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Hearing Transcript on Legislative Hearing on H.R. 2721, H.R. 3786, H.R. 6070, H.R. 4255, H.R. 6221, H.R. 6224, H.R. 6225, and H.R. 6272
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LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON H.R. 2721, H.R. 3786, H.R. 6070, H.R. 4255, H.R. 6221, H.R. 6224, H.R. 6225, AND H.R. 6272
HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY OF THE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JUNE 19, 2008 SERIAL No. 110-93 Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
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COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS |
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CORRINE BROWN, Florida |
STEVE BUYER, Indiana, Ranking |
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Malcom A. Shorter, Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
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. |
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C O N T E N T S
June 19, 2008
Legislative Hearing on H.R. 2721, H.R. 3786, H.R. 6070, H.R. 4255, H.R. 6221, H.R. 6224, H.R. 6225, and H.R. 6272
OPENING STATEMENTS
Chairwoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin
Prepared statement of Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin
Hon. John Boozman, Ranking Republican Member
Prepared statement of Congressman Boozman
WITNESSES
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, R. Keith Pedigo, Associate Deputy Under Secretary for Policy and Program Management, Veterans Benefits Administration
Prepared statement of Mr. Pedigo
American Legion, Joseph C. Sharpe, Jr., Deputy Director, National Economic Commission
Prepared statement of Mr. Sharpe
Cardoza, Hon. Dennis, a Representative in Congress from the State of California
Prepared statement of Congressman Cardoza
Carter, Hon. John R., a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas
Prepared statement of Congressman Carter
CTIA—The Wireless Association, Bobby Franklin, Executive Vice President
Prepared statement of Mr. Franklin
Disabled American Veterans, Kerry Baker, Associate National Legislative Director
Prepared statement of Mr. Baker
Filner, Hon. Bob, Chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, a Representative in Congress from the State of California
Prepared statement of Congressman Filner
Lofgren, Hon. Zoe, a Representative in Congress from the State of California
Prepared statement of Congresswoman Lofgren
Paralyzed Veterans of America, Richard Daley, Associate Legislation Director
Prepared statement of Mr. Daley
United States Olympic Committee, Charles Huebner, Chief of Paralympics
Prepared statement of Mr. Huebner
Vietnam Veterans of America, Richard F. Weidman, Executive Director for Policy and Government Affairs
Prepared statement of Mr. Weidman
Welch, Hon. Peter, a Representative in Congress from the State of Vermont
Prepared statement of Congressman Welch
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD
U.S. Department of Defense, Hon. Michael L. Dominguez, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, statement
U.S. Department of Labor, Hon. Charles S. Ciccolella, Assistant Secretary for Veterans' Employment and Training, statement
OnPoynt Communications, Dallas, TX, Rebecca Noah Poynter, Owner, and Co-Founder, Military Spouse Business Association, statement
MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
Post-Hearing Questions and Responses for the Record:
LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON H.R. 2721, H.R. 3786, H.R. 6070, H.R. 4255, H.R. 6221, H.R. 6224, H.R. 6225, AND H.R. 6272
Thursday, June 19, 2008
U. S. House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity,
Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:05 p.m., in Room 334, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin [Chairwoman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Herseth Sandlin, Hall, and Boozman.
Also Present: Representative Filner.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRWOMAN HERSETH SANDLIN
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The Committee on Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity hearing on pending legislation will come to order.
I would like to call to the attention of the Subcommittee the fact that the Honorable John Carter of Texas has asked to submit a written statement for the hearing record on behalf of his constituent, Mrs. Rebecca North Poynter. If there is no objection, I ask for unanimous consent that her statement be entered into the record. Hearing no objection, so entered.
[The statement of Ms. Poynter appears in the Appendix]
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Today, we have eight bills before us that seek to authorize the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to make a grant to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to provide and develop activities for servicemembers and veterans with physical disabilities; allow military servicemembers to terminate certain contracts when called to active-duty service or ordered to change permanent duty assignment; require the VA to develop and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to distribute a compact disk of benefits information to servicemembers preparing to depart from the military; amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) to allow a military spouse to claim the same State as the servicemember in regards to State and property taxes, and voter registration; and reauthorize the Service Members Occupational Conversion and Training Act (SMOCTA) of 1992.
