocational
Rehabilitation benefits to go to school than a decade ago,
which led to the creation of Vets Success On Campus, or VSOC
program to cater to the growing student veteran population. The
American Legion believes Congress needs to continue investing
in on-campus base support resources for student veterans, to
include expansion of the VSOC program, and other programs
reinforcing peer-to-peer support or grant funds to develop
veterans' centers of excellence.
Congress must also work closely with the Department of
Education and VA to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent
responsibly at reputable institutions. Legislation addressing
the 9010-loophole requiring transparency and regular reporting
will ensure student veterans are given the right resources to
utilize their benefits properly, maintaining the fiduciary duty
to the American taxpayer.
The American Legion is also pleased to see in VA's budget
proposal the intention to meet the congressional mandate of a
1-to-125 counsel-to-client ratio. The American Legion has
sought this compliance associated with VocRehab and employment
for some time and notably at our 2016 National Convention
passed a resolution in support of this goal. However, our
optimism is guarded, because the compliance in part appears to
be aided not only by additional funding, but also by a five-
percent decrease in VocRehab participants.
As we remain concerned with the decrease in participants in
this beneficial program, we urge Congress to pass legislation
that would change the 12-year delimiting date for eligibility
to Chapter 31. The standard period of eligibility for VocRehab
benefits is limited to 12 years from the date of separation
from military service or the date of notification by VA of a
service-connected disability rating. Unfortunately, not all
disabled veterans are aware of their possible eligibility when
separating from their service and some may not need VocRehab
until later in their career.
Congress must eliminate the 12-year delimiting period for
VA Chapter 31 services to ensure disabled veterans with
employment handicaps, including those who qualify for
independent living services, qualify for VETERANS AFFAIRS&E
services for the entirety of their employable lives.
Finally, The American Legion supports VA's request for the
newly formed Transition and Economic Development Office, to
support the transition from military to civilian life and
accelerate the economic empowerment and development of
transitioning servicemembers, veterans, and their families.
VA established this office to ensure the entire period of
military transition starting from 365 days before separation,
the first year of civilian life is efficient and thorough. TED
is intended to ensure through a coordinated effort that
servicemembers leaving the military have an understanding and
easy access to all benefits and resources they are entitled
once they are separated from military service.
Less than 15 percent of transitioning servicemembers have
attended the 2-day courses. In addition to properly funding
this program, The American Legion recommends that the course be
mandated for servicemembers at different intervals of their
careers before separation or transitioning into the civilian
sector, along with pre-counseling for those servicemembers
intending to leave the military.
We recognize not every servicemembers transitions for the
same reason. Servicemembers should be afforded the opportunity
to participate in training that fits their post-service
objectives.
The American Legion appreciates the opportunity to comment
on the budget areas overseen by this Subcommittee and would be
happy to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Larry Lohmann appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Lohmann.
Mr. Hubbard, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM HUBBARD
Mr. Hubbard. Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis, and
Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the very warm
welcome to start with and thank you for inviting Student
Veterans of American to provide our testimony on the fiscal
year 2020 budget submission of the Department of Veterans
Affairs.
Established in 2008, SVA is a national higher education
nonprofit founded to empower student veterans as they
transition back to civilian life. With over 1500 campus
chapters across the United States and in four countries
overseas, serving 750,000 student veterans, SVA maintains a
lifelong commitment to each student's success from campus to
employment.
As we often note, we call those who serve student veterans,
not veteran students, because education is the vehicle of
empowerment, not the destination. This distinction is
important, because the way we talk about certain populations
has an effect on the influence and the legislation that
ultimately results from those discussions. In fact, in 2018,
the American Enterprise Institute published findings describing
this cycle in detail.
There are several topics which I would like to cover in
brief, and I look forward to any questions this Committee may
address afterward.
To begin, the budget request for VBA's Education Services.
In VA's current budget proposal, we noticed a startling
reduction in the request for Education Services funding. Until
the Forever GI Bill is fully implemented and spikes in workload
are fully understood, SVA strongly recommends VA to maintain
the fiscal year 2019 staffing levels.
Next, VETERANS AFFAIRS&E, short for Vocational
Rehabilitation and Employment. This program has significant
progress to make. Currently, VETERANS AFFAIRS&E services
provide veterans five tracks to employment, including
employment through long-term services. We are grateful for the
hard work of VA on seeking to achieve the congressionally-
mandated counselor-to-student ratio, though it is still unclear
if this ratio is being met.
More importantly, however, feedback from student veterans
indicates the quality of counselors varies widely and
ultimately yields uneven outcomes. We look forward to continued
work with VA and this Congress on refining the focus of the
program on outcomes. And we appreciate VA's conscious effort on
fielding tele-counseling technologies.
Turning to the GI Bill Comparison Tool. In VA's budget
justification, the Department cites the GI Bill Comparison Tool
as an important resource for prospective and current student
veterans. As it stands, there is a lack of coordination between
the Department of Education and VA, specifically regarding the
College Navigator, College Scorecard, and the GI Bill
Comparison Tool, thus reducing the overall delivery of powerful
data to veterans.
Public Law 112-249, mandated in 2013, the statutory
requirement for VA to launch a centralized mechanism for
tracking and publishing feedback from students, similar to
Amazon reviews, yet this functionality is still missing. We
strongly believe that veterans should be given every
opportunity to be informed consumers of their benefits and
these reviews are a missing component of that decision-making
process.
On to economic opportunity at VA. Our overall concerns with
the VA's budget request has one common denominator. At present,
VA lacks an Under Secretary-level leader exclusively focused on
economic opportunity. To be clear, this is not a lack of
leadership due to personality, it is instead a structural gap
in such programs that VA's current enterprise structure has. As
such, we strongly support the establishment of an
Undersecretary of Economic Opportunity at VA, who would report
directly to the Secretary and maintain accountability to
Congress. This proposal would flatten and streamline some of
VA's currently overloaded bureaucracy.
And, finally, the Montgomery GI Bill. Just last week, we
reaffirmed our concerns that the practice of deducting $100 per
month from our newest servicemembers for the Montgomery GI Bill
is still standard practice at basic training, despite the
existence of the modernized Forever GI Bill that is provided at
no monetary cost. In very limited and rare instances, the
Montgomery GI Bill may be a better option for a few
individuals, yet the program is being presented as a lucrative
benefit to all new recruits; this needs to change. For a vast
majority of those who do not use the Montgomery GI Bill, their
$1200 is rarely recovered. We hope to work with this Committee,
VA's transition experts, and the Department of Defense to
address this disparity undermining the bottom line for our
troops.
We thank the Chairman, the Ranking Member, and the
Subcommittee Members for your time, attention, and devotion to
the cause of veterans in higher education.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Willliam Hubbard appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Hubbard. Thank you to all our
witnesses. I now recognize myself for 5 minutes to begin our
questions.
Mr. Murray, I was glad to meet with you in a group not too
long ago where we discussed some of our priorities for economic
opportunity, and one of the issues we discussed was the VA's
goal of an average of 125 students to one counselor, the ratio
in the Vocational Rehab and Employment Program, and whether
that is appropriate considering the amount of time counselors
need to spend on administrative matters.
The budget maintains level funding for the VETERANS
AFFAIRS&E program. We are moving 127 full-time employees to
management and support. How do you anticipate these factors
would affect the counselor's workload and their ability to meet
veterans' employment needs?
Mr. Murray. So we hope with the addition of the ability to
do basically teleconferencing it might allow the counselors to
focus more on the face-to-face interaction, what they call the
knee-to-knee, providing that valuable feedback. We, again, are
a little concerned about the dip in the participation. We would
like to see more up-front kind of information as veterans'
transition.
A lot of feedback we keep hearing from student veterans and
veterans that age that they never knew about this program. So
we would like to see, you know, the office kind of form a
little bit more outreach, so that the 1-to-125 ratio with the
new abilities they have maybe can be revisited after their new
abilities have kind of been enacted for a little while.
Mr. Levin. I appreciate that, Mr. Murray.
I wanted to ask about the GI Bill Comparison Tool. And it
was launched about 5 years ago and at the time it was a welcome
step forward to help veterans choose an educational
institution, but I am sure, as many of you agree, it could be
improved upon.
Mr. Hubbard, in your testimony you made a couple of
recommendations to enhance the tool. The first would be to
allow veterans to rate their schools and the second, if I got
it right, would be maintaining data for closed schools. Could
you elaborate on the second suggestion, that is maintaining
data for closed schools? And specifically how do you envision
this change could strength veterans' understanding of their
options?
Mr. Hubbard. Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman.
It is a really important topic because, as schools close,
that data at present is essentially disappearing from the
network, and that is important for researchers to have, it is
important for the wider community to have. And I think in
particular, as we look to strengthen protections for student
veterans, having that ability to see trends of schools closing
is incredibly important.
I will also note that this data is separate from what the
Department of Education has available. And so if it is not
being found on this tool, it is essentially being lost.
Mr. Levin. To the rest of the panel--and, Mr. Hubbard, you
can speak to this as well--what other improvements to the GI
Bill Comparison Tool should we be considering and what would be
the most important factors for prospective student veterans
when choosing where to use their GI Bill benefits?
Mr. Murray. Chairman, obviously, a better, more informed
consumer up front removes a lot of the clean-up mess, the
millions of dollars wasted on these benefits at poor-performing
universities.
One thing that we have discussed is adding different
options so that schools can kind of announce and broadcast the
benefits they have. If they have priority enrollment for
veterans, for example, not every school has that, that is kind
of a recruiting tool. With some oversight, so that they are
not, you know, completely being fraudulent about what they
offer, but if they offer additional services that don't meet
the eligibility for the tool, a way that they can add that in
to help promote great benefits they offer.
Mr. Levin. Lastly, I wanted to just touch briefly on
housing. In the event of a school closure, many veterans are
losing not only their pursuit of higher learning, but their
housing as well, which is leading to more and more
homelessness.
For any on the panel, would you support continuing housing
stipend payments to students impacted by school closures?
Everybody is nodding yes.
Mr. Hubbard. Mr. Chairman, I think for a period of time
that is imperative. The ability to maintain housing while
seeking the next opportunity, whether that is to pursue higher
education at a separate institution or simply to figure out the
next step, having that housing stipend available is absolutely
critical.
Mr. Levin. Anyone else care to comment?
Mr. Murray. We wholeheartedly agree.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Levin. Thank you. Well, very good.
I now want to turn my friend Ranking Member Bilirakis, who
is recognize for 5 minutes.
Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate it
very much.
Okay, this is for the entire panel. If you had a magic wand
and could change one thing about the President's budget for
economic opportunity programs, what would you change and why?
Let's start from here, please.
Mr. Murray. With my voodoo magic, I would make sure that
the IT systems are fully implemented and fully funded up front,
so that we don't run into problems we have had in the past.
Mr. Bilirakis. Amen to that.
Yes, please, sir.
Mr. Henry. I would concur with my colleague. I would say
that IT is probably one of the biggest concerns right now.
Mr. Bilirakis. Very good.
Mr. Villanueva. And I also concur with my IB partners. And
we would add that the recommendation for the 50 million
increase above baseline would be beneficial, if there could be
a change that we would recommend.
It should be noted that VA, when they were up here
previously had just noted that there was a higher demand for IT
resources than there was funding, and we believe that actually,
you know, concurs with our statement of the recommendation for
the 50 million increase.
Mr. Bilirakis. Very good.
Mr. Lohmann. I think what important new programs are and
things we would like to see implemented, one of the things we
would like to see is oversight of the TAP program as it is now,
just making sure the money is going to where it is supposed to
be, and TED is stood up properly.
Mr. Bilirakis. Very good.
Mr. Hubbard?
Mr. Hubbard. Mr. Chairman, I think I am going to join my
colleagues on the point of IT, but make a specific caveat to
that, which is that in the past, particularly with the
implementation of the Forever GI Bill, we found that the IT
resources were in competition. There was nobody necessarily
fighting for those IT resources being devoted to the
implementation initially; though they were authorized, they
were not appropriated, and they did not find their way to
making that program happen, which was a major contributing
factor in the overall challenges that we saw come that
semester.
And so I think--well, SVA strongly supports the Independent
Budget's proposal to have an additional $50 million, but
specifically we would like to see some caveats that ensure that
VBA has those resources devoted to those programs.
Mr. Bilirakis. Very good. Thank you.
For the entire panel again. One of the legislative
proposals that are included in the budget request is a proposal
to cap the amount of tuition and fees paid out under the Post-
9/11 GI Bill to certain public schools for flight training.
What is your view of this proposal?
Let's start again from here, please.
Mr. Murray. Sir, while the GI Bill is a fantastic tool, we
don't believe it is a blank check, and we see that this is a
loophole for institutions to partner with public organizations
and basically charge the Government whatever they want. We
would like to see that corrected.
Mr. Bilirakis. So you are in agreement, we need a cap?
Mr. Murray. Yes, sir.
Mr. Bilirakis. Okay.
Mr. Murray. Or a fix.
Mr. Bilirakis. Okay.
Mr. Murray. Yes.
Mr. Bilirakis. Very good. Thank you.
Mr. Henry. I also concur with my colleague, we feel the
same.
Mr. Bilirakis. Yes.
Mr. Villanueva. At DAV, we are a resolutions-based
organization and we don't have a resolution that pertains
specifically to this issue, although we have seen it come up,
so we don't take a position on that.
Mr. Bilirakis. All right. Thank you.
Mr. Lohmann. We agree, we agree with the provisions for the
caps in the proposal.
Mr. Hubbard. Mr. Ranking Member, we agree with it. I think
it is important to also realize that it is really more than a
flight loophole, it is actually just a wide-open loophole,
because ultimately, whether it is flight programs or other
programs, this contract clause that allows schools to take
advantage of these programs and this very generous benefit
given to veterans by the American taxpayers, that needs to be
taken a look at.
Mr. Bilirakis. Very good. Thank you.
I guess I have about a minute. What steps does VBA--this is
for Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Murray--what steps does VBA need to
take to instill confidence and regain trust of veterans when it
comes to GI Bill payments? Based on what you would know today,
do you believe the VA will be ready to successfully implement
these changes by December 1st, 2019?
Whoever--well, let's just go with Mr. Hubbard and Mr.
Murray, if that is okay.
Mr. Murray. So, sir, I very much hope they are ready to go,
but I think an outreach campaign to reassure people, whether it
is traditional mailers, email, social media, whatever it might
be, to let them know that they are there, and they are going to
take care of them. A lot of the problem this fall was people
just didn't know.
Mr. Bilirakis. Right.
Mr. Murray. They were left kind of swinging and they were
unsure of if they were going to receive their benefits or not.
An aggressive outreach campaign to let them know we are here to
take care of you I think would help to mitigate that.
Mr. Bilirakis. Yes, Mr. Hubbard?
Mr. Hubbard. I am encouraged by our colleagues at the VA's
responses to some of the questions from various Members of the
Committee earlier today. I think that, if we can make sure that
that happens, that would be terrific. I do believe still,
though, that the additional funding would be necessary to
ensure that, if only for a cushion. And if that money goes
unutilized, there are many more things that it should be used
for. And so ensuring that they have the full breadth of
resources is imperative, but I do know that my colleagues at
the VA are highly capable and highly skilled, and I am
encouraged by their responses.
Mr. Bilirakis. Very good.
I yield back, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member.
Seeing as though there are no further questions, we can
begin to bring this hearing to a close. However, before I make
my closing statement, I would like to again recognize the
Ranking Member for any remarks he would like to make.
Mr. Bilirakis. No, I think we are done, but I appreciate
all the testimony and I look forward to working with you. And
please don't ever hesitate to reach out, because we are--again,
we are all in it to help our veterans and that is why we sit on
this Committee, because whatever is good for veterans is what
we want.
And I appreciate, Mr. Chairman, you holding this hearing
and allowing us to ask the appropriate questions. Thank you.
Mr. Levin. I thank the Ranking Member, in the spirit of
bipartisanship that this Committee has a long tradition of and
will continue to have a long tradition of.
I thank our witnesses for joining us today.
The VA, along with the Department of Labor and Department
of Defense, are rapidly implementing the many changes that we
have made to veterans' benefits. It is not an easy task, and
their schedule is ambitious and aggressive. I do remain
concerned that the budget we have considered today would not
allow the VA to properly implement the Forever GI Bill.
That being said, our Committee will continue to conduct
oversight of the programs that we discussed today, and it is my
hope that agencies will receive every resource they need to
meet the demands of our servicemembers and veterans.
With that, I will say that all Members have 5 legislative
days to revise and extend their remarks, and to include
additional remarks.
Again, I thank all of you for coming and, without
objection, the Subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:53 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
----------
Prepared Statement of Margarita Devlin
Good morning, Chairman Levin, and distinguished Members of the
Committee and Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify
today in support of the President's Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Budget for
the Veterans Benefits Administration. Accompanying me today is Dominic
Cussatt, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Information
and Technology (OIT).
