NEWS FROM….

CONGRESSMAN LANE EVANS

RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

    U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Washington, DC – President Clinton today signed an omnibus veterans bill that includes a 23 percent increase to the basic education readjustment benefit for veterans, effective November 1, 2000. Congressman Lane Evans of Illinois, the Democrat leader of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, led the fight to increase the GI Bill benefits. The Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) benefit will increase to $650 per month for a three-year period of service and to $528 per month for a two-year period of service. The measure signed by Clinton (Public Law 106-419), the Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act, also includes an Evans-supported provision for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) nurse pay raises, and other personnel measures to recruit and retain skilled health care staff such as dentists and physician assistants.

"As for the Montgomery GI Bill," said Evans, "I see this as a positive, first step in revitalizing the education benefits America’s veterans earn through honorable military service. This legislation will benefit the men and women who serve in uniform and it will strengthen VA’s ability to care for veterans. It also makes very good sense for the military."

Lane Evans served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam era and received GI Bill education benefits as a veteran. As a member on the House Armed Services Committee, Evans has repeatedly expressed serious concern over the declining purchasing power of the GI Bill and the difficulties the military has experienced with meeting its recruiting goals. Evans has led congressional action to provide a meaningful increase in GI Bill benefits. Earlier this year, he and John Dingell (D-MI) introduced a more comprehensive proposal, H.R.1071, which gained 160 cosponsors -- one-third of the House -- to support a significantly greater increase in educational benefits. Veterans and service advocates see this as vital. Their show of support for a meaningful increase in the GI Bill sent a powerful message to Congress.

The VA nurse pay legislation will allow VA nurses the same annual pay raise other federal employees receive. "My mother was a nurse," Evans said, "so I understand the pressures nurses face as the backbone of the VA health care system." Nurses are the largest part of the VA workforce, and have been the only VA health professionals who work without a definite annual comparability pay raise. The legislation provides VA nurses the same predictability of a pay raise that every other VA health professional enjoys.

The bill also allows VA hospital directors who face nursing staff shortages an opportunity to raise salaries so they can compete with other local health care facilities. Today competition for skilled health care personnel is fierce. Besides annual nurse pay increases, the legislation:

• addresses pay inequities faced by VA dentists;
• provides physician assistants long-sought representation within VA headquarters along with better training opportunities; and,
• helps VA retain social workers, pharmacists and medical support personnel.

This legislation will help VA address significant problems faced by its hard-working and caring medical staff, Evans said. "Many VA nurses and other skilled professionals have devoted their careers to caring for our Nation’s veterans, when they might have been able to make more money in the private sector," he said. "We need to take care of the people who take care of our veterans."

The Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act also allows the VA to extend its buy-out authority for two additional years, so VA can restructure its workforce by bringing in health care professionals and others with the needed mix of skills to contribute to the changing needs of the system. "Buyouts are greatly preferable to employees than the reductions-in-force that VA might otherwise have to employ," said Evans. "They give VA flexibility in updating the skills within its workforce."

The bill also mandates a follow-up survey of the status of the readjustment of Vietnam-era veterans advocated by veterans organizations, which was proposed earlier this year to Congressman Evans during an issues seminar he sponsored marking the 25^th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. "In addition, it calls for a new focus on military service in assessing factors that may affect a veteran’s health," said Evans. "Many members of the Vietnam Veterans in Congress Caucus supported this Veterans Health Initiative."

Evans said he is concerned that congressional reluctance to fund various VA construction projects would undermine the Department’s ability to ensure the safety and integrity of its aging infrastructure. "This legislation would allow many worthy projects to go forward, but appropriators must still fund them." The bill authorizes funding for a geropsychiatric facility in Palo Alto, a major renovation at Long Beach, and repair of an electrical plant at the Miami VA Medical Center. "These are worthwhile projects that will allow VA to perform its patient care mission in secure environments. While we are looking at options to restructure VA’s resources, some construction is necessary. Most VA facilities are over 25 years old."