Some of you might recall on February 13 of this year, we conducted a hearing on expiring programs. In this hearing, we received recommendations on ways to improve on the programs and expand on veterans' rights. One such recommendation came from Mr. Matthew Tully of Tully and Rinckey, LLC, who specializes in law under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, also known as USERRA. Mr. Tully brought up an example of how a servicemember who had sought injunctive relief from his employer, but the court denied his request. Mr. Tully recommended that the Subcommittee consider amending USERRA to allow servicemembers such as the one who is cited to ensure equitable relief as available to USERRA victims when the courts decide it is appropriate.
I share the concerns expressed by Mr. Tully and recently introduced H.R. 6225, the "Injunctive Relief for Veterans Act of 2008." This bill will amend Title 38 by changing "may" to "shall" and it is our expectation that more courts will use this remedy when deemed appropriate that equitable relief is warranted. This legislation is a step in the right direction to providing greater protections and safeguards to those who have answered the call to duty.
A second bill that I recently introduced is H.R. 6224, the "Pilot College Work Study Programs for Veterans Act of 2008." This bill contains similar language that I proposed in H.R. 5684, the "Veterans Education Improvement Act of 2008," which would improve existing education for our veterans.
H.R. 6224 would direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a five-year pilot project to expand on existing work-study activities for veterans. Currently, veterans who qualify for work study would be limited to working on VA-related work. My bill would allow those veterans the option of working in academic departments and student services. This change would put them at par with students that qualify for the work-study position under programs not administered by the VA.
Furthermore, this bill would conform to existing PAYGO rules by providing for discretionary appropriations.
I look forward to working with Ranking Member Boozman and other Members of the Subcommittee to discussing these two legislative proposals and those being considered in today's legislative hearing.
[The statement of Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin appears in the Appendix]
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I now recognize Mr. Boozman for any remarks he may have.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BOOZMAN
Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you, Madam Chair. Today, we will hear testimony on eight bills covering diverse issues facing veterans and their families. I especially want to thank you for including H.R. 6221, a bill that will close a possible loophole in VA's disabled veterans business contracting and acquisition programs. This is something that we have introduced together. Again, I appreciate you bringing it forward.
I would offer one thought on the bill to reauthorize the long-expired Service Members Occupational Training Act, SMOCTA. The goal of SMOCTA was to retrain veterans with few or no transferable military skills and skills better suited to today's job market. This is a worthy goal, and I support it and commend our colleague from Vermont for bringing this issue before us.
There are several ways to offer retraining, and I would like to explore with you, Madam Chair, and with Mr. Welch whether or not it would be more effective to reauthorize SMOCTA or take several SMOCTA concepts and use them to expand VA's existing on-the-job training, apprenticeship programs for recently discharged veterans, and those who have passed their eligibility date for VA benefits.
Given the current awareness of education and training for veterans, we may have an opportunity here to put more veterans into good jobs. I know that you share those goals, Madam Chair, and I look forward to working with you and Mr. Welch and our colleagues on the Committee to make that happen. I yield back.
[The statement of Congressman Boozman appears in the Appendix]
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Boozman.
I would like to welcome our panelists testifying before the Subcommittee today. Joining us in our full Committee Chairman, the Honorable Mr. Bob Filner of California, the Honorable Zoe Lofgren of California, the Honorable Dennis Cardoza, also of California; the Honorable John Carter of Texas.
Mr. CARDOZA. Who would like to live in California.
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. The Texas cavalry here. And the Honorable Peter Welch of Vermont, one of the smaller, less-populated States well represented here on the Subcommittee. All of your full written statements will be made part of the hearing record and we welcome all of you to the Subcommittee. Thank you for the bills that you have introduced that we are considering today.
Chairman Filner, you are recognized.
STATEMENTS OF HON. BOB FILNER, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS, AND A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA; HON. ZOE LOFGREN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA; HON. DENNIS A. CARDOZA, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA; HON. JOHN R. CARTER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS; AND HON. PETER WELCH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF VERMONT
Mr. FILNER. Thank you, Madam Chair. I certainly thank you and your Ranking Member, Mr. Boozman, for the leadership you have shown over the last year and a half. You have been an incredibly productive, incisive Subcommittee and we appreciate everything you have done.
I would like to just spend a few minutes on H.R. 4255, the "United States Olympic Committee Paralympics Program Act of 2007." For many servicemembers and veterans who have been severely injured from service to our country, their rehabilitation can be a disheartening experience. Many become concerned about having the same quality of life that they had prior to their injuries.