FY 2020 Budget Request
The President's FY 2020 Budget requests $3 billion in discretionary
funding. The discretionary request is an increase of $44 million, or
1.5 percent, over the enacted FY 2019 budget. It will sustain the
progress we have made to improve Veterans' benefits claims processing
and the 125:1 Veterans to Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor ratio and
implement the Case Management Solution. This request will provide
additional resources to attack burgeoning issues related to fraud,
waste, and abuse, and expand elements of the Transition Assistance
Program. The President's FY 2020 Budget also requests $129.5 billion in
mandatory advance appropriations for FY 2021, $6.3 billion or 5 percent
over 2020.
With the resources requested in the 2020 Budget, VA will be able to
provide:
Vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits for
more than 124,000 disabled Veterans;
Education and training assistance for about 877,000
Veterans and family members;
New home loan guaranties for more than 562,000 Veterans,
Servicemembers, surviving spouses, and members of the Reserves and
National Guard;
Life insurance programs for over 5.9 million Veterans,
Servicemembers, and their families (that is, total lives insured); and
Transition and economic development assistance to nearly
400,000 Veterans, Servicemembers, and their families.
The President's FY 2020 Budget request also includes funding for
critical technology investments and other initiatives necessary to
timely provide Veterans, their families, and survivors with the
benefits and services they earned and deserve.
Business Transformation
Business transformation is essential if we are to move beyond
compartmentalization of the past and empower our employees serving
Veterans in the field to provide world-class customer service. This
means reforming the systems responsible for claims, appeals, and GI
Bill benefits. OIT is a critical partner and we collaborating to create
the best experience for all Veterans. OIT is a critical partner. We
have developed a Business Plan that prioritizes the IT required for
success, and we are addressing governance.
By moving from the Veterans Benefit Management System (VBMS) to the
Benefits Integration Platform, OIT will leverage existing architectural
designs and deliver a modern platform with a cloud-based architecture
in which individual components are delivered as microservices that can
connect with Application Programming Interfaces. This agile approach
provides more flexibility and speeds delivery of changes and
improvements.
Forever GI Bill
Since the passage of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational
Assistance Act of 2017 (Colmery Act), VA has implemented 28 of the
law's 34 provisions. Twenty-two of the law's 34 provisions require
significant changes to VA IT systems, and VA has 202 temporary
employees in the field to support this additional workload.
In accordance with the Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment
Act of 2018, VA established a Tiger Team tasked to resolve issues with
implementing sections 107 and 501 of the Forever GI Bill. In February
2019, VA awarded a new contract to develop the right solution for
implementing sections 107 and 501. By the spring semester of 2020, the
Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) expects that all enrollments
will be processed according to the Colmery Act. VBA will recalculate
benefits based on where Veterans take classes, and we will work with
schools to make payments to which Veterans are entitled under sections
107 and 501 retroactive to the first day of August 2018, the effective
date for those sections.
As VA moves forward with implementation, VBA will continue to
regularly update our Veteran students and their institutions of
learning on our progress and what to expect. VA has already modified
its definition of ``campus'' to comply with statutory requirements and
in doing so has lessened the administrative burden on schools to report
housing data to VA.
The FY 2020 Budget request also supports the remaining provisions
of the Colmery Act. The Veteran Employment Through Technology Education
Courses (VET TEC) is a 5-year tuition and housing assistance pilot
program that will help Veterans advance in an IT career. VET TEC pays
for Veterans to take classes in one of five areas: information science,
computer programming, data processing, media applications, and computer
software. VA began accepting training provider applications in March
2019, and we will begin accepting Veteran applications this month. The
implementation of the VET TEC program in 2019 and sections 107 and 501
are projected to increase claims completed for the next 2 years.
Beginning in August 2019, VA will provide up to 9 months of
additional Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to certain eligible individuals
through the Edith Nourse Rogers STEM scholarship. The additional
entitlement will assist qualifying beneficiaries to obtain degrees in
science, technology, engineering, and math; or for graduates of such
programs to obtain a teaching certificate. Priority will be given to
individuals who are entitled to 100 percent of Post-9/11 GI Bill
benefits and to those who require the most credit hours.
The FY 2020 Budget supports VA's efforts to implement 28 of 34
provisions of the Colmery Act by August 2020. In August 2020, VA will
eliminate the 40-percent benefit level and expand the 60-percent
benefit level under the Post 9/11 GI Bill program. The remaining
provisions, including the extension of the Yellow Ribbon program to
Active duty Servicemembers, will go into effect in 2022. The FY 2020
Budget request will provide sufficient funding and staffing levels for
Education Service to continue providing access to timely and accurate
delivery of education benefits.
Claims and Performance
In 2020, VBA will continue to prioritize Veterans and their
families first. VA strives to complete all rating claims in fewer than
125 days. VBA continues to work to modernize the disability claims
process to increase processing timeliness. It is important to highlight
that VBA will always have an inventory of claims that take longer than
other claims because of complexity and VA's legal obligations to
assist. VBA has completed over 438,000 claims (within 2 percent of last
year) through the end of January 2019. VBA has completed over 968,000
non-rating disability claims through January 2019. These claims took an
average of 83 days to complete, which is a 21-percent decrease in the
average time to process claims compared to January 2018.
VBA continues to implement technical improvements to improve the
speed and accuracy of disability claims while reducing costs. These
initiatives include the consolidation of centralized mail processing.
Through this technical improvement, mail is directed to 18 centralized
locations where it is scanned and becomes part of an electronic
database. This reduces lost files and allows files to be moved and
processed rapidly. VBA's other sustained improvement falls under the
National Work Queue, which continues to prioritize and distribute
claims to regional offices based on their capacity.
Through these improvements, VBA has reduced the dependency
inventory from 87,314 claims in October 2017 to 43,503 claims in
January 2019 (50-percent reduction). VBA achieved this reduction while
VBA's overall inventory and Average Days Pending have remained
relatively static (355,955 and 94.7 days in January 2019,
respectively), despite an increase in overall receipts.
Transition and Economic Development
The Office of Transition and Economic Development (TED) maintains
oversight and management of Military-to-Civilian Transition Services as
well as the development of economic initiatives that focus on
empowering future and current Veterans to achieve maximum and
comprehensive economic well-being. VA requests $82.4 million in budget
authority to fund the discretionary portions of TED. The 2020 Budget
will support funding for Transition Assistance Program Military Life
Cycle classes, a 5-year longitudinal study, and a full day of course
instruction from 6 to 8 hours.
VBA created TED in late 2018 to support seamless transition from
military service to civilian life and accelerate economic empowerment
and development for transitioning Servicemembers (SM), Veterans, and
their families. VA is also realigning its Chapter 36 Education and
Career Counseling program to focus on increasing utilization through an
improved alignment with military to transition activities and education
beneficiaries.
Since the passage of the Veterans Opportunity to Work to Hire
Heroes Act of 2011 (VOW Act) that mandated participation in the TAP by
all transitioning SMs (with a few limited exceptions), VA has been
collaborating with its interagency partners, including the Departments
of Defense and Labor, to prepare separating, retiring, or demobilizing
SMs for their transition to Veteran status. By the same token, in
August 2018, Congress passed, and the President signed, the John S.
McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (2019
NDAA) that made improvements to TAP, including a mandate for one day of
instruction on VA benefits and services and a requirement that
transitioning SMs begin their pre-separation transition counseling no
later than 365-days before the date of separation.
Approximately 226,000 SMs are expected to transition from military
service to civilian life annually over the next 4 years. TED delivers
mandatory VA Benefits Briefings to 100 percent of eligible
transitioning SMs at more than 300 military installations worldwide, as
well as provide individual assistance and support to Department of
Defense components of Transition Goals, Plans, Success, Military Life
Cycle, and Capstone events.
In 2017, attendance at VA TAP events was about 350,000. With the
expansion of instructional hours in accordance with the 2019 NDAA, as
well as deployment of additional Military Life Cycle courses made
available to SMs while still on Active duty, VA expects an increase in
transition assistance workload to approximately 400,000 (an increase of
about 15 percent). In order to assess the effectiveness of these
events, in 2019, VA will begin a 5-year post-separation TAP
longitudinal study and evaluation of up to 150,000 recently-separated
Veterans to gain insights on their understanding of, and access to, VA
benefits.
Executive Order 13822, ``Supporting Our Veterans During Their
Transition from Uniformed Service to Civilian Life,'' sets the goal for
Veteran suicide prevention in which VA will begin, for the first time,
conducting outbound calls to all Veterans throughout their first year
of transition to inform them of benefits and services available to
them. In FY 2020, VA expects to make more than 600,000 outbound calls
to recently-separated Veterans.
To accelerate economic empowerment and development for
transitioning SMs, Veterans, and their families, VBA has focused
leveraging all VA benefits and services to holistically support their
economic well-being. To address gaps that cannot be addressed because
of statutory or fiscal constraints, VBA has aligned economic
development with transition preparation to foster seamless partnerships
through community-based economic investment initiatives with external
organizations so Veterans and their family members are better
positioned economically.
The 2020 Budget requested resource level supports performance
measures that drive continuous improvement and accountability for
Veterans, Servicemembers, and their families.
Loan Guaranty
The 2020 Budget request of $200.4 million from Loan Administration
and $20.8 million in General Operating Expenses funds the discretionary
costs of the housing loan programs that help support the mission to
provide home loan guaranty benefits and Specially Adapted Housing
grants to help buy, build, repair, retain, or adapt a home for personal
occupancy.
The VA Home Loan program continues to streamline automation efforts
to maintain parity with the overall mortgage industry. VA is focused on
redesigning the Loan Guaranty Program's loan servicing system used to
ensure, at least to the extent within VA's control, that Veterans and
Servicemembers retain their homes. The redesigned VA Loan Electronic
Reporting Interface (VALERI) will transform the entire lifecycle for VA
loans in three ways. Through ``Automation,'' VA is developing a
database that will overhaul current program capabilities and will
further expand the system footprint to include loan origination,
valuation, property acquisition, and oversight functions to support
Veterans obtaining VA-guaranteed loans. Through ``Collaboration,'' the
redesigned VALERI will standardize disparate data sources, integrate
third party systems, and connect external stakeholders to create a
transparent and holistic view of a loan's lifecycle. This will enable
stakeholders to more efficiently and more effectively deliver VA's home
loan guaranty benefit to Veterans. Finally, the redesigned VALERI will
allow ``Evaluation'' through advanced data analytics and reporting to
support more robust oversight and transparency of lender and servicer
performance. This will enable Veterans to better evaluate loan options
and status, while VA addresses high-risk programmatic challenges with
data-driven solutions. These efforts will allow VA Home Loan
participants a more simplified experience in securing and maintaining a
VA-guaranteed loan.
Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E)
The VR&E 2020 budget request supports performance measures designed
to drive continuous improvement and achieve optimal outcomes for
Veterans. In FY 2018, VA revised VR&E's performance measures to align
with agency goals and priorities. Per Public Law 115-244, section 244,
VR&E developed a ratio-based field realignment plan to ensure the ratio
of Veterans to full-time employment equivalents within any program of
rehabilitation conducted under chapter 31 of title 38, United States
Code, does not exceed 125 veterans to one full-time employment
equivalent (FTEE). To date, 157 of the 169 additional VRC FTEEs were
hired to reduce the counselor caseload to 125 to 1.
VR&E Service collaborated with OIT on development of Case
Management Solution System (CMSS) to replace VR&E's 20-year-old legacy
system, Corporate WINRS. We anticipate releasing a Request for Proposal
in mid-FY 2019 to acquire these capabilities via General Operating
Expense Services. Concurrently, VR&E is pursuing a wide-reaching
modernization effort that will include numerous opportunities to
incrementally leverage existing people, processes, and technology to
more efficiently prepare us to seamlessly transition into the new CMSS.
As VR&E implements these changes, counselors will be able to manage
workload more efficiently and effectively, allowing more time to
provide high-quality counseling and employment services to VR&E
participants.
Other VR&E Modernization efforts include the design and deployment
of a Centralized Mail strategy, Virtual Assistant (Artificial
Intelligence) tools to streamline and integrate communications with
VR&E program participants, and Electronic Invoicing (e-Invoicing) also
known as Invoice Payment Processing System. Additionally, VR&E deployed
the Competency Based Training System in 2019. This system will deliver
competency assessments to experienced counselors, and provide a direct
positive impact to Veterans, as Veterans will receive standardized
services from well-trained and competent employees. This system will
need to be maintained for optimal performance.
VR&E is transforming the Quality Assurance (QA) program. The QA
case review instruments have been revised to focus on specific issues
to allow for greater tracking and analysis, identification of training
needs, and a better reflection of current performance. The QA Web
system, used to record the results of reviews and generate reports, is
being updated with the revised review format to allow for regional
offices to complete Local QA in the system.
VBA continues to execute the congressionally mandated 20-year VR&E
Longitudinal Study of Veterans who began VR&E programs in 2010, 2012,
and 2014. Reports are submitted to Congress annually on the long-term
benefits of participating in the Chapter 31 program. VR&E will
continuously analyze trends among Veterans receiving services and
improve and adapt services to their changing needs.
Conclusion
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to address
VBA's FY 2020 Budget. The resources requested in this budget will
ensure VBA remains on track to meet Congressional intent to serve
Veterans' needs.
The budget request is the blueprint for how VBA will focus
resources to modernize our delivery of benefits and services, become
more efficient, leverage partnerships to execute our exceptional
mission, and fulfill our vision to be a top-tier customer-service
agency. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with you and this
Committee. I am eager to continue building on the successes we have had
so far and to continue to fulfill the President's promise to provide
care to Veterans when and where they need it. There is significant work
ahead of us and we look forward to building on our reform agenda and
delivering an integrated VBA that is agile and adaptive and delivers on
our promises to America's Veterans.
MR. BRIAN S. DAVIS
Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis, distinguished members of
the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you for
this oversight hearing on ``Fiscal Year 2020 President's Budget:
Requests Related to Veterans' Readjustment Benefits.''
My statement will focus on the implementation of changes made to
the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) as a result of the Fiscal Year
2019 National Defense Authorization Act (FY19 NDAA), and how Service
members will continue to flow from DoD through transition into the
Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Labor (DOL).Each have a
primary responsibility for a portion of transition and we will continue
to work together to prepare transitioning Service members for their
next steps post-transition.
The TAP is a collaborative effort among seven federal partners. The
federal agencies participating in the TAP are committed to supporting
and facilitating transition success for departing Service members.
Through robust interagency coordination, the program is overseen and
monitored via the TAP interagency governance structure. The TAP
interagency governance structure consists of:
Executive Council (EC): The EC is composed of senior
leaders from DoD (including the Military Components), VA, DOL,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Education (ED),
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Small Business Administration
(SBA) who collaborate and coordinate the delivery of transition
services to eligible Active and Reserve Component (RC) Service members.
The EC provides oversight and strategic guidance for the TAP
Interagency Governance Structure.
Senior Steering Group (SSG): The SSG consists of members
from DoD (including the Military Components), VA, DOL, DHS, ED, OPM,
and SBA. The SSG resolves issues, concerns and friction points among
agencies providing transition assistance; promotes their alignment of
effort; measures their progress; applies synergies and improvements;
ensures legal review of proposed actions; and coordinates with internal
agency leaders as appropriate. The SSG reports to the EC.
Transition Assistance Interagency Work Group (TAIWG): The
TAIWG meets monthly and consists of representatives from all agencies
participating in the TAP. This work group develops procedures and
guidance for the operation of the EC, SSG, and other work groups as
well as makes recommendations to the SSG on matters pertaining to the
TAP, which cross the TAP governance domain. There are five subordinate
work groups that report to the TAIWG: the Curriculum, Data Sharing/
Information Technology, Performance Management, Strategic
Communications, and the Reserve Component Work Groups.
I will focus the remainder of my statement on the Department's
implementation of the requirements set in the FY19 NDAA, as it applies
to the TAP, and provide a few updates since the Department last
testified about the TAP before this Committee in November 2017. The
Department places heavy emphasis on the TAP being an adaptive,
evidence-based program.
Accordingly, we continuously seek to improve the program to ensure
it meets the needs of our transitioning Service members and aligns with
a changing military environment and population.
I will highlight some of the improvements, which build upon the
original core objectives of the TAP, and the efforts currently underway
to make changes to the TAP in compliance with requirements laid out in
the FY19 NDAA. The Department and our interagency partners continue to
strengthen the TAP to be a more robust outcome-based program that
bolsters opportunities, services, and training for transitioning
Service members and their eligible family members in their preparation
to meet their post-transition goals.
The mandatory components of the TAP are applicable for all Service
members who have served 180 continuous days or more on Active duty
under Title 10 status. This includes members of the National Guard and
Reserve transitioning or being released from Active duty.
This raises the obvious question,'' What will TAP look like in the
future in accordance with the FY19 NDAA?'' The changes mandated in the
FY19 NDAA will be implemented starting October 2019.
First, the transition from military to civilian life will begin no
later than 365 days prior to transition for those who are separating or
retiring. It is recommended retirees begin the transition process at
least two years prior to retirement.
