WASHINGTON NEWS IN BRIEF : War-zone civilians lack in benefits, report finds
Posted on Friday, May 2, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/National/224447/
WASHINGTON — Health care and other benefits for civilians serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is lacking, according to a report released Wednesday by the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which is chaired by Arkansas’ Rep. Vic Snyder, a Democrat.
Snyder’s committee found that federal government employees who deploy to combat zones don’t have medical care coordinators, which are provided for soldiers wounded in combat, and are not tested and treated for potential mental-health problems upon leaving Iraq and Afghanistan.
A Department of Defense rule that civilians can be treated in military hospitals under “compelling circumstances” needs clarification, the report said, and workers compensation rules for job injuries do not apply for combat zone injuries.
Currently, about 3, 000 Pentagon civilian employees are serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The House Veterans Affairs Committee passed three bills Wednesday being pushed by Rep. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican.
The Veterans Benefits Awareness Act would authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to purchase national advertising to make veterans and their families aware of available benefits.
The two other bills would authorize a 20-year study of vocational training programs, and increase the amount of money available to pay for veterans ’ classes and the amount of time during which veterans could use their educational benefits.
Boozman introduced a resolution Wednesday to celebrate the 100 th anniversary of the Ozark National Forest.
Through a proclamation on March 6, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt made the 917, 944-acre forest in Northwest Arkansas the first federally protected stand of hardwoods in the United States.
Currently, the federal protection covers more than one million acres of land.
On Monday, Rep. Marion Berry, a Democrat, participated in a bipartisan debate over healthcare issues, held at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
The debate was the second in a planned series of eight debates sponsored by the House Democratic Caucus, House Republican Conference, Democratic Leadership Council and the Congressional Institute.
Seven other House members joined Berry in the debate.
Berry used the forum to push for his bill, the Medicare Prescription Drug Savings and Choice Act, which would require the federal government to negotiate prices with drug companies when buying pharmaceuticals.