Programs administered by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) Paralympic Military Program, can enhance and improve the quality of life for these men and women by introducing them to an active lifestyle while they heal from their wounds.
Today, the USOC programs have been providing support for severely injured veterans since 2003, introducing them to adaptive sport techniques. These opportunities will enable our veterans to face their new physical realities and to continue living an active lifestyle through adaptive sports.
We know there is a growing population of veterans who have survived serious injuries that would benefit from the good work being done by the USOC, and that is why I have introduced this bill to support our heroic men and women as they transition through this very difficult phase in their lives.
This bill would authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make a grant to the U.S. Olympic Committee to provide Paralympic instruction, competitive activities, and program development activities for servicemembers and veterans with physical disabilities.
The purpose of the program is to enhance the rehabilitation of current severely injured servicemembers and veterans and to reduce the chance of secondary medical conditions. Up to now, more than 1,200 injured veterans have been introduced to Paralympic sports as a result of these training programs, but much more needs to be done in order to continue to provide this dynamic rehabilitative environment.
I hope you can support this bill. I am sure many of you have seen what getting involved in these programs can do for the self-esteem, the sense of well-being, the sense of a future for these veterans. It is one of those programs we visit that moves us. I know it moves us to tears sometimes to see how these men and women have overcome some very serious injuries. We know how to not only keep them alive on the battlefield, but how to evacuate them quickly and get superior help, whether in theater or in Germany. But that means there is a lot of healing and rehabilitation work to do.
I haven't seen a program that does more for their sense of well-being than this program, and I hope that we, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, can aid the U.S. Olympic Committee in this effort. I think you are going to hear more about that in later testimony.
They do an incredible job. When you see these veterans have a sense of confidence and a sense of their own future, it is really remarkable. Thank you.
[The statement of Congressman Filner appears in the Appendix]
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Chairman Filner, for working so closely with this Subcommittee and your valuable leadership on the full Committee. We have had the opportunity in earlier hearings before the Subcommittee, to hear from some of those who benefited from these important programs, and we thank you for introducing this important bill.
Ms. Lofgren, thank you for being here at the Subcommittee. You are now recognized.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. ZOE LOFGREN
Ms. LOFGREN. Thank you so much, Chairman Herseth Sandlin and Ranking Member Boozman. I appreciate the opportunity to testify on behalf of the bill I have introduced, the "Servicemembers Telecom Relief Act."
A constituent call first alerted me to this problem where servicemembers have been called up or dispatched to a different part of the country and they have difficulty dealing with their cell phone contract. Oftentimes we enter into multiyear contracts when we get our phones, and although many service providers have express policies that would allow active duty military to terminate, sometimes those policies are overlooked and not every single provider has them. So this bill would provide certainty.
It would allow members of the Armed Services to suspend or terminate contracts for telecommunication services when those services are of no use to them because of their call to active duty or an involuntary extension of the period of military service or deployment overseas to locations where the services aren't available.
When a soldier is called up, the last thing they need to be worried about is their cable bill. As one mother called and told me with her son in Iraq, she said her son is over there risking his neck; he shouldn't have to deal with a cell phone company.
So I don't mean to suggest that most cell phone companies have been abusive in that. In fact, telecom providers have reached out to my office, offering helpful suggestions for potential changes that would harmonize the bill as introduced with the Communications Act and have been very collaborative, and I do appreciate this. However, I think having some certainty in this area would be important.
I want to clarify that the bill is narrower than H.R. 3298, introduced by Mr. Murphy of Pennsylvania. But I support his bill. In fact, I am a cosponsor of his bill. This would be encompassed if the Committee moves that bill or, this is a unique issue, we could move this bill. Silicon Valley, I guess, is ground zero for high tech, and it is something that has caught my attention. I think it would be another thing we can do for our brave men and women who are doing so much for us.
So I appreciate the opportunity to testify and the leadership of all of you in making sure we do the right thing for these brave Americans.
[The statement of Congresswoman Lofgren appears in the Appendix]
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Congresswoman Lofgren. We appreciate that you have worked with the telecom companies and other providers, and appreciate your support of Mr. Murphy's bill as well. We will be moving to a markup next week and be looking at different bills for consideration, and look forward to hearing some of the thoughts of others that are testifying today on your bill, in the hopes that we can integrate some of the provisions of yours into a broader bill, given we have already had a hearing for Mr. Murphy's as well. Thank you for working with those in the industry.