Second, the TAP will include an individualized initial counseling
between the Service member and a TAP counselor. This will be done one-
on-one, face-to-face or, in very limited situations that preclude a
face-to-face meeting, via video conference. During the initial
counseling session, Service members will complete their personal self-
assessment /Individual Transition Plan (ITP) to identify and discuss
their unique needs of the transition process and their post-transition
goals. The self-assessment/ ITP is criterion based and includes the
following: Health Care, Current Housing Expenses and Relocation Costs,
Exceptional Family Member Program, assessment for a Post-Transition
Housing Plan, Post-Transition Transportation, Post- Transition Peer
Support, Availability of confidential mental health services through
DoD inTransition Program, Military OneSource, VA Vet Centers, and VA
Medical Treatment Facilities. In addition, the counselor takes the
following factors into account when performing initial counseling:
- rank,
- term of Service,
- gender,
- whether the member was affiliated with an active or reserve
component of an Armed Force,
- disability,
- character of discharge (including expedited discharge and
discharge under conditions other than honorable),
- health (including mental health),
- military occupational code (specialty code),
- whether the member intends, after separation, retirement, or
discharge, to:
(1) seek employment;
(2) enroll in a program, of higher education;
(3) enroll in a program of vocational training; or
(4) become an entrepreneur,
- the educational history of the member,
- the employment history of the member and
- whether the member has secured
(1) employment,
(2) enrollment in a program of education; or
(3) enrolled in a program of vocational training.
Also during the initial counseling session, the counselor will
assist the Service member in determining their transition goal(s) and
the best pathway to achieve his/her desired goal(s).
Based on the initial counseling session's identified goals, plans,
challenges and barriers, etc., the Secretaries concerned have
identified three pathways Service members will be placed in as they
move forward through the transition process: Tier 1, Tier II, and Tier
III. Tier I is for those who need little assistance, such as someone
who already has employment confirmed or plans to completely retire and
not work. Tier II would provide more assistance than Tier 1 such as
those who may have employment but are not satisfied with that option,
or have an idea of the industry but are unsure of the next steps. Tier
III would be for those who have no post-transition plans or goals and
thus need the most transition assistance.
Once the individual counseling is completed, Service members are
required to complete pre-separation counseling, which must also
commence no later than 365 days prior to transition. Pre-separation
counseling is an overview of benefits, entitlements, services, training
and resources for eligible transitioning Service members. Caregivers of
Service members with disabilities are especially encouraged to attend
this pre-separation counseling session.
Next, Service members will attend the mandatory one day pre-
separation training specific to the Military Component concerned. This
portion of the TAP includes curriculum modules on managing your own
transition, provides an in-depth overview of the TAP and building
resiliency as you transition, a Military Occupational Code (MOC)
Crosswalk to help define and translate military skills, and a module on
financially planning for transition, which fulfills the financial
literacy requirements in statute. On day two, DOL will provide one day
of instruction regarding preparation for employment. Then on day three,
the VA will conduct one day of instruction regarding the various
benefits available under the laws administered by the Secretary of VA.
Other changes in the TAP include Service members choosing one of
the following two- day courses of instruction on: Employment,
Education, Vocational Training, and
Entrepreneurship. The Service member may elect one or more of these
tracks during initial counseling to support their ITP and post-
transition goals.
The Capstone event is the culminating activity where commanders
verify achievement of career readiness standards and a viable ITP. This
must occur no later than 90 days prior to separation, retirement or
discharge.
DoD's Transition to Veterans Program Office is pursuing an
enterprise system capability to support and document the FY19 NDAA
requirements and long term outcomes. It will be a single-source data
collection tool to support and streamline the TAP enrollment,
participation, and compliance. The tool includes, but is not limited
to, an Enterprise Client Tracking System (CTS), which will provide the
Military Components an IT platform to execute statutory requirements.
The secure CTS will capture reported data as defined in the new statute
(Self- assessment/ITP information, etc), enable seamless management of
Service member transition across all Military Components and
installations, and provide Installation and Unit Commanders performance
reports to all Military Components and other Federal Agencies.
Currently, for those Service members who do not meet career readiness
standards (e.g., do not have employment, acceptance to an institution
of higher learning, have not secured housing, or transportation) a
``warm-handover'' is provided to an appropriate agency such as VA or
DOL. The current system documents that a ``warm-handover'' was provided
as well as the agency or organization receiving the warm handover for
action. The enhanced system will ``close the loop'', with information
documenting the ``warm-handover'' and information on services provided.
For example, what services were provided to the Service member by VA?
Was housing secured? Was a referral made for mental health care?
CURRICULUM AND OTHER ENHANCEMENTS ACROSS THE MILITARY LIFE CYCLE (MLC)
Two core objectives of the original TAP redesign were to implement
a revamped TAP curriculum and implement a MLC transition model. While
both original objectives were achieved, the Department has continued to
make advancements in these two areas.
The Department and our partners are committed to continuously
updating and improving the TAP curriculum across the MLC. The TAP
interagency governance has established a regular 2-year battle rhythm
for reviewing, assessing and updating the curriculum, alternating
between an in-depth and technical review. The annual process uses
feedback provided by Service members through the Transition Participant
Assessment, facilitators, subject matter experts, and other key
stakeholders. This systematic review process is critical if we are to
stay ahead of the changing needs of our transitioning Service members.
In turn, we are providing a ``pipeline'' of skilled talent to industry
and the public sector.
The TAP interagency governance is currently conducting an in-depth
curriculum review, with revised curriculum to be implemented in FY20.
The Department identified improvements to be made in all four DoD
modules for Preseparation Training Day: Resilient Transitions (renamed
Managing Your Transition), Financial Planning for Transition, MOC
Crosswalk, and the Preparing for Education track. Based on Service
member feedback, recent legislative changes, and recent research on
challenges transitioning Service members face in their first 12 months
post-separation, more substantial revisions are planned for the MOC
Crosswalk and Preparing for Education modules this year. Note that the
Managing Your Transition (Resilient Transition) and Financial Planning
for Transition curriculum were substantially revised during the last
annual review.
In terms of this year's review, the improved MOC Crosswalk module,
will focus on determining the hard and soft skills a Service member
attained while in the service and utilizing those skills in the
civilian sector. In terms of the Preparation for Education track, this
module will incorporate information the Service member needs to be
successful in gaining admittance and as a student in an institute of
higher education.
These proposed DoD revisions, which includes the FY19 NDAA changes
are scheduled to be piloted this summer with planned deployment for
October 2019. This planned deployment is for the whole of the
Transition Assistance curriculum to include modules in revision by VA,
DOL, and SBA.
We recognize Service members may not always know at 365 days prior
to separation where they will live post-separation. Therefore, the TAP
teaches transitioning Service members where to find geographic location
specific information about benefits and services at a number of points
throughout the curriculum. Beginning with preseparation counseling, and
again during VA's benefits briefing, Service members navigate to VA's
website, in class, with links to the VA facilities in each state, a
link to every state level veteran's affairs page for state specific
programs and benefits, and access a page with information on Veterans
Service Organizations. This same information is replicated across
multiple platforms, i.e., Military OneSource and the National Resource
Directory. DOL advises attendees on how to access American Job Centers,
embedded in nearly 5,000 neighborhoods across the country. DOL also
provides facilitated classroom instruction for TAP attendees to
research career and education options by location, online.
Service members research the potential growth of specific career
fields in a given geographic area, pay differences for that career
field in different locations, education availability to support that
career field, and certification and licensing requirements for that
career per state. Service members also research the impact of taxes on
civilian pay versus military pay and how individual states treat
retirement pay with respect to taxes. Currently, Service members may
elect to have DD-214 information provided to their state upon issuance
of the DD-214 at the time of separation. Beginning in October 2019,
Service members will be able to elect to have their contact information
forwarded to their State Department of Veteran Affairs much earlier, as
they complete initial counseling.
While the TAP interagency governance continues to improve the
curriculum at the final touchpoint - Transition - within a service
member's MLC, we are also making advances across other areas of the
MLC. Through implementation of the MLC transition model, service
members are engaging in the career preparation and transition
assistance planning much earlier in their careers - starting at their
first permanent duty station or home station for the National Guard and
Reserves. This represents a significant, yet critical, cultural shift
for the Department. For example, at the first permanent duty station,
Service members create an Individual Development Plan (IDP), which
documents professional and personal goals, as well as the training,
certifications, and higher education needed to achieve those goals.
Service members are also provided information on apprenticeships,
instruction on resumes and financial preparedness, and they register
for eBenefits. As their career progresses, their IDP is continuously
updated with current certifications, technical training, and
documentation of higher education. At significant life events, such as
promotion, military occupational change and/or marriage, Service
members are provided updated information on impacts to financial
readiness and career opportunities, among other key touchpoint
activities. The intent is to ensure thoughtful career planning and
preparation across one's military career.
The Air Force (AF) and VA Health Administration (VHA) have been
piloting a Women's Health Initiative which targets female transitioning
Service members. The four hour brief provides information on women's
healthcare services currently available at the VHA. Following the
brief, if available, an in-person tour is provided for the workshop
attendees to a local VA Women's Health Care Center. Funding for the
pilot has been provided by a grant via the VA, and AF has supported the
initiative by providing marketing, enrollment for the Workshop,
manpower and facilities. To support all female transitioning Service
members across the enterprise, the Transition to Veterans Program
Office has recommended to the Initiative Team to develop a virtual
capability of the project information, to include a video tour of a VA
Women's Health Center. This will ensure those female Veterans no matter
their location, those separating OCONUS and those at remote and
isolated locations, will have the awareness of the services provided by
VA to female Veterans.
CAPSTONE EVENT AND ASSISTING AT RISK SERVICE MEMBERS
The third core objective of the original TAP redesign was to
implement a Capstone event to ensure: Service members complete the VOW
Act requirements; meet the CRS, and have a viable ITP, to include
employment or school acceptance/enrollment or a post-transition housing
and transportation plan.
The DoD and VA continue to collaborate in the examining of other
`at risk' populations that may be better served during their military-
to-civilian transition. This has had implications for changes to the
TAP curriculum and/or ``warm handover'' processes. For example, one
effort has been in support of the Executive Order 13822, a joint effort
between DoD, VA, and DHS, geared toward suicide prevention of Service
members and veterans. The focus has been on identifying the population
at risk for suicide following a military-to-civilian transition and
determining ways in which to better support this high risk population
prior to separation.
Finally, the Department continues to take an important look at
whether we are providing the National Guard (Air and Army National
Guard) and the Reserves (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast
Guard Reserve) the time, resources, and support to plan for transitions
unique to those populations. Specifically, the Department is leveraging
the Status of Forces Survey (SOFS) to pulse RC members' perceptions of
the TAP and how perceptions may be changing over time. The Department
recently commissioned the RAND Corporation to conduct a research study,
entitled ``Needs Assessment of Reserve Component Member Transitions,''
in order to more comprehensively investigate the current needs of
transitioning RC members and to provide recommendations regarding any
updates needed to the TAP. Study findings are expected in FY20. In
short, the Department continues to conduct research, gather feedback
from RC members, and consider potential changes to policy within
current law to address any identified unique needs of RC members.
The Department remains fully committed to collaborating with
Federal, state, industry, education, and community stakeholders to
ensure continuous coordination and information sharing, while
protecting the privacy and personal information of all our Service
members. This ensures Service members receive access to education,
training, and opportunities that best prepare them for their military-
to-civilian transition. Private and public engagements with employers
and agencies directly support and enhance stakeholder commitments that
support successful transition of our service members.
Over the past nine months DoD, with the TAP interagency partners,
hosted two Military Service Organizations (MSOs)/Veterans Service
Organizations (VSOs) events. The forums were an opportunity for the TAP
interagency partners to share with the MSO/VSO representatives what has
changed in the TAP and what is coming in FY20. Both events were well
attended, and the TAP governance received great feedback with very
useful information in shaping the way ahead.
GAO REPORT
Additionally, I would like to share some of the improvements
already in place as a result of the released 2017 GAO Report which was
discussed with this Committee on November 8, 2017. The GAO Report 18-
23, ``Transitioning Veterans - DoD Needs to Improve Performance
Reporting and Monitoring for the Transition Assistance Program,''
released November 2017, provided the TAP governance an opportunity to
receive external feedback on ways in which to further advance TAP.
Congress asked GAO to examine various aspects of the program's
implementation.
GAO surveyed 181 DoD Military installations; analyzed DoD
participation data for Fiscal Year 2016; reviewed and analyzed TAP data
reports and performance measures; and interviewed officials at DoD, the
Military Components, Service members, and our interagency partners.
GAO also visited seven installations (two from Army, Navy, Air
Force and one Marine Corps). The audit was conducted from February 2016
to September 2017. As a result, GAO made six recommendations, including
that DoD improve transparency in reporting the TAP participation and
career readiness rates and monitor certain key areas of the TAP
implementation, including timeliness of participation and access to
supplemental 2-day classes. I would like to provide you a progress
update on the recommendations from the Report.
The Transition to Veterans Program Office in partnership with the
Military Components has successfully had GAO approve two
recommendations as ``implemented and closed'' of the six
recommendations noted.
RECOMMENDATION 1: DoD provides performance and career readiness
attainment for ALL TAP-eligible service members and members of the
National Guard and Reserve. A report is provided quarterly on the
publically available DoDTAP.MIL website, on VOW compliance and
information on missing or incomplete forms is included.
RECOMMENDATION 3: GAO recommends that the Secretary of Defense
monitor and report on the extent to which service members who elect to
receive supplementary 2-day classes are able to receive training. DoD
produces a quarterly report on self-reported barriers to attending the
two-day classes. The report can be accessed specific to a Military
Department, a Component, an installation, or a Unit. The Military
Components have been provided training on how to access the information
as well as provided the tools to accomplish the report.
GAO approved both recommendations as ``implemented and closed'' in
October 2018.
The remaining four recommendations will be presented to GAO for
closure in the Spring/Summer 2019.
CONCLUSION
The FY19 NDAA has driven significant changes to the TAP. These
changes will require substantial adjustments in resource requirements
for the Military Departments. The Secretaries of the Military
Departments are developing implementation plans for the legislative
change and will include in the plan any requirements for additional
funding and manpower.
Career readiness and transition assistance preparation is an
absolute must if Service members are going to have a successful
transition to civilian life. We recognize that preparing Service
members throughout their MLC to be career-ready upon transition is
essential to sustaining the All-Volunteer Force. In order for DoD to
continue to attract the high quality and dedicated volunteers to serve
in our Armed Forces, we must return this generation of Service members
to the Nation with the ability to positively contribute to the national
workforce and thrive within their civilian communities.
The Department cannot do this alone. It must have the continued
strong collaboration with our interagency partners, the support and
hard work of our Military Components, especially at the installation
level, and collaborations with other external stakeholders and you, the
members of Congress. The TAP interagency governance is vibrant,
effective, responsive, and committed, as evidenced by the 2016 signing
of our national Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding the
``Transition Assistance Program for Service Members Transitioning from
Active Duty.'' As stated in the MOU, ``The parties will support and
advance the ongoing implementation, assessment, and enhancement of TAP.
This collaboration will serve to support Service members in pursuing
employment, higher education, skills and career training,
credentialing, and entrepreneurship.''
In closing, Mr. Chairman, I thank you, the Ranking Member, and the
members of this Subcommittee for your outstanding and continuing
support of the men and women who proudly wear the uniform in defense of
our great Nation.
JOINT STATEMENT OF THE CO-AUTHORS OF THE INDEPENDENT BUDGET: DISABLED
AMERICAN VETERANS, PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA, VETERANS OF FOREIGN
WARS
Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis, and members of the
Subcommittee, the co-authors of The Independent Budget (IB) - Disabled
American Veterans (DAV), Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), and the
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) - are pleased to present our views
regarding the President's funding request for the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, including advance
appropriations for FY 2021.
VR&E Program
The Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) program,
provides critical counseling and other adjunct services necessary to
enable service-disabled veterans to overcome barriers as they prepare
for, find, and maintain gainful employment. An extension for the
delivery of VR&E assistance at a key transition point for veterans is
the VetSuccess on Campus program, deployed at 104 college campuses.
VetSuccess offers services on five tracks: re-employment, rapid access
to employment, self-employment, employment through long-term services,
and independent living. Additional VR&E services are provided at 71
select military installations for Active duty service members
undergoing medical separations through the Department of Defense (DoD)
and VA's joint Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES). In 2016,
Congress enacted legislation (P.L. 114-223) that included a provision
recognizing the need to provide a sufficient client-to-counselor ratio
to appropriately align veterans' demand for VR&E services. Section 254
of that law authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to use
appropriated funds to ensure the ratio of veterans to vocational
rehabilitation counselors does not exceed 125 veterans to one full-time
employee (FTE) equivalent. For FY 2019, VR&E was authorized to hire an
additional 174 FTEs. Congress needs to closely review how VR&E is
implementing this workforce increase and carefully review the
Administration's FY 2020 budget for VR&E now that it has been
presented.
VA budget documents state that the VR&E program will meet and
sustain the congressionally mandated goal of 1:125 counselor-to client
ratio. However, the latest data in the VA budget document also shows
that from 2016 to 2018, the number of VR&E participants fell from
173,606 to 164,355--more than a five percent decrease. During that same
period, VR&E's caseload also dropped from 137,097 to 125,513--an 8.4
percent decline. It would appear that VR&E is able to meet the 1:125
goal by serving fewer veterans. Given how important and beneficial the
VR&E program is for disabled veterans by providing many of them with
the ability to increase their economic independence, why are fewer
veterans taking advantage of this program? Is the lack of counselors
impacting veteran utilization? Has VR&E instituted any new policies or
practices that have deterred disabled veterans from seeking these
services? What action is VA taking to increase awareness of the
availability and benefits of VR&E services? We are concerned that the
lack of counselors over the years has finally caught up to VA and
participation in VR&E has dropped because of this.
VA Education Services
The IB veterans service organizations (IBVSOs) are concerned about
the lower funding request for VA's Education Program. VA requested $6
million less than the amount appropriated the previous year, and we
think that is taking a step backwards for this incredibly important
office. By VA's own projections, they will see an estimated increase of
almost 800,000 claims over the next two years. There are also additions
to the GI Bill, such as the STEM extension and the VET TEC program,
along with implementation of the Basic Allowance for Housing changes
due to roll out in December. VA's emergency overtime budget was almost
depleted due to challenges with Forever GI Bill implementation, and the
IBVSOs believe VA should be ready for additional overtime for
implementation this time around as well. Additionally, VA's aging
infrastructure routinely requires additional resources and last minute
workarounds in order to administer education benefits. With these
challenges, the IBVSOs believe VA should be seeking more funding to
make the necessary changes, not less. Historically, VA has struggled to
implement GI Bill changes on time and under budget dating back to the
original inception of the GI Bill in 1944. Each iteration of the GI
Bill has come with its own challenges during implementation, and the
Forever GI Bill is just another example of that. While it is difficult
to budget for breakdowns and failures, the method of planning for the
worst and hoping for the best is something VA should look to do when
making changes to the GI Bill. This lower budget request seems like VA
is planning for the best, and hoping for the best, without taking past
challenges into account.
Information Technology
Over the past several years, the Veterans Benefits Administration
(VBA) has developed and implemented new IT systems to support several
program transformations, including the Veterans Benefits Management
System, National Work Queue, Case Flow, and eBenefits. Unfortunately,
VBA must compete with other offices and agencies within VA for the
limited IT funding available each year, delaying development and
deployment of critical IT systems and programming. As a result,
critical IT systems are rarely fully developed before business process
changes are implemented. Instead, they are phased in over several
years, forcing VBA to rely on an inconsistent mix of old and new IT
systems, as well as an endless stream of suboptimal workaround
solutions. While it may be understandable from a purely budgetary view
to stretch out development and deployment of new IT systems, it is a
failure from a functional perspective. Providing only partial IT
solutions inevitably results in a loss of productivity, and often leads
to lower quality and less accurate decisions on claims and appeals by
veterans. For example, similar problems caused by inadequately
developed technology can be seen in the VR&E's $12 million IT debacle
and the education service's continuing problems in making accurate
payments under the new GI Bill program.
Unfortunately, VBA has a long list of pending IT funding requests,
forcing it to prioritize and, thereby, delay many IT projects that
could have led to better, more timely outcomes for veterans. In order
to achieve the fullest gains of both productivity and quality possible,
the IBVSOs recommend that Congress provide VBA with full funding
upfront to develop new IT systems and reprogram existing ones. For FY
2020, the IBVSOs recommend that an additional $50 million be added to
the IT budget to accelerate critical IT projects, particularly those
related to programs within VBA.
Homeless Issues
VA's homeless programs are comprehensive including medical, dental,
and mental health services, as well as specialized programs for post-
traumatic stress disorder, sexual trauma, substance use disorder (SUD),
and vocational rehabilitation. VA adopted a model of housing veterans
first, rather than requiring them to be in recovery or treatment for
mental health or SUDs prior to receiving housing assistance. Homeless
prevention coordinators and peer mentors are essential to the success
of the program and help veterans navigate the system to get the
services they need. VA should consider increasing the use of peer
specialists, particularly those who are in recovery from SUDs and/or
have experienced homelessness. Peers who have had similar experiences
are often able to connect on a more personal level and can help
homeless veterans overcome challenges, actively engage in treatment,
and maintain healthy, sober lifestyles. While VA's comprehensive
services, efforts, and approach to ending homelessness among veterans
is effective overall, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
recommends increased funding for the Supportive Services for Veterans
Families program - the only program targeted at those at risk of losing
housing. This would allow VA to maintain these prevention efforts,
expand the program to new communities, and focus on innovative
approaches to prevent more veterans from becoming homeless. The IBVSOs
recommend that VA address the unique risks associated with
subpopulations of homeless veterans, particularly women, minorities,
those with serious, chronic mental illness or traumatic brain injuries,
and aging veterans. VA should also continue to develop relationships
with community providers that supplement current services and ensure
its programs remain effective and flexible. The IBVSOs commend VA and
the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for establishing
a new pilot program to provide grants to make housing more accessible
for low-income veterans with physical disabilities. VA should continue
to grow its Enhanced Use Lease program, and work in partnership with
HUD on project-based HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers,
in order to spur the construction of critically needed affordable
housing for homeless veterans with the highest needs.
Special Adaptive Housing
VA's Specially Adaptive Housing (SAH) grant program helps veterans
with certain service-connected disabilities to live independently in a
barrier-free environment by providing critical housing adaptations. The
accessibility provided through this program greatly increases the
quality of life for these veterans, but to qualify, the individuals
must endure a lengthy and cumbersome process. The controlling
authorities governing the program are outlined in title 38 United
States Code 1717, 38 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) 17.150 and CFR
17.3100 - 17.3130. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Directive
1173.14 entitled, ``Home Improvements and Structural Alterations
Program,'' establishes uniform policy, processes, and procedures
governing VA's Home Improvements and Structural Alteration program.
The IBVSOs' first concern with the SAH program is a veteran's
inability to locate a responsible and experienced contractor to
complete SAH modifications. One of the complicating factors with the
program is that a veteran must submit three bids to VA as part of the
SAH process. Normally, this would not be difficult for a homeowner who
is completing a typical project. However, there are very few
contractors who have experience making home modifications for
disability access. If a veteran resides in a rural area, it is even
more difficult to find an appropriate contractor.
SAH requires a lot of paperwork and procedures, all of which can
lead to frustrations and delays. VA will often ask repeatedly for the
same paperwork making the process very redundant. Consequently, many
contractors are not willing to work with VA. Furthermore, VA is known
to take a long time to pay SAH contractors, so they must complete the
work before being compensated. This results in contractors having to
carry construction costs on their own. Normally, contractors have a
payment schedule, so they are not forced to do this. To improve the
relationship between contractors and VA, we recommend that VA work more
closely with building associations to educate their members about SAH.
Such relationships would not only ensure that contractors have more
knowledge about the required paperwork, but they could also lead to
improved processes as VA learns more from contractors about how to
facilitate their participation.
The IBVSOs' second concern is the timeliness of modifications. Our
field employees say many veterans are waiting an average of 6-8 months
(up to two years in some cases) to have the modifications completed.
The ability to safely live independently is a common goal of SAH
eligible veterans and any processes that foster delays must be
addressed.
For example, the average person diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's
disease) generally lives two to five years after diagnosis. Many
veterans represented by our organizations rarely live past one year
after diagnosis. Therefore, timely completion of SAH modifications is
imperative. There have been instances where veterans have passed away
before the modifications have been completed. The very nature of ALS
presents different circumstances than those present for many other SAH
eligible veterans. For veterans who have been diagnosed with ALS, their
health declines so quickly it is imperative they receive modifications
as soon as possible to improve the quality of what life they have left.
The IBVSOs believe that the cases of veterans with terminal illnesses,
like ALS, should be prioritized. If VA is unwilling to do so, then
Congress must pass legislation directing it.
Finally, the IBVSOs are concerned about consistency in the
administration of the SAH program. Often the quality and speed of the
work seems to depend entirely on the geographic location of the
veteran. This is troubling based on the fact that compared to other
programs, SAH is very small. It should not be as difficult for VA to
maintain a standard across the board. Veterans should not be punished
for where they choose to live. Instead, they should be able to receive
quality service regardless of the location of their residence.
Veteran Unemployment
Veterans with disabilities continue to struggle in the job market
with lower labor force participation rates compared to veterans without
disabilities. Employment challenges are even greater for veterans with
the highest disability ratings. Veterans who have a disability rating
of less than 30 percent were about 40 percent more likely to be engaged
in the workforce than veterans with a 60 percent or higher disability
rating. Only about four in every ten veterans with a 60 percent or
higher disability rating participated in the labor force in 2017. This
growing labor force participation disparity exists for veterans (Gulf
War-era II) who have served on Active duty since September of 2001.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed that Gulf War-era II veterans
without a disability were 12 percent more likely to be in the labor
force than Gulf War-era II veterans with disabilities.
Fourth Administration
In order to further strengthen VA's education/economic
opportunities and transition programs, the IBVSOs support the Veterans'
Education Transition, and Opportunity Prioritization Plan Act of 2019
(VET OPP Act) which would separate from the VBA programs under the
purview of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) and elevate them by
creating a new fourth administration within VA with a new Under
Secretary for Economic Opportunity and Transition. The new Veterans
Economic Opportunity and Transition Administration (VEOTA) would
include critical programs such as VR&E, the GI Bill, and the Transition
Assistance Program (TAP) for transitioning service members.
At present, VA is comprised of three administrations: VBA, the VHA,
and the National Cemetery Administration. VBA includes not only
compensation and pension programs for veterans, but also education
programs, VR&E, home loan, veteran-owned business programs, and the
broadly defined transition program, which is shared with DoD and the
Departments of Labor (DOL) and Homeland Security. All of these programs
are currently overseen by the OEO which is to be led by a Deputy Under
Secretary. However, that position has been left vacant for years and it
does not appear that the vacancy will be filled any time soon.
Currently, the OEO programs inside VBA must compete for resources
and focus with the Compensation, Pension and Insurance programs, of
which compensation is by far the largest and tends to dominate the
attention of VBA leadership and personnel. Because of the scale and
scope of the claims and appeals processing reforms in recent years, it
has too often been hard for VA's economic opportunity (EO) programs to
compete for adequate funding, specialized resources, and other
prioritization. For example, while VBA has boosted resources to support
the modernization and streamlining of the claims and appeals process
for the past several years, other important programs such as VR&E have
actually seen a stagnation of resources and oversight. Between 2014 and
2018, VR&E participation increased by approximately 17 percent while
the funding rose less than two percent.
We understand that this type of transformation needs to be done
carefully, and there are a few concerns that still need to be
addressed. We question the need to place an arbitrary cap on staffing
for the new VEOTA in the legislation. In recent years, the IBVSOs have
often joined other advocates calling for an increase in the staffing
levels of the VR&E service to help achieve the 1:125 counselor-to-
client ratio mandated by Congress. While the bill's FTE cap of 23,692
may be sufficient, we believe staffing and funding requests should be
based on need, not arbitrary caps.
We understand that VA remains opposed to this legislation. However,
given the recent management and oversight issues involving
implementation of the Forever GI Bill, and VR&E IT management, we
believe the creation of the VEOTA could strengthen VA's oversight of EO
programs. In addition, there still remain unanswered questions about
how VA should reorganize the new VEOTA in order to maximize resource
sharing between employees at VA Regional Offices, minimize duplication
of services and management, and ensure clear lines of authority and
oversight. We would recommend that VA be required to put forward a
comprehensive organizational and operations plan, with measurable
milestones, prior to the changeover in order to ensure a smooth
transition.
Department of Labor Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS)
The Department of Labor Veterans' Employment and Training Service
(VETS) prepares transitioning service members for civilian careers
through the TAP employment workshops. More than 6,000 workshops are
conducted each fiscal year and VETS works closely with the DoD, VA, and
other stakeholders to help meet the employment needs of transitioning
service members and their spouses. TAP employment workshops are
provided on military installations, both domestically and abroad, and
are facilitated by an all-contract staff. If fully funded, VETS plans
to deliver services to approximately 150,000 transitioning service
members and spouses in FY2020 - a rate that is expected to remain
fairly constant for several years.
FY 2020 will be the first full year implementing changes to TAP
enacted in the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, and extra
resources were requested in both TAP and federal administration budgets
to oversee these improvements. The additional funding would enhance the
quality of employment support services for transitioning service
members, with a focus on improved outcomes. It also allows VETS to
develop and implement a course curriculum to help military spouses
which, in turn, would help reduce the number of military families that
are at risk for homelessness. At a minimum, Congress should fund DOL's
FY2020 request of $29,379,000 for the VETS program, but additional
resources may be warranted upon closer examination of the program and
its planned expansion projects.
Many veterans who served honorably and were discharged in good
health, later acquire significant disabilities. As a consequence,
eligible veterans qualify for the VA nonservice-connected pension. VA
pension is often likened to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) under
Social Security. However, SSI recipients have access to a work
incentive program whereby their public benefit is gradually reduced as
their earned income rises. Unlike SSI recipients, VA pensioners face a
``cash cliff'' in which benefits are terminated once an individual
crosses an established earnings limit. Because of a modest work record,
many of these veterans or their surviving spouses may also receive a
small Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefit that
supplements their VA pension. If these individuals attempt to return to
the workforce, not only is their SSDI benefit terminated, but their VA
pension benefits are reduced dollar for dollar by their earnings.
In 1984, under Public Law 98-543, Congress authorized VA to
establish a four-year pilot program of vocational training for veterans
awarded a VA pension. Modeled on the Social Security Administration's
trial work period, veterans in the pilot program were allowed to retain
eligibility for VA pension up to 12 months after obtaining employment.
Also, they remained eligible for VA health care up to three years after
their pension terminated because of employment. The pilot program ran
from 1985 to 1989, and achieved some modest success. However, the pilot
was discontinued before VA implemented eligibility reform, because most
catastrophically disabled veterans were reluctant to risk their access
to VA health care by working. The VA Office of Policy, Planning, and
Preparedness examined the VA pension program in 2002 and, though small
in number, seven percent of unemployed veterans on a pension and nine
percent of veteran spouses on a pension cited the dollar-for-dollar
reduction in VA pension benefits as a disincentive to work. Now that
veterans with catastrophic nonservice-connected disabilities retain
access to VA health care, loss of access to medical care is no longer
an impediment to work, but the VA pension cash cliff remains a barrier.
Congress should reexamine work disincentives in the VA pension program,
and policies toward earnings should be changed to parallel those in the
SSI program.
Proposed Legislation
Finally the IBVSOs would like to address some of the proposed
legislation from VA contained within this year's budget request.
VA is proposing to expand the scope of VA's EUL authority to
include projects that provide supportive housing, and projects that
provide services and/or mixed uses, which incorporate other important
benefits to veterans. The IBVSOs support expansion of EUL in any
substantive efforts to curb the homeless veterans issue facing far too
many of our brothers and sisters. Expanding VA's EUL authority to allow
for redevelopment of other types of facilities will allow VA to attract
private financing to address its infrastructure needs.
VA is seeking to amend title 38 U.S.C. Sec. 3699 to extend the
restoration of entitlement to educational assistance for veterans
affected by school closure or disapproval, implemented by section 109
of the Howard W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017
(Forever GI Bill), to apply to vocational rehabilitation programs
provided under chapter 31. The IBVSOs believe any veteran affected by
sudden school closures should have their benefits restored, and
supports the inclusion of Chapter 31 benefits to section 109 of the
Forever GI Bill.
Lastly, the IBVSOs strongly oppose all legislative proposals
included in the budget that would reduce benefits to veterans that were
earned through their service. The round down of the cost of living
adjustment for five years proposal is a not an acceptable option.
Veterans earn their benefits from years of service to our nation, and
decreasing those benefits to balance a budget is a proposal that the
IBVSOs oppose. The federal budget should not seek financial savings at
the expense of benefits earned by veterans and their families.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes our testimony. Again, the IBVSOs thank
you and the Ranking Member for the opportunity to testify on these
important issues before this Subcommittee. We are prepared to take any
questions you or the Subcommittee members may have.
STATEMENT OF LARRY L. LOHMANN
Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis, and Members of the
Committee; on behalf of Brett P. Reistad, National Commander of the
largest veteran service organization in the United States representing
nearly two million members; we welcome the opportunity to comment on
specific funding programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in
the federal budget.
The American Legion is a resolution-based organization directed and
driven by active Legionnaires who dedicate their money, time, and
resources to the continued service of veterans and their families. Our
positions are guided by 100 years of advocacy and resolutions that
originate at the grassroots level of the organization - local American
Legion posts and veterans in every congressional district across the
United States. The headquarters staff of The American Legion works
daily on behalf of veterans, military personnel, and our communities
through our roughly 20 national programs and thousands of outreach
programs led by our posts across the country.
As VA continues to serve the veterans of this nation, it is vital
the Secretary has the necessary tools and resources to ensure they
receive timely, professional, and courteous service - they have earned
it. The American Legion calls on this Congress to ensure that funding
for VA is maintained by implementing the president's budget request. At
a time when most federal agencies are experiencing a decrease in their
respective budgets, the hope of The American Legion is that VA, with
assistance from these critical committees, receive a much-needed
increase.
Education
VA requests $223.5 million in budget authority to fund discretionary
portions of Education Service to include administrative expenses for
1,985 FTE.
The American Legion supports the President's FY 2020 Budget request
for Education. Though the President's budget requests $6.1 million less
(-2.7%) than the 2019 current estimate; this request will provide
sufficient funding and staffing levels for Education Service to
continue providing access to timely and accurate delivery of education
benefits.
Since the passage of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational
Assistance Act of 2017, VBA hired an additional 202 temporary employees
to implement multiple provisions of the bill. The additional Full-Time
Employees (FTE) primarily focused on processing claims resulting from
significant changes to eligibility criteria and expanding program
usage. In the summer of 2018, problems began when VA's benefit-
processing system buckled under complex new formulas for GI Bill
students. As a result, scores of veterans waited weeks or months to be
paid and fell victim to VA's decades-old technology that The American
Legion and lawmakers warned for months would do what it did, fail.
To address these IT issues, VA determined additional FTE would be
required for the entirety of 2019. This change increased FTE by 65,
which is the net effect of having the 202 employees onboard longer
throughout 2019 than initially planned. Recognizing the temporary
necessity of these additional FTE, The American Legion does not see an
issue with the 2.7% decrease for education funding in FY 2020.
While the proposed budget is sufficient, The American Legion shares
the sentiment of many in Congress and among the major stakeholders that
VA must provide greater focus on the economic concerns of our veterans,
and ensure education services meet the standards of excellence veterans
deserve.
The American Legion has long been concerned programs in the VA that
provide assistance related to economic opportunity to veterans, their
dependents, and survivors have been overlooked. The landscape of
education benefits has evolved rapidly from the Montgomery to the Post-
9/11 GI Bill and the essential implementation requirements of the Harry
W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act.
More veterans are using VA educational and vocational
rehabilitation benefits to go to school than a decade ago, which led to
the creation of VetSuccess on Campus (VSOC) to cater to the growing
student veteran population. Congress needs to continue investing on
campus-based support resources for student veterans to include
expansion of the VSOC program or additional programs reinforcing peer-
to-peer support or grant funds to develop Veteran Centers of
Excellence.
Congress must also work closely with the Department of Education
and VA to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly at reputable
institutions. Legislation addressing the 90/10 loophole, requiring
transparency, and regular reporting will ensure student veterans are
given the right resources to utilize their benefits properly,
maintaining the fiduciary duty to the American taxpayer.
Housing
VA requests $154.0 million in reimbursement authority from credit
administration accounts, $441 thousand in reimbursements from the
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and $20.8 million in
budget authority to fund the discretionary portion of the Specially
Adapted Housing (SAH) program.
The American Legion supports the President's FY 2020 Budget request
for housing, but requests Congress review procedures. Too many of our
veterans and their families face significant housing challenges,
aggravated by issues like unemployment, age, and service-related
disabilities. The Special Housing Adaptation (SHA) grant and Special
Adaptive Housing (SAH) grant processes have many requirements. Some
requirements have cumbersome and lengthy procedures.
Once eligibility has been established, VA assigns a SAH agent to
each veteran to provide guidance and assistance in preparing and
collecting required documents and exhibits. After the grant is
approved, SAH agents deliver the SAH grant benefit by meeting with
veterans at their existing or desired future residence to provide an
overview of the grant process. SAH staff members assess the residences
and provide hands-on guidance and suggestions for incorporating home
modifications to improve mobility and promote independence. The primary
focus of the grant program is to provide safe and reliable options for
getting in and out of the home, provide accessible bathroom and shower
facilities, and ensure the home has adequate space in passageways
(doors, open areas, hallways, etc.) for accessible entry and exit to
and from the home. Other adaptations can be incorporated based on the
veteran's disability.
After identifying the needs of the veteran, SAH staff provide
guidance and oversight for new or existing home construction to ensure
the completion of required adaptations. SAH staff manages projects
during ongoing development and serves as a liaison between the veteran
and the contractor completing the construction. SAH staff completes the
project by conducting final field reviews to assess the outcome and
ensure the veteran's unique mobility needs were addressed.
Unfortunately, the SAH grant and the SHA grant processes may take a
considerable amount of time. Veterans with terminal illnesses and
severely restricting disabilities do not have time to wait. Veterans
with terminal illnesses often do not survive long enough to receive the
SAH benefits they have earned.
Although VA will expedite the claims for veterans who have terminal
illnesses, they do not prioritize cases. Congress should pass
legislation to provide VA with the authority to prioritize the SAH
claims of terminally ill veterans. Further, through Resolution No. 357,
Support Veterans Housing Repair and Modification for Pilot Program, The
American Legion urges Congress to create a veterans housing pilot
program for home rehabilitation and modification to augment programs
like the Specially Adaptive Housing Program, to allow veterans service
organizations and housing nonprofits to combine their resources with
other federal funding by applying for grants through the Department of
Housing and Urban Development. \1\
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\1\ The American Legion Resolution No. 357: Support Veterans
Housing Repair and Modification Pilot Program (Aug 2016)
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Through partnerships and hands-on volunteering, The American Legion
works hard every day to improve the lives of veterans and their
families. Through partnerships like Team Depot, a collaboration with
The Home Depot, volunteer Legionnaires, as well as other stakeholders,
devote thousands of hours each year to building and repairing homes for
those who have served. Instituting a pilot program that allows veterans
service organizations to help veterans who are low-income or disabled
and who own their homes or are living in the owner-occupied home of a
family member would be beneficial to local communities and the country
as a whole.
Employment Benefits
VA requests $245.4 million in budget authority to fund discretionary
portions of the VR&E Program to include administrative expenses for
1,663 FTE.
The American Legion supports the President's FY 2020 Budget request
for Employment benefits. The Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment
(VR&E) Program provides comprehensive services and assistance enabling
veterans with service-connected disabilities and employment handicaps
to achieve maximum independence in daily living, become employable, and
maintain suitable employment. After a veteran is found to be entitled
to VR&E, a vocational rehabilitation counselor helps the veteran
identify a proper employment goal and determines the appropriate
services necessary to achieve their goal. Once a veteran's claim has
been adjudicated through the appeals process, the next step is approval
and access to utilize the VR&E program.
The American Legion is pleased to see in VA's budget proposal the
intention to meet the congressional mandate of a 1:125 counselor-to-
client ratio. The American Legion has sought this compliance associated
with VR&E for some time and notably at our 2016 National Convention
passed Resolution No. 345: Support for Vocational Rehabilitation and
Employment Program Hiring More Counselors and Employment Coordinators.
\2\ However, our optimism is guarded because the compliance, in part
appears to be aided not only by additional funding but also by a 5%
decrease in VR&E participants. \3\
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\2\ The American Legion Resolution No. 345: Support for Vocational
Rehabilitation and Employment Program Hiring More Counselors and
Employment Coordinators (Aug 2016)
\3\ Volume III Benefits and Burial Programs and Departmental
Administration, U.S Department of Veteran Affairs, https://www.va.gov/
budget/docs/summary/
fy2020VAbudgetvolumeIIIbenefitsBurialProgramsAndDeptmentalAdministration
.pdf (last visited Apr 26, 2019).
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The American Legion is thankful and proud to have worked closely
with this committee and others in Congress to reach this goal. We
remain concerned with the decrease in participants in the program as it
is a beneficial program for disabled veterans. In the same vein, we
urge Congress through Resolution No. 336 to Support Legislation that
Would Change the 12-Year Delimiting Date for Eligibility to Chapter 31
Benefits, to eliminate the 12-year expiration date for chapter 31
benefits. \4\
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\4\ The American Legion Resolution No. 336: Support Legislation
that Would Change the 12-Year Delimiting Date for Eligibility to
Chapter 31 Benefits (VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment
Program) (Aug 2016)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The standard period of eligibility for VR&E benefits is limited to
12-years from the date of separation from military service or the date
of notification by VA of a service-connected disability rating.
Unfortunately, not all disabled veterans are aware of their possible
eligibility when separating from their service and some may not need
VR&E until later in their career. Congress must eliminate the 12-year
delimiting period for VA Chapter 31 Vocational Rehabilitation and
Employment (VR&E) services to ensure disabled veterans with employment
handicaps, including those who qualify for independent living services,
qualify for VR&E services for the entirety of their employable lives.
Assisting Homeless Veterans
VA requests $1.8 billion for homeless programs, maintaining the
significant funding provided in 2019 and increasing funds by $179
million above the 2018 level, to provide the type of resources most
needed where they are most needed across the country.
The American Legion believes that homeless veteran programs should
be granted sufficient funding to provide supportive services such as,
but not limited to: outreach, healthcare, rehabilitation, case
management, personal finance planning, transportation, vocational
counseling, employment, and education. In that vein, we support the
proposed funding in the president's budget and urge Congress to
appropriate the funds.
Furthermore, The American Legion continues to place particular
priority on the issue of veteran homelessness. With veterans making up
approximately 9% of our nation's total adult homeless population, there
is plenty of reason to give this issue special attention. Along with
various community partners, The American Legion remains committed to
seeing VA's goal of ending veteran homelessness come to fruition. Our
goal is to ensure that every community across America has programs and
services in place to get homeless veterans into housing (along with
necessary healthcare/treatment) while connecting those at-risk veterans
with the local services and resources they need. We hope to see that
with the expansion of assistance afforded to homeless veterans and
their dependents, there will also be an increase in funding to support.
We estimate that an additional $10 million annually will be sufficient
to accomplish this goal.
Additionally, we have concerns about cuts to the Supplemental
Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP is the largest nutritional
assistance program administered by the United States Department of
Agriculture and serves as a critical social safety net program in the
United States. While veterans' homelessness programs remain unchanged
in the FY20 budget, many other programs outside of VA have seen
proposed reductions in their funding. Almost 1.4 million veterans live
in households that participate in SNAP, according to the analysis of
data performed by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities from the
Census Bureau's American Community Survey. \5\ While not intended to
impact veterans directly, cuts across the social network could make a
negative impact contributing to veterans' quality of life and
homelessness.
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\5\ Brynne K Jennings , SNAP Helps Almost 1.4 Million Low-Income
Veterans, Including Thousands in Every State Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities (2018), https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-
assistance/snap-helps-almost-14-million-low-income-veterans-including-
thousands-in#--ftn1 (last visited Apr 26, 2019).
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Transitioning Programs
VA requests $82.4 million in budget authority to fund the discretionary
portions of TED to include administrative expenses for 37 FTE.
The American Legion supports VA's request for $82.4 million but
urges Congress to exercise its oversight powers to ensure appropriate
spending. VA's Transition and Economic Development (TED) office was
newly established in 2018 to support the transition from military-to-
civilian life and accelerate the economic empowerment and development
of transitioning servicemembers, veterans, and their families. VA
established this office to ensure the entire period of military
transition readiness, from 365 days before separation through the first
year of civilian life is efficient and thorough. TED is intended to
ensure through a coordinated effort that servicemembers leaving the
military have an understanding of, and easy access to, all benefits and
resources they are entitled once they have separated from military
service.
A key area of focus for TED is the Transition Assistance Program
(TAP), a joint program administered by the U.S. Departments of Defense
(DoD), Department of Labor (DoL) and VA. TAP is charged with providing
veterans a successful transition from military to civilian life. The
American Legion supports the President's proposed budget, however, is
still wary about whether TED is sufficiently staffed as the budget
equates to approximately $2.4 million per FTE. We urge Congress to
exercise its oversight powers to ensure prudent management of taxpayer
dollars.
Further, we urge Congress to pass legislation optimizing the TAP
program. As stated, the goal of TAP is to ease the adjustment of
separating servicemembers during the difficult transition from Active
duty into civilian life by offering job search assistance, medical/
health services, the advising of available benefits, and other related
counseling. The American Legion believes TAP represents an essential
step toward providing transitioning servicemembers, and their families,
with the information they need to transition into civilian life
successfully.
TAP is now mandated for all servicemembers and optional for their
spouses. However, TAP provides a tremendous amount of information,
which at times can be incredibly intricate, overwhelming, or even
excessive to a particular participant. DoL's portion, which is three-
days long, is responsible for most of that information. The American
Legion recommends that the course be mandated for servicemembers at
different intervals of their careers before separation or transitioning
into the civilian sector along with pre-counseling for those
servicemembers intending to leave the military.
The American Legion recognizes the vast difference between a
transitioning servicemember who served one enlistment in contrast to a
transitioning servicemember who is retiring after 20 years of service.
This difference includes, but is not limited to, servicemembers who are
being separated for medical reasons and other unexpected reasons. TAP
is presently five-days long with an optional two-day class. According
to a November 2017 GAO report, less than 15 percent of transitioning
servicemembers have attended the two-day courses. Not every
servicemember transitions for the same reason, servicemembers should be
afforded the opportunity to participate in training that fits their
post-service objectives.
Conclusion
The American Legion thanks this committee for the opportunity to
elucidate the position of the nearly 2 million veteran members of this
organization. For additional information regarding this testimony,
please contact Mr. Larry Lohmann, Senior Associate of The American
Legion Legislative Division at (202) 861-2700 or [email protected].
WILLIAM HUBBARD
Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis and Members of the
Subcommittee:
Thank you for inviting Student Veterans of America (SVA) to submit
our testimony on the fiscal year 2020 budget submission of the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Established in 2008, SVA is a
national nonprofit founded to empower student veterans as they
transition to civilian life by providing them with the resources,
network support, and advocacy needed to succeed in higher education.
With over 1,500 Campus Chapters across the U.S. and in four
countries overseas, serving over 750,000 student veterans and military-
connected students, SVA establishes a lifelong commitment to each
student's success, from campus life to employment, through local
leadership workshops, national conferences, and top-tier employer
relations. As the largest chapter-based student organization in
America, we are a force and voice for the interests of veterans in
higher education, and SVA places the student veteran at the top of our
organizational pyramid.
Edward Everett, our nation's 20th Secretary of State, and the
former President of Harvard University was famously quoted as stating,
``Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.''
While we have the finest military that the world has ever known, the
sentiment remains; the importance of education to our nation's national
security continues to be critical.
We will discuss our general concerns with the current budgetary
process' impact on student veterans, concerns specific to VA's budget
request, and suggestions to strengthen how VA supports student
veterans.
The Current Budget Process
Concerns with the lack of regular order around the budget and
appropriations processes are consistent talking points among the larger
veteran advocacy community, and even more broadly throughout
Washington; nevertheless, the need for consistent and predictable
government funding is more than worth reiterating. Even with VA's
robust advance appropriation funding cycle, the step-and-repeat of
continuing resolutions and looming threats of government shutdowns
leave student veterans with many questions and uncertainty, with recent
examples demonstrating the timeliness of these discussions. \1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Emily Wax-Thibodeaux, 11,000 disabled student veterans left
without rent and expense money due to computer glitch, THE WASHINGTON
POST, Feb. 2, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/
2018/02/02/11000-disabled-student-veterans-left-without-rent-and-
expense-money-due-to-computer-glitch/?utm--term=.4cf294f50380.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Student veterans and their families frequently interact with
multiple government agencies, which makes the need for reliable
government funding an issue that transcends the silos of VA. The need
for regular order is especially apparent when considering the cycle of
GI Bill payments, which typically ebb and flow in conjunction with the
beginning of each semester. The ability of the Veterans Benefits
Administration (VBA) to project upcoming increases in demand for GI
Bill approvals is indirectly linked to appropriate IT funding, as we
publicly witnessed during the rollout of several crucial provisions of
the Forever GI \2\Bill \3\.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Wentling, Nikki, ``Federal watchdog: VA leadership failures are
to blame for GI Bill payment issues,'' March 21, 2019, https://
www.stripes.com/federal-watchdog-va-leadership-failures-are-to-blame-
for-gi-bill-payment-issues-1.573672
\3\ Natalie Gross, Here's what a government shutdown could mean for
GI Bill users, MILITARY TIMES, Jan. 19, 2018, https://
www.militarytimes.com/education-transition/education/2018/01/19/heres-
what-a-government-shutdown-could-mean-for-gi-bill-users/.
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SVA supports the recommendation of the Independent Budget to
include an additional $50 million for IT infrastructure. \4\ We applaud
the full committee's continued commitment to ensure VA's budget, and
the programs and services veterans use across government, remains a
priority for the whole of Congress.
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\4\ The Independent Budget: Budget Recommendations Fiscal Years
2020 and 2021, Feb. 11, 2019. http://www.independentbudget.org/pdf/
funding.pdf
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Readjustment Benefits and Education Services in VA's Budget Request
Through a combination of funding sources, the majority of which is
newly appropriated funds, VA's budget request calls for an estimated
$14.06 billion in Readjustment Benefits obligations in 2020 and $12.58
billion in Readjustment Benefits obligations in 2021. \5\ These figures
do not include discretionary funds necessary to administer these
benefits.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Budget. FY 2020
Budget Submission. Available: https://www.va.gov/budget/products.asp
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Largely comprised of the education benefits which VA's Education
Services manages, Readjustment Benefits serve as some of the most
proactive and empowering benefits available to veterans and their
families. Readjustment benefits equip veterans to return to the
civilian workforce as the leaders and problem-solvers upon which the
future of our country's economic prosperity desperately depends.
SVA acknowledges VA's justification for reducing their baseline
personal services budget line item from $190.5 million in 2019 to
$183.8 million in the 2020 request due to a cut in Forever GI Bill
implementation support staff. However, until the new law is fully
implemented, we encourage VA, and this congress, to provide the full
resources necessary, as the Department historically lacked the
appropriate support and resulted in unacceptable late payments. \6\
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\6\ Stewart, Emily. Vox. The VA's latest issues paying student
veterans their benefits, explained. Dec. 11, 2018. https://www.vox.com/
policy-and-politics/2018/12/7/18129508/forever-gi-bill-student-
veterans-housing-wilkie
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through increased access to and participation in these benefits,
budget obligations should naturally continue to increase. We encourage
the Subcommittee to think of Readjustment Benefits as an integral part
of the whole of VA when advocating for appropriated funds-a
macroeconomic net benefit in the truest sense of the concept. While
healthcare and disability compensation make up part of VA's
foundational services, Readjustment Benefits are also a cornerstone of
VA's foundation.
As we noted during the Joint Veterans Committee annual hearing on
policy priorities for 2019, student veterans have led the way for all
non-traditional students in higher education, and this unique
population is succeeding at remarkable rates. \7\ In many ways, the
original GI Bill democratized higher education to all Americans. Prior
to 1944, the most Americans interested in pursuing higher education
faced unrealistic prospects; less than seven percent of Americans in
1944 had a bachelor's degree at the time. The GI Bill changed that by
educating 49 percent of returning World War II veterans from Europe and
the Pacific.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ Jared Lyon, Student Veterans of America Legislative Priorities
of 2019, March 7, 2019, https://www.veterans.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/
5%20-%20SVA%20Testimony%2003.07.19.pdf
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These amazing women and men returned to the college campuses on the
GI Bill and led the democratization of higher education. \8\ The
Readjustment Benefits in place today build on that storied history.
They are at the core of what VA does best for veterans and this
country; we strongly encourage Congress to remember the importance of
Readjustment Benefits and Education Services when defining priorities
and aligning resources.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ Id.
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Vocational Rehabilitation and Education (VR&E) in VA's Budget Request
The VR&E program provides services to veterans with service-
connected disabilities to prepare, find, and maintain employment.
Currently, VR&E rehabilitation services provide veterans five tracks to
employment, including employment through long-term services. This track
largely focuses on the necessary training and education needed to meet
a veteran's employment goals. \9\ According to VA's budget request, the
VR&E program will see an increase in program participation and
administration resource needs over the next two years. \10\
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\9\ U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Eligibility and
Entitlement, VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION AND EMPLOYMENT (VR&E), https://
www.benefits.va.gov/vocrehab/eligibility--and--entitlement.asp.
\10\ U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Budget. FY 2020
Budget Submission. Available: https://www.va.gov/budget/products.asp
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SVA tracks student veterans concerns and feedback associated with
the VR&E program to better understand how the program could be
strengthened. Themes within this feedback collected included: the large
caseloads Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors (VRC) must manage, the
inconsistent VRC decisions, and frequent turnover of VRCs. \11\ We
believe it is necessary to meet the current appropriations demand that
VA outlined; however, congress could also address some of the
underlying resource issues that are contributing to those concerns and
proactively improve the VR&E program. \12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ Paul R. Varela, ``A Review of VA's Vocational Rehabilitation
and Employment Program,'' HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, July 8, 2015, https://
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-114hhrg98685/pdf/CHRG-114hhrg98685.pdf
(turnover discussion on pg. 18).
\12\ Benjamin L. Krause, J.D., National Association of Veterans
Program Administrators (NAVPA) Statement for Hearing - ``A Review of
VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program,'' HOUSE
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS, July 8, 2015, https://archives-
veterans.house.gov/submission-for-the-record/mr-benjamin-l-krause-jd.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Given the highly individualized nature of the program, there is
strong need to ensure proper VRC to veteran ratios as mandated in
Public Law 114-223, which requires one full-time employment equivalent
(FTEE) for every 125 veterans. \13\ It is unclear if those ratios are
being met currently, and we encourage this Subcommittee to hold VA
accountable to that ratio in their budget request, though we appreciate
VA's focus on achieving this target over the past fiscal year. Also, we
continue to urge this committee to encourage VA to increase the capped
pay of VRCs to match higher salary caps of similar Department of
Education (ED) positions to aid in the turnover of \14\VRCs. \15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans
Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017'' Public Law
114-223, https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ223/PLAW-
114publ223.pdf.
\14\ Glassdoor, US Department of Veterans Affairs Vocational
Rehabilitation Counselor Salaries, https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/US-
Department-of-Veterans-Affairs-Vocational-Rehabilitation-Counselor-
Salaries-E41429--D--KO34,69.htm (Indicating range of salaries from
$49,799-$95,000 based on salary reports and statistical methods).
\15\ See generally National Association of Veterans' Program
Administrators, 2017 NAVPA Legislative Agenda, http://www.navpa.org/
2017-navpa-legislative-agenda/.
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Forever GI Bill Implementation in VA's Budget Request
In 2017, SVA led a coalition of more than 60 organizations to pass
the most expansive higher education legislation in nearly a decade, and
also the largest improvement of the Post-9/11 GI Bill-the Forever GI
Bill. Signed into law on August 16th that year, the Forever GI Bill,
officially titled the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Education Assistance
Act, made history thanks to this committee and the current \16\congress
\17\.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\16\ Harry W. Colmery Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2017.
Pub. L 115-48. 16 August 2017. Available: https://www.congress.gov/
bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3218
\17\ Gross, Natalie (2017). Military Times. ``Trump signed the
`Forever GI Bill.' Here are 11 things you should know'', https://
www.militarytimes.com/education-transition/education/2017/08/16/trump-
signed-the-forever-gi-bill-here-are-11-things-you-should-know/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Forever GI Bill includes dozens of provisions that increase
access to higher education, reduce inequities within the benefit, and
turn the GI Bill into a benefit of service far beyond the current
generation. Nearly all of the law's provisions are already in effect
and benefiting student veterans across the country. While SVA was proud
to work alongside many members of this Subcommittee and their staffs to
pass the Forever GI Bill, we remain concerned about the success of the
law's ongoing implementation, which must include sufficient
appropriations and continued vigilance to the implementation process.
\18\ The fall 2019 semester will be a crucial indicator of this
process, as many of the technically complex provisions should have
taken effect by this date.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\ Hubbard, William, Testimony for Legislative Hearing on the
Topic Of ``An Update on the Implementation of the Forever GI Bill,''
Dec. 12, 2017, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS SUBCOMMITTEE ON
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, http://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR10/20171212/
106695/HHRG-115-VR10-Wstate-HubbardW-20171212.pdf.
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In several oversight hearings this committee held last year, senior
VA officials assured the nation's student veterans and this congress
that late payments and failures associated with a lack of
accountability at VA have been sufficiently addressed. \19\ At the
time, student veterans expressed the dire straits of the situation,
noting, ``I'm about to lose everything that I own and become homeless.
I don't want to be that veteran on the street begging for change
because I haven't received what I was promised.'' \20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\19\ Wentling, Nikki, ``Federal watchdog: VA leadership failures
are to blame for GI Bill payment issues,'' March 21, 2019, https://
www.stripes.com/federal-watchdog-va-leadership-failures-are-to-blame-
for-gi-bill-payment-issues-1.573672
\20\ McCausland, Phil, NBC News, Veterans haven't received GI Bill
benefits for months due to ongoing IT issues at VA, Nov. 11, 2018,
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/veterans-haven-t-receive-gi-bill-
benefits-months-due-ongoing-n934696
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SVA commends VA and its staff for public outreach efforts to spread
awareness, and we commend the obvious dedication to successfully
implementing the Forever GI Bill; we remind all stakeholders that
students, administrators, and advocates all have a vested interest in
transparent and timely communication. Most recently, school
administrators have communicated a lack of information from VA on how
these changes will affect the schools, and we encourage congress to
work with VA on addressing this crucial gap.
As detailed in VA's budget request, the Department needs sufficient
resources appropriated to meet that goal. \21\ Specifically, while we
appreciated the Forever GI Bill's language authorizing funds to meet
some of the IT needs to implement the new law, these funds have yet to
be appropriated. We encourage the inclusion of such appropriations to
meet that need as soon as possible given the short implementation
window student veterans face.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\21\ Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Budget. FY 2020
Budget Submission. Available: https://www.va.gov/budget/products.asp
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Improving the GI Bill Comparison Tool
In VA's budget justification, the Department cites the GI Bill
Comparison tool as an important resource for prospective and current
student veterans. \22\ Since inception in 2014, the GI Bill Comparison
Tool has proved to be an invaluable source of information for veterans
trying to understand the value of their GI Bill as they considered
different education options. There are, however, important improvements
that would make the process of considering education options
significantly better. Additional IT budget resources should be devoted
to implementing important congressional mandates, and the GI Bill
Comparison Tool is no exception.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\22\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As it stands, there is a lack of coordination between ED and VA
with the College Navigator, College Scorecard, and GI Comparison Tool,
reducing the overall delivery of powerful data \23\to \24\veterans.
\25\ The Comparison Tool has unique and important data, necessitating a
separate tool from ED's current options; no less, the underlying data
is not being effectively shared to deliver prospective students a
complete view of their options.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\23\ College Navigator, National Center for Education Statistics,
US Department of Education, https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/,
Accessed 01 March 2019
\24\ College Scorecard, US Department of Education, https://
collegescorecard.ed.gov/, Accessed 01 March 2019
\25\ GI Bill Comparison Tool, US Department of Veterans Affairs,
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/, Accessed 01 March 2019
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The current data running the Comparison Tool is largely limited to
VA's internally available data, which is severely limited, notably
excluding many student veterans who run out of benefits or elect
alternative funding sources. Student veterans should be able to rate
their schools, thereby affording future student veterans direct
consumer feedback similar to Amazon's verified user rating system.
In 2013, Public Law 112-249 mandated the statutory requirement for
VA to launch, ``centralized mechanism for tracking and publishing
feedback from students,'' similar to `Amazon reviews,' yet this
functionality is still missing. \26\ SVA appreciates the continued
availability to the raw data powering the GI Bill Comparison Tool,
which affords external entities to run complementary research and
analysis to support additional feedback to VA and policymakers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\26\ Public Law 112-249, ``Comprehensive Veterans Education
Information Policy'', https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-
112publ249/pdf/PLAW-112publ249.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, we encourage VA to develop a mechanism to maintain closed
schools within the tool, versus having them merely disappear. This
disappearance of schools from the tool also applies to associated data,
leaving significant gaps in the overall picture.
Strengthening VA to Support Student Veterans
SVA is a solution-oriented organization and we appreciate the
willingness to collaboratively address our concerns alongside the
members of this Subcommittee. Our concerns with VA's budget request
have a common dominator: at present, VA is lacking dedicated Under
Secretary-level leadership on behalf of economic opportunity programs.
To be clear, this is not a lack of leadership due to personality, but
instead a void of a sufficient leadership role for such programs in
VA's current enterprise structure. In other words, the VA bureaucracy
is not currently designed to properly support programs of future-
focused empowerment.
Economic opportunity programs, largely comprised of readjustment
benefits, should be thought of as an integral part of the empowering,
whole health model of care VA prioritizes. Programs encompassed under
the economic opportunity umbrella, like the GI Bill and home loan
guarantees, are proven success stories that not only benefit veterans
but the larger American economy. Specifically looking at the GI Bill,
in 2017 SVA released the National Veteran Education Success Tracker
(NVEST) in partnership with VA, which focuses on outcomes of student
veterans and demonstrates the return on investment of student veterans.
\27\ The first of its kind, it studied 854,000 individual records -
every Post-9/11 GI Bill user from 2009 until the summer of 2015 - and
showed the success of student veterans on campus.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\27\ Cate, C. A., Lyon, J. S., Schmeling, J., & Bogue, B. Y.
(2017). National Veteran Education Success Tracker: A report on the
academic success of student-veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
Washington, D.C.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NVEST outlines the many ways student veterans outperform their
peers on campus. From higher grade point averages, a higher success
rate, and a propensity to obtain degrees in high demand fields, the
data makes clear student veterans are worth the investment America has
made in them through the GI Bill. \28\ Based on this research, we
support aligning economic opportunity-focused programs into a distinct
lane within VA known as the Economic Opportunity and Transition
Administration. Presently, economic opportunity programs such as the GI
Bill, home loan guaranty, and many other empowering programs for
veterans are buried within the bureaucracy of VBA and functionally in
competition against disability compensation policy for internal
resources.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\28\ Id.
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On their public data site, VA proudly and rightly pronounces,
``Economic competitiveness isn't just about employment; it encompasses
overall employment, wealth, independent living, housing, career
mobility and educational attainment. VA is proud to work alongside
employment experts at the Department of Labor and policy leaders in DoD
to ensure we are in alignment with relevant trends and services they
offer to transitioning service members and veterans.'' \29\ With
economic opportunity as a stated priority of VA, we strongly support
the establishment of an Under Secretary of Economic Opportunity at VA,
who would report directly to the Secretary.
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\29\ Department of Veterans Affairs, ``Understanding Economic
Competitiveness in Relation to Their Non-Veteran Counterparts.''
Accessed March 16, 2018. https://www.data.va.gov/story/economic-
opportunities-veterans.
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These programs are buried within the bureaucracy of VA and lack a
true champion at the level of leadership these programs warrant, as
demonstrated this past year in VA's failure to successfully implement
the congressional mandates of the Forever GI Bill a timely and
transparent manner. SVA appreciates the recent creation of the Office
of Transition and Economic Development (TED) within VBA, yet this step
further demonstrates VA's lack of commitment to providing economic
opportunity programs an Under Secretary-level leader to administer
these programs for veterans.
Over the past century, VA evolved to focus on compensating veterans
for loss, which worked for previous generations of veterans, but fails
to address the future needs of veterans, nor those of our nation. The
reality of the 21st century and beyond demands the additional goal of
empowering veterans to excel post-service. Critically, this will
further advance our nation's goals of enhancing economic
competitiveness; a focus on veteran contributions to business and
industry, to governments, to non-profit organizations, and to
communities, and preparation through the best education programs in our
country will result in imperative returns on the taxpayer's
investments.
To truly achieve ``whole health'' for veterans in the future
economy, it is essential we afford VA the opportunity to enrich the
lives of veterans through the primacy of VA's economic opportunity
programs, which may also play an important role as a gateway to VA
through exceptional interactions and services in programs important to
the future of veterans post-service. During several House Committee on
Veterans' Affairs hearings in the last Congress, we've articulated our
commitment to elevating the economic opportunity programs at VA and
identified the need to address a lack of resource-focus on economic
opportunity programs within the greater scope of the overall \30\VA
\31\budget. \32\
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\30\ Hubbard, William. Testimony for Legislative Hearing on the
Topic of ``Legislative Hearing on H.R. 1206, H.R. 3023, H.R. 3940, H.R.
4451, H.R. 4830, H.R. 4835, H.R. 5044, and a draft bill entitled, `VA
Home Loan Improvement Act of 2018'.'' March 20, 2018, House Committee
on Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, https://
docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR10/20180320/108011/HHRG-115-VR10-Wstate-
HubbardW-20180320.pdf.
\31\ Augustine, Lauren. Testimony for Legislative Hearing on the
Topic of ``U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Fiscal Year 2019 Budget:
Veterans Benefits Administration and the Board of Veterans' Appeals.''
March 15, 2018, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Subcommittees on
Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, Economic Opportunity,
http://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR09/20180315/106968/HHRG-115-VR09-
Wstate-AugustineL-20180315.pdf.
\32\ Vangellow, Cassandra. Testimony for Oversight Hearing on the
Topic of ``A Review of VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment
Program.'' May 17, 2018, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, https://veterans.house.gov/
calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=2160.
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This proposal would flatten and streamline some of the bureaucracy
of VA. With proper safeguards in place, it would curb any expansion of
government while providing economic opportunity and transition programs
an accountable champion, resulting in abundant improvements to support
veterans:
Increases Accountability. This proposal would provide for
greater accountability and access to issues that empower veterans. It
further prevents these issues from being reduced in priority with
shifting VBA leadership. At present, the VBA leadership team has shown
a commitment to economic opportunity programs, but that support is tied
to existing leadership. The creation of an Economic Opportunity and
Transition Administration would cement the importance of such programs
with guaranteed leadership and accountability.
Elevates Economic Opportunity Issues. Directly relevant
to President Trump's Executive Order 13822, ``Supporting Our Veterans
during Their Transition from Uniformed Services to Civilian Life'',
this proposal supports the importance of transition, education,
employment, and well-being \33\. Further, it sends a strong message to
veterans and the American public that economic opportunity issues truly
matter and are important enough to have the leadership of an Under
Secretary. Giving a national voice to issues like home ownership,
education, training, and employment is a critically important measure.
Further, it provides a champion to engage with the Department of
Education (DoEd) in advancing higher education interests for veterans.
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\33\ Executive Order 13822. Supporting Our Veterans During Their
Transition From Uniformed Service to Civilian Life. January 9, 2018.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/01/12/2018-00630/
supporting-our-veterans-during-their-transition-from-uniformed-service-
to-civilian-life
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Reduces Bureaucracy. Bureaucracy at VA has historically
led to serious national challenges, and keeping economic opportunity
issues buried at the bottom of VBA is not the answer. This proposal
flattens the bureaucracy of VA in favor of the veteran, versus creating
additional layers in the current structure or overloading the
structure. This was painfully apparent during the initially botched
implementation of certain provisions of the Forever GI Bill, as a lack
of leadership within VBA resulted in technical failures and a dearth of
accountability.
Establishes Direct Counterpart. The Department of Labor
(DoL) and the Department of Defense (DoD) presently lack a direct and
dedicated counterpart within VA's Under Secretary leadership for the
programs that overlap the agencies-any significant initiative must
achieve multiple layers of approval before reaching the customers: our
country's veterans. This proposal provides DoD and DoL with a political
appointee who can move important programs into the modern age, while
supporting their missions more broadly for positive, holistic
interagency solutions.
Supports ``Whole Health.'' A tragically elastic narrative
exists around veterans as either ``broken or damaged.'' In reality,
veterans are fundamentally the same as all other Americans-hard-
working, community-oriented neighbors who want what's best for their
families, and who thrive in higher education and career when they have
opportunity to access economic opportunity programs. Creation of an
Under Secretary of Economic Opportunity will empower veterans to be
successful as they transition through improved education programs and
better employment opportunities. One of the major challenges facing
veterans today is ``transition stress,'' an issue an Under Secretary of
Economic Opportunity would be keen to address via a robust portfolio of
programs and services veterans can rely on during transition to advance
their, and our country's, economic interests. \34\ With better service
and stronger outcomes, more veterans will be apt to actually ``Choose
VA.''
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\34\ Clark, James. For Most Vets, PTSD Isn't the Problem,
`Transition Stress' Is. Here's What It Means, January 25, 2018, http://
taskandpurpose.com/what-is-transition-stress/
We unabashedly recognize that bold initiatives are required to
ensure our country delivers the best outcomes possible for veterans,
yet some apparently continue to prefer to the status quo of heavily
layered bureaucracy. Some have cited concerns regarding ``increased
resource costs and creation of redundant roles.'' Uniquely, this
proposal achieves the exact opposite outcome as it will streamline
these programs given a dedicated leader. Others have argued for
continuing to give current leaders at VA the chance to address and
elevate these issues through their own work. For decades VA has had the
opportunity to elevate economic opportunity issues.
The approach of ``wait and see'' is really not an approach at all,
but instead a waiting game meant to guard the current system which
continues to miss the mark on providing veterans the level of service
they deserve for the benefits they earned. Waiting for the bureaucracy
to change itself is ultimately misguided and unacceptably short-
sighted, as personality-dependent success is not a long-term solution
to these structural challenges.
Veterans' organizations came out in force to support this overall
concept when it was previously introduced in congress, including: The
Disabled American Veterans (DAV), The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW),
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of
America (IAVA). \35\ Today, the current proposal further simplifies the
proposal of a Veteran Economic Opportunity and Transition
Administration with no intention of statutorily affecting the DoL VETS
program, a valued partner for transition and employment programs like
VR&E. The Independent Budget, an authoritative annual presentation of
recommended funding levels produced by American Veterans (AMVETS), DAV,
Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), and VFW has called for this change
for years. \36\
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\35\ United States. Cong. House. Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Legislative Hearing on H.R. 356; H.R. 832; H.R. 1994; H.R. 2133; H.R.
2275; H.R. 2344; H.R. 2360; H.R. 2361; and a draft bill. Hearings, June
2, 2007. 114th Cong. 1st sess.
\36\ The Independent Budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs
Budget (FY2012), 112th Congress, http://www.independentbudget.org/2012/
IB--FY2012.pdf
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Last year, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) published a
compelling argument for restructuring VA in a piece titled, ``Economic
Opportunity, Transition Assistance, and the 21st-Century Veteran: The
Case for a Fourth VA Administration.'' \37\ AEI's research concluded
legislative language related to veterans creates a powerful and
sustained narrative related to this population; notably, language
consistent with a ``deficit model;'' words such as `broken', `wounded',
`helpless', etc., damage overall perceptions of this population
wreaking further havoc on a wider audience of veterans.
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\37\ Burgess, Rebecca. American Enterprise Institute (2018).
``Economic Opportunity, Transition Assistance, and the 21st-Century
Veteran: The Case for a Fourth VA Administration,'' http://www.aei.org/
wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Economic-Opportunity-Transition-Assistance-
and-the-21st-Century-Veteran.pdf.
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Conversely, language consistent with an ``asset model,'' such as
`civic asset,' `successful,' `leaders,' etc., has the effect of
improving the likelihood of achieving positive transition and long-
range experiences. This proposal is strongly in favor of a positive
narrative of veterans, as it proposes elevating issue areas the public
widely views as empowering such as education, employment, home
ownership, and others.
We encourage this committee to consider investing significant data
authorities in this office to be able to effectively track, and one day
project, the true impact empowered veterans have on the country's
economic health. For example, it's known that the Servicemen's
Readjustment Act of 1944, known as the original GI Bill, had an
economic output of $7 for every $1 dollar invested in that program.
\38\ Insights such as these will be vital to establishing the long-term
understanding of these programs. Further, we recommend this office
produce a consolidated annual report reviewing program efficacy,
tracking key metrics tied to outcomes instead of outputs.
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\38\ 100th United States Congress, Joint Economic Committee,
Subcommittee on Education and Health of the Joint Economic Committee.
``A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Government Investment in Post-Secondary
Education Under the World War II GI Bill,'' December 14, 1988.
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VA publicly declares they, ``[have] a mission to help veterans
maximize their economic competitiveness and thus, increase the number
of economic opportunities for veterans and their families.'' \39\ This
proposal will maximize the notion VA publicly espouses in empowering
veterans to lead successful lives. Further demonstrating this idea, the
1996 Congressional Commission on Servicemembers and Veterans Transition
Assistance once stated, ``If employment is the door to a successful
transition to civilian life, education will be the key to employment in
the information age.'' \40\ Future generations of veterans are counting
on the success of this proposal, and we are eager to work with this
Congress and the White House to make it a reality.
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\39\ Department of Veterans Affairs, Understanding Economic
Competitiveness in Relation to Their Non-Veteran Counterparts. Accessed
March 16, 2018. https://www.data.va.gov/story/economic-opportunities-
veterans.
\40\ https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/searchResults/
titleDetail/PB2006113212.xhtml
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In addition to the proposed points for consideration outlined
above, SVA supports VA's interest in amending 38 U.S.C. Sec. 3699 to
extend the restoration of entitlement to educational assistance for
Veterans affected by school closure or disapproval, implemented by
Section 109 of the Forever GI Bill, to apply to VR&E programs provided
under \41\Chapter \42\31. Any veteran affected by sudden school
closures should have their benefits restored to afford them the
opportunity for continued success.
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\41\ 38 U.S. Code Sec. 3699. Effects of closure or disapproval of
educational institution, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/
3699
\42\ Public Law 115-48, Section 109, https://www.congress.gov/115/
plaws/publ48/PLAW-115publ48.pdf
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We thank the Chairman, Ranking Member, and the Subcommittee members
for your time, attention, and devotion to the cause of veterans in
higher education. As always, we welcome your feedback and questions,
and we look forward to continuing to work with this Subcommittee, the
House Veterans' Affairs Committee, and the entire Congress to ensure
the success of all generations of veterans through education.
SAM SHELLENBERGER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY
VETERANS' EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING SERVICE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD
Introduction
Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis, and distinguished Members
of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to provide a
statement for the record for this hearing, ``Fiscal Year (FY) 2020
President's Budget: Requests Related to Veterans' Readjustment
Benefits.'' I commend the Committee for its efforts to ensure that
America fulfills its obligations to its veterans, their families, and
their caregivers. The Department of Labor (DOL or Department) provides
training, employment services, and information related to the economic
health of all workers within an integrated network that continues to
generate positive employment outcomes for the men and women who have
served our country.
The President's FY 2020 budget reflects the Administration's
priorities to support the American workforce. The President's vision
for America and the American workforce is to empower our economy to
each day create jobs that are safe and family sustaining. The
Department is working hard to: keep Americans safe in the workplace;
prevent discriminatory employment practices; safeguard retirement
savings; increase employment opportunities for all Americans; level the
playing field for working Americans through fair trade; collect,
analyze, and disseminate essential economic information; promote
private-sector union democracy and financial integrity; protect the
interest of workers, and their families, who were injured or became ill
on the job; and ensure workers are paid what they have earned.
Veterans' Employment and Training Service
The Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) is an integral
part of the Department and a budget priority for the Secretary. VETS'
mission is to prepare America's veterans, service members, spouses, and
caregivers for meaningful careers, provide them with employment
resources and expertise, protect their employment rights, and promote
their employment opportunities. The new HIRE Vets Medallion Program
will encourage more employers to recruit, hire, and retain veterans.
Expanded apprenticeship opportunities will assist veterans in finding
meaningful and family-sustaining careers. VETS employees are dedicated
to the mission of providing transitioning service members, veterans,
and their spouses the employment services they deserve.
In March, the Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
released its annual report on the ``Employment Situation of Veterans.''
Some highlights from the report include:
The unemployment rate for all veterans fell to an 18-year
low of 3.5 percent in 2018.
Unemployment for veterans who served on Active duty in
the U.S. Armed Forces since September 2001 dropped from 4.5 percent in
2017, to 3.8 percent in 2018-the lowest rate recorded since BLS began
collecting the data in 2006.
The unemployment rate for women veterans fell to 3.0
percent in 2018. \1\
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\1\ Bureau of Labor Statistics. ``Employment Situation of
Veterans.'' March 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/vet.nr0.htm.4
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Unfortunately, military spouse unemployment is estimated to be at
least two times higher than the national average, and in a survey
conducted in 2017, 50 percent of military and recent veteran spouse
respondents who were working part time indicated a desire to work full
time. \2\ Even with more than 7 million open jobs in the country right
now, these reports suggest well- qualified and credentialed military
spouses encounter challenges both with maintaining careers and
transferring their industry-recognized credentials between states. \3\
The Administration, including the Department, are working to improve
the employment prospects for these spouses.
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\2\ The Council of Economic Advisors. ``Military Spouses in the
Labor Market''. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp- content/uploads/2018/05/
Military-Spouses-in-the-Labor-Market.pdf.
\3\ Bureau of labor Statistics. Job Openings and Labor Turnover
Survey Results, February 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/
jolts.htm.
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Recognizing that the veteran unemployment rate continues to reach
historic lows, the budget would provide an opportunity to modernize the
ways we address the employment needs of transitioning service members,
veterans, their spouses, and caregivers by providing more targeted and
tailored delivery of employment services.
For FY 2020, VETS is requesting $306,041,000, an increase of
$6,000,000 from the FY 2019 enacted level. The requested funding by
program is:
$29,379,000 for Transition Assistance Program
$180,000,000 for Jobs for Veterans State Grants
$3,414,000 for the National Veterans' Training Institute
$50,000,000 for Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program
$43,248,000 for Federal Administration-USERRA Enforcement
Transition Assistance Program (TAP)
Transitioning service members are a valuable resource to American
communities, and they bring the technical skills and leadership traits
that employers look for. The TAP for separating and retiring service
members and their spouses, provided under 10 U.S.C. 1144, helps to
smooth the transition from Active duty to civilian life. TAP is a
cooperative effort among DOL, the Department of Defense (DoD), the
Department of Education, the Department of Homeland Security, the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Small Business Administration,
and the Office of Personnel Management.
VETS estimates that approximately 150,000 transitioning service
members will attend the DOL Employment Workshops this year. In FY 2018,
VETS provided 5,769 DOL Employment Workshops, both domestic and
overseas, to 154,580 transitioning service members and their spouses.
To improve TAP, President Trump signed H.R. 5515, the ``John S.
McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year
2019,'' (Pub-Law 115-232), into law on August 13, 2018. DOL will alter
the delivery of employment-related workshops in FY 2020 to align with
the new legislative requirements. VETS would also provide additional
employment related services to transitioning service members beyond the
classroom and those services could include career counseling, resume
preparation, and job search assistance. For example, VETS' FY 2020
budget requests additional funding to revise the course curriculum to
provide one-day employment preparation that is mandatory for all
transitioning service members, an optional two- day workshop for
apprenticeship/technical career preparation, and an optional general
employment preparation. These changes to TAP are designed to help
transitioning service members make the best career choices among those
available to them, taking into account individual skills and high-
demand career fields. Better matching veterans to career opportunities
prior to transition could reduce job turnover rates among recently-
transitioned veterans.
Additional funding would enhance the quality of employment support
services for transitioning service members, with a focus on improved
outcomes.
VETS will also administer the Veteran Apprenticeship Pilot, funded
in the FY 2019 appropriation. This pilot will prepare transitioning
service members to qualify for and enter into high quality
apprenticeship programs. This initiative supports the Administration's
priority to expand apprenticeship opportunities by connecting service
members to prospective employers before their transition through
apprenticeship placement counselors. Intended outcomes include more
transitioning service members embarking in high-paying careers, while
employers gain veterans as valuable employees.
The requested funding would also allow VETS to develop and
implement a course curriculum specific to military spouses who are
transitioning with their service member out of the service or to
another installation. The course curriculum would use components of the
current curriculum for military members, such as resume development and
interviewing techniques. It could also include components more specific
to the needs of military spouses as a result of their frequent moves
and the complexities associated with state licensing and credentialing
requirements. As an example, last year, DOL developed a military spouse
web portal where military spouses can efficiently search for specific
points of contact, guidelines, and state laws on professional
licensing, including information on how occupational licenses from one
state can be recognized in another. While developing the new course
curriculum, VETS will evaluate delivery options with DoD to determine
the most effective and efficient format, likely hybrid models that
allow face-to- face programming and digital delivery. This investment
would help military spouses build careers.
The President's FY 2020 Budget includes a legislative proposal to
provide the Department with broader access to National Directory of New
Hires (NDNH) data that would enable VETS, in collaboration with the
Department's Chief Evaluation Office, to track the employment outcomes
of transitioning service members. Meanwhile, VETS receives data on
transitioning service members daily from DoD. This growing database
contains demographic information, highest education level achieved,
military base geographic data, and a full list of all the courses each
service member participated in during the transition process.
Jobs for Veterans State Grants (JVSG)
VETS funds employment and training services for veterans at State
Workforce Agencies nationwide through JVSG, as authorized under 38
U.S.C. 4102A(b)(5). This program assists veterans with significant
barriers to employment and other eligible individuals to help them
attain family-sustaining careers, and to assist employers in filling
their workforce needs with job-seeking veterans. VETS awards JVSG grant
funds by formula to each state, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto
Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The formula, governed under 38
U.S.C. 4102A(c)(2) and the implementing regulations, is based on the
following factors:
The number of unemployed individuals in the general
population in each state, compared with the total number of unemployed
individuals in the general population across all states; and
The number of veterans in the civilian labor force in
each state, compared with the total number of veterans in the civilian
labor force across all states.
VETS provides JVSG funds to states to support three types of staff
positions: Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program (DVOP) specialists,
Local Veterans' Employment Representatives (LVER) staff, and
Consolidated Positions (positions which perform the functions of both
the preceding staff positions).
The primary duty of DVOP specialists is to provide specialized
services to veterans and eligible spouses with significant barriers to
employment that are designed to mitigate an individual's particular
barriers to employment. Since FY 2014, appropriation language has
allowed DVOP specialists to provide services to transitioning service
members who have participated in TAP and are in need of intensive
services and to wounded, ill, or injured service members and their
caretakers. These intensive services, now referred to as individualized
career services under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
(WIOA), include comprehensive and specialized job readiness
assessments, interview preparation, development of individual
employment plans, and career guidance through group or individual
counseling. From July 2017 to June 2018, 99,296 eligible veterans
received services from DVOP specialists. Nearly 60 percent of these
individuals were employed within ninety days of service.
LVER staff promote veteran hiring through outreach activities that
build relationships with local employers with the goal of connecting
employers across the country with career-ready veterans. LVERs
coordinate with DVOP specialists and other AJC staff to transition
veteran clients into employment in the local community. Consolidated
positions allow states flexibility to provide appropriate employment
services for veterans and employer support in areas currently
underserved or where the assignment of only full-time DVOP specialists
or LVER staff would be impractical.
The FY 2020 budget requests $180,000,000 for the JVSG program to
continue providing employment and training services at American Job
Centers (AJCs) nationwide. The JVSG program will continue to fund DVOP
specialists to assist veterans with significant barriers to employment
and other eligible individuals, to help them attain family-sustaining
careers, and to fund LVER staff to assist employers in filling their
workforce needs with job-seeking veterans. Within the funding request,
JVSG staff will be able to expand the awareness of the HIRE Vets
Medallion Program (HVMP).
National Veterans' Employment and Training Institute (NVTI)
The NVTI was established in 1986 to increase the level of
proficiency and training of staff that provide employment services to
veterans. NVTI provides training to veteran service providers and
Federal staff, including DVOP specialists and LVER staff who provide or
oversee grant services, and Federal staff who perform compliance and
enforcement activities under the Uniformed Services Employment and
Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) and the Veterans' Employment
Opportunities Act. At the requested level, NVTI will maintain the
current curriculum, increase digital delivery, and train veteran
service providers in order to meet the training requirements at 38 USC
4102A(c)(8)(A).
Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program (HVRP)
The Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program (HVRP), authorized
under 38 U.S.C. 2021, provides services to help veterans experiencing
homelessness obtain meaningful employment and to develop effective
service delivery systems to address the complex problems they
encounter. Funds are awarded on a competitive basis to eligible
applicants, including: state and local Workforce Development Boards,
public agencies, for-profit/commercial entities, and nonprofit
organizations, including faith- and community-based organizations.
The FY 2020 budget requests $50,000,000 to allow HVRP grantees to
provide employment and training services that help thousands of
homeless veterans successfully re-enter the labor force. Direct
services include placement in employment, skills training, job
development, career counseling, and resume writing. Support services
may include clothing, referral to medical substance abuse treatment and
housing, and transportation assistance. As a member of the United
States Interagency Counsel on Homelessness, DOL collaborates with the
VA, as well as other Federal and local entities serving homeless
veterans. In FY 2018, HVRP provided services to 17,958 homeless
veterans and of those veterans who obtained employment, their average
wage was $13.50 per hour.
VETS also provides HVRP funding for ``Stand Down'' events in local
communities. A ``Stand Down'' event is a community-based event in which
organizations come together to serve veterans who are experiencing
homelessness, connecting them with support services to help them
reenter the workforce, gain permanent housing, and access healthcare
services.
President Trump signed S. 2248, the ``Veterans Benefits and
Transition Act of 2018,'' (Pub-Law 115-407) into law on December 31,
2018. This bill covered a range of veterans' issues, including
provisions that would increase veterans' benefits and those that would
improve the transition process from military to civilian life. Specific
to DOL, Pub-Law 115-407 amends Section 2021(a) of title 38, U.S.C., by
expanding eligible participants under HVRP. VETS included these
additional populations in the grant announcement which closed on April
26.
Federal Administration- Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment
Rights Act (USERRA) Enforcement
The FY 2020 budget requests $43,248,000 for Federal Administration.
The requested amount would provide for the salary and benefits, travel,
and training for all of VETS' current staff in the national office, six
regional offices, and offices in each state, the District of Columbia,
and Puerto Rico.
VETS is responsible for administering, interpreting, and helping
enforce the USERRA, pursuant to 38 U.S.C. 4301, et seq. VETS staff
conduct formal investigations of complaints received from individuals
who believe their employment or reemployment rights were violated. Upon
completion of an investigation, if the evidence supports the
allegations raised in the complaint, VETS will work with both the
employer and complainant to obtain the appropriate relief under the
law. If the complainant is dissatisfied with the results of the
investigation, he or she may request that the case be referred to
either the U.S. Department of Justice for non- Federal cases, or to the
U.S. Office of Special Counsel for Federal cases for consideration of
representation in either U.S. District Court or before the Merit
Systems Protection Board, as appropriate.
VETS is also responsible for investigating complaints received from
preference-eligible veterans who allege that their veterans' preference
rights in Federal employment were violated, pursuant to the Veterans'
Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA), 5 U.S.C. 3330a, et seq. In
addition, VETS receives and collects Federal contractor data reporting
pursuant to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act. In-
depth summaries of VETS' USERRA enforcement activities, including data
on cases opened during the last fiscal year, are provided in the
Department's USERRA Annual Report to Congress. \4\
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\4\ https://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra/index.htm.
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VETS conducts public outreach to educate service members,
employers, and others on their rights and responsibilities under
USERRA. At the requested funding level, VETS provides an online USERRA
advisory tool to assist veterans in understanding employee eligibility,
job entitlements, and obligations, as well as benefits, remedies, and
employer obligations under USERRA. \5\ This electronic advisory tool
helps veterans determine the types of preferences and benefits to which
they may be entitled, explains the process for filing a complaint, and
provides an electronic claim form.
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\5\ http://www.dol.gov/elaws/userra.htm.
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HIRE Vets Medallion Program
The Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing (HIRE)
American Military Veterans Act of 2017, P.L. 115-31 (Division O) (HIRE
Vets), required DOL to establish a program to recognize employer
efforts to recruit, employ, and retain veterans. The HIRE Vets
Medallion Award is the only Federal-level veterans' employment award
that recognizes a company or organization's commitment to veteran
hiring and retention. As set forth in the Act, the program is intended
to be entirely fee-funded and comprises different award criteria for
large employers (500-plus employees), medium employers (51-499
employees), and small employers (50 or fewer employees). This is a fee-
funded program and participants pay a non-refundable application fee.
On November 13, 2017, the Department published the Final Rule
establishing the HIRE Vets Medallion Program, at 82 FR 52186, and is
actively promoting the program, including providing guidance and
technical assistance to the public workforce system in order to ensure
that local employers are aware of this opportunity for recognition.
In 2018, VETS established the standard operating procedures and
criteria for the HIRE Vets Medallion Program through a demonstration
project, developed new IT systems to capture and analyze the
applications, selected the awardees for the demonstration project, and
presented the demonstration medallions to the recipients at a ceremony
on November 9th. The demonstration was limited to 300 applicants, 239
of which met the eligibility requirements to receive a demonstration
award. The demonstration award recipient list, along with additional
information about the program is available at www.hirevets.gov. Full
implementation of the program began in January of this year and the
open application period closes this month. We look forward to
announcing the award recipients on a date to coincide with Veterans'
Day.
Conclusion
The Department looks forward to working with the Subcommittee to
ensure that our transitioning service members, veterans, their spouses,
and care providers have the resources and training they need to be
successful in the civilian workforce. The improving employment
situation for veterans is a testament to the nationwide recognition
from stakeholders-both public and private, at the national level and
within local communities-of the value that veterans bring to the
civilian workforce. Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis, and
members of the Subcommittee, this concludes my statement for the
record. Thank you for the opportunity to provide this statement for the
record.
STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Introduction
Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis, and members of the
Subcommittee, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
appreciates the opportunity to provide a written statement on HUD's
Fiscal Year 2020 budget request for programs aimed at ending veteran
homelessness in the United States.
General HUD Homeless Assistance Programs
HUD's Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) provides
about $2.4 billion annually to communities to help end homelessness.
Funding is primarily used for permanent supportive housing, which
successfully houses people with long histories of homelessness and
significant disabilities. Permanent supportive housing has proven to
reduce hospitalization and emergency room utilization while
dramatically improving the well-being of the people it serves.
HUD also provides funding for rapid re-housing, a cost-effective
strategy that helps people move quickly into housing. This strategy
combines short-term financial assistance and supportive services to
help the formerly homeless stabilize in their housing, increase their
employment and income, and connect to community supports. HUD also
supports emergency shelter, transitional housing, and many other types
of assistance dedicated to ending homelessness.
In 2017, the last year for which data is available, approximately
17,000 veterans were served using $97 million through HUD's Continuum
of Care (CoC) program. Most of that funding is for permanent supportive
housing that houses approximately 10,000 veterans with disabilities.
Thousands more veterans are served with rapid re-housing, emergency
shelter, and other assistance.
HUD-Veterans' Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH)
The HUD-VASH program, administered by HUD's Office of Public and
Indian Housing (PIH), is dedicated to housing homeless veterans.
HUD-VASH has been successful in its approach to addressing veteran
homelessness by providing long-term housing assistance to the most
vulnerable veterans experiencing homelessness. It combines housing
choice voucher (HCV) rental assistance for homeless veterans with case
management and clinical services provided by the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA). VA provides these services for participating veterans at
VA medical centers (VAMCs) and community-based outreach clinics.
In the HUD-VASH program, the local VA case managers screen and
determine veteran eligibility for the program. Eligible veterans are
then referred to the partnering Public Housing Authority (PHA) to
receive their housing voucher assistance. By agreeing to administer the
HUD-VASH program, the PHA is relinquishing its authority to determine
the eligibility of families in accordance with regular Housing Choice
Voucher program rules and PHA policies with one exception: PHAs are
required to prohibit admission of any member of the household subject
to a lifetime registration requirement under a state sex offender
registration program.
To date, Congress has appropriated $755 million in HUD-VASH
funding. HUD-VASH vouchers are renewed based on actual leasing, as with
the HCV program generally. When a household leaves the program, their
voucher is reissued to another eligible household.
Every year since 2008, HUD and VA have collaboratively awarded new
HUD-VASH vouchers based on a community's geographic need (meaning the
size of its eligible veteran population) and administrative capacity. A
total of 97,576 HUD-VASH vouchers have been awarded to PHAs between
2008 and 2018. Of these, about 4,700 were awarded through a competitive
set- aside as project-based vouchers (PBV), in which the rental subsidy
is assigned to a specific housing unit rather than provided to a
veteran to find a unit in the private market to rent. PBVs have proven
to be an effective tool to help address the need for HUD-VASH in high-
cost rental markets or where there is a lack of affordable housing
stock. In addition to the HUD-VASH vouchers specifically awarded as
PBV, PHAs, with the support of their local VA partners, have the
ability to convert any of their existing HUD-VASH vouchers to PBV.
HUD will be awarding approximately 5,000 new HUD-VASH vouchers with
the additional $40 million in HUD-VASH funding that was appropriated in
FY2019. HUD is working with VA and United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness (USICH) to determine the processes and priorities for this
award.
HUD did not request new HUD-VASH vouchers in FY 2020 because, based
on an analysis conducted jointly by HUD and the VA, the turnover of
these existing HUD-VASH vouchers and the FY 2019 appropriation of $40
million is enough to meet the demand of current referrals of VA
eligible veterans who are experiencing homelessness and require the
intensive services and support of a HUD-VASH voucher.
To fulfill our shared commitment to ending veteran homelessness, it
is important to remember that HUD must serve all veterans experiencing
homelessness, including those not eligible for VA services. To achieve
this, HUD has been working with VA and CoC-funded local supportive
service providers to create a process that allows PHAs to partner with
local, VA-designated service-providers and use a portion of their
existing HUD-VASH vouchers to assist those homeless veterans with an
other-than-dishonorable discharge who do not qualify for VA healthcare.
This flexibility also helps communities better maximize the utilization
of their HUD- VASH resources.
These efforts around HUD-VASH demonstrate HUD's commitment to
optimize the effectiveness of the HUD-VASH program and allow for local
flexibility in addressing the homeless veteran population. HUD is also
exploring options to ensure maximum utilization of these vouchers to
ensure the highest number of veterans are being served across the
country.
Congress has provided HUD flexible authority to design the HUD-VASH
program in ways that would best serve homeless veterans. As HUD-VASH is
a joint program between HUD and the VA, both Departments are working
collaboratively on this reallocation effort to ensure that existing
HUD-VASH resources are being used as efficiently and effectively as
possible to serve the maximum number of eligible veterans across the
country. Therefore, HUD and VA are focusing on changes to maximize
effectiveness in the allocation of new vouchers and supporting PHAs in
their efforts to improve utilization, as opposed to the recapture and
reallocation of existing vouchers.
Tribal HUD-VASH
The Tribal HUD-VASH pilot program provides rental assistance and
supportive services to veterans who are Native American and
experiencing homelessness, or at risk of homelessness, while living on
or near a reservation or other Indian areas. Veterans participating in
this program are provided housing assistance through HUD and supportive
services through VA to foster long-term stability and prevent a return
to homelessness.
The pilot was first authorized in the Consolidated and Further
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (Public Law 113-235) - and Congress
has continued its support in subsequent years by enacting funds for
renewal grants and modest expansion. In all, 26 Indian tribes or
tribally designated housing entities (TDHE) currently participate in
the program. These recipients were initially awarded grants totaling
$5.9 million based on their level of need and administrative capacity.
HUD provided a first round of renewal funding to these recipients in
2018 and expects to do so again in 2019. HUD will also award additional
funding to expand the program using funds provided in the Consolidated
Appropriations Act of 2017.
Implementation of the program is overseen by HUD's Office of Native
American Programs (ONAP) within PIH, and VA is responsible for
providing case management services and referring eligible veterans for
housing assistance. As of April 2019, approximately 400 veterans have
received case management services, and of those, 330 veterans are also
currently being housed under the Tribal HUD-VASH program. The program
is producing tangible results, housing Native American veterans and
their families who were living in severely inadequate units - without
running water, heat or electricity - or in overcrowded living
conditions.
The President's Budget for FY 2020 requests authority to set aside
up to $4 million of Tenant Based Rental Assistance funds for necessary
renewal funding for the Tribal HUD-VASH program. While HUD believes
there is sufficient carryover funding appropriated in previous years to
provide renewal grants, this authority will allow the Department to
ensure that all veterans remain stably housed in the event that renewal
funding needs are higher than anticipated.
Continued Collaboration with VA and USICH
HUD has worked closely with VA for many years administering HUD-
VASH. Together, HUD, VA and the USICH have implemented a joint
decision-making structure known as Solving Veterans Homelessness as One
(SVHO) where the agencies jointly administer the programs and policies
related to veteran homelessness and develop and implement a range of
strategies for preventing and ending veteran homelessness. This
structure allows us to jointly review data on HUD-VASH and other
programs and to coordinate policymaking to ensure our assistance is
integrated and impactful.
This collaboration has also helped us improve utilization in the
HUD-VASH program, coordinate the implementation of the Tribal HUD-VASH
program, better target available assistance to those with the highest
needs, and ensure resources are prioritized for communities with
greater numbers of veterans experiencing homelessness.
HUD, VA and USICH have also used the structure of SVHO to jointly
create standards for evaluating whether communities have ended veteran
homelessness. Since 2014, more than 880 mayors, city and county
officials, and governors have set a goal of ending veteran homelessness
in their communities. As of April 17, 2019, 71 communities across 30
states have achieved the goal.
The agencies also collaborate on the implementation of Coordinated
Entry Systems, meaning a system that is easy for veterans and other
persons experiencing homelessness to access. Coordinated Entry ensures
that a homeless person has simple access to housing and other
homelessness resources. The collaboration between HUD and VA ensures
that veterans have access to all the resources in a community,
including VA dedicated resources, no matter where and how they access
assistance.
Technical Assistance for Communities
Because the ability of any community to end veteran homelessness
depends on the strength of each community's leadership and successful
implementation of proven strategies, HUD and its federal partners are
committed to helping communities get there. In addition to providing
homeless assistance funds, HUD supports several technical assistance
initiatives that have helped reduce veteran homelessness. The Built for
Zero and Vets@Home initiatives help communities implement best
practices and learn from the successes of other communities. Both
initiatives were designed with the explicit goal of helping communities
end veteran homelessness.
In 2012, HUD and VA partnered with the 100K Homes Campaign and
Rapid Results Institute to hold ``bootcamps'' for 13 HUD-VASH
communities. The events brought together PHA, VA, CoC, and HUD staff as
community-centered groups to map their processes and identify creative
and collaborative ways to improve them. These bootcamps were extremely
successful and helped to get the HUD-VASH program utilization to where
it is today. This bootcamp model has since been used to inform the
continuing collaborative process for HUD-VASH and the roll out of
Tribal HUD-VASH.
Some best practices have included incorporating HUD-VASH in a
larger coordinated entry system to ensure there are multiple access
points for veterans seeking help, coordinated outreach efforts to
locate all veterans in need of assistance, and better data sharing
across systems to ensure veterans do not fall through the cracks.
HUD has worked with our partners to identify specific strategies
for utilizing HUD-VASH vouchers in high-cost, low-vacancy communities.
These are often the same communities with the greatest need. In
addition to converting HUD-VASH to project based vouchers, PHAs have
used their flexibility to increase their payment standard, including
the adoption of exception payment standards, to be competitive in the
private market. Another strategy has been intensive landlord outreach
and maintaining landlord relationships. PHAs have also been able to
connect with local service providers that assist veterans in their
housing search.
HUD continues to help communities with targeted assistance. HUD has
launched a technical assistance initiative focused on helping
communities with high numbers of unsheltered people experiencing
homelessness, including high numbers of unsheltered veterans. The
initiative focuses on helping those communities implement best
practices that have helped end veteran homelessness in cities such as
Houston, New Orleans, and Las Vegas. HUD is also providing assistance
to rural communities to help increase their capacity and address
challenges unique to veterans living in rural areas, such as access to
transportation.
Results
Each year, communities across the country conduct point in time
counts of people experiencing homelessness. The count, held annually in
January, includes people living in shelters as well as people sleeping
on sidewalks, in parks, in cars, or in other places not meant for human
habitation. Based on the 2018 count, veteran homelessness decreased by
5.4 percent between 2017 and 2018 bringing the overall decline in
veteran homeless to 49 percent (a decrease of 36,209 veterans) since
2010. This kind of reduction is historic, and HUD-VASH has been a
primary reason for this progress.
A robust body of evidence shows that the combination of permanent
supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and other targeted interventions
can indeed end homelessness. The long-term national trend and the
results in the many communities that have ended veteran homelessness
show the positive results of a coordinated effort.
Conclusion
A great deal of progress has been made in the way HUD works with
other agencies to address veteran homelessness. The HUD-VASH program
continues to be a model for interagency collaboration and one of the
best tools for ending veteran homelessness. Nonetheless, HUD must
continue to find ways to maximize the effectiveness of the HUD-VASH
program, while also assisting communities in utilizing all available
homeless assistance resources.
Thank you again for this opportunity to discuss HUD's efforts to
end veteran homelessness.
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