Mr. Cardoza, welcome to the Subcommittee. You are now recognized.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. DENNIS CARDOZA
Mr. CARDOZA. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate you inviting me here today to testify on an issue that I am sure you will agree will make life just a little bit easier for our Nation's veterans.
Madam Chair, I have a veterans advisory committee that I meet with regularly in my district, and in these meetings, veterans time and time again have told me that veterans, the rank and file veterans especially, are simply unaware of the benefits that they are eligible for. In several instances, veterans have told me upon being discharged and returning to the United States, they must sit through a transitional process meeting explaining some of their benefit programs immediately upon exiting the plane.
Madam Chair, I am sure you will agree that after fighting for our country and being away from loved ones for months at a time, the last thing our troops have on their mind is their benefits. They want to see and hug their family and their children. They are tired from an exhausting flight; they are longing to see their families waiting just beyond the gate.
Yet, this process meeting may be the only time that some veterans hear about their benefits. More often than not, this is a missed opportunity. Others have told me that in their briefings with the VA representative they only have five minutes, with a dozen other veterans awaiting their five-minute briefing as well.
The veterans receive incomplete information. They are handed a few pamphlets. They oftentimes feel rushed and are unable to ask questions that they may have thought of right after they leave the meeting because of time constraints.
I respectfully ask that this Subcommittee consider for a moment how in the world anyone can explain all the available benefits to which a veteran is entitled in five minutes, let alone answer potential questions.
Madam Chair, my bill, H.R. 2721, is quite simple. It would require the Secretary of the VA to issue a comprehensive CD-ROM to returning veterans that clearly explains the benefits to which they are entitled. The CD would inform returning veterans and their families in plain English about how to access and navigate VA so they know about all the benefits they have earned and how to go about receiving them.
This would provide a one-stop source for veterans where they can simply pop a CD into their computer whenever they wish to look up the information so no benefit slips through the bureaucratic cracks. I understand VA currently outlines some of the information on their Web sites or in pamphlets. This information is not comprehensive, however.
My bill requires full, complete and updated information be provided on a VA Web site as well. However, a CD, in my opinion, is still necessary and would benefit districts like mine with large rural areas where access to the Internet may not always be reliable or, in some cases, even available.
This bill only fixes the process, not the symptoms, and it is just one small step in the right direction to ensure our veterans who served so honorably receive the benefits they earned. I believe if we fix the broken informational process, we are going a long way toward solving some of the benefit problems.
Giving the troops the informational tools they need to ensure they are actually receiving their well-deserved benefits is the least we can do on behalf of a grateful Nation.
Thank you again for allowing me to be here and give testimony on behalf of the bill.
[The statement of Congressman Cardoza appears in the Appendix]
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Cardoza.
You may be interested to know that Mr. Boozman and I recently attended a field hearing with our colleague Mr. Donnelley in Indiana, in which we realized there, as we did in other parts of the country and other testimony we have taken, people are falling through the cracks in getting access to information about their benefits, whether they are Reservists who are in smaller detachments that are now being deployed, whether it is full units in the National Guard and the different States on how they have handled demobilization, and certainly those that are going through the Transition Assistance Program (TAP), which is not mandatory at our active-duty bases around country.
So we appreciate it. We think it is a great idea. We appreciate the bill you are bringing forward and a way, a step forward in the right direction of sharing information in a way that is reliable, that will allow servicemembers and their family members to go back with reliable information to help answer their questions.
So, again, we thank you for your testimony and the bill you have introduced.
Mr. Carter, you are now recognized.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. JOHN CARTER
Mr. CARTER. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to thank the Members of the Subcommittee for allowing me to be here to talk about an issue that I think is pretty important to our veterans, our servicemembers, and I want to thank you for all that you do for our veterans and servicemembers. I am pleased to serve on the Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee. We work on many of the same issues, and I am proud to work with you on those issues.
I want to talk today about H.R. 6070, the "Military Spouses Residency Relief Act." This, like many things that happen here in Congress, started when a former constituent whose husband was still a constituent came to me to meet in the office here in DC. I say that for scenario because her husband had chosen Fort Hood, Texas, as his residency, as he could under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and they had been transferred to the Pentagon. He was, I believe, a major.
But she, in turn, could not claim Fort Hood as a residency. She had a business that just did business in Texas, and yet she was paying taxes in Virginia, she had to register to vote in Virginia, and vote for a different Congressman. She had to get a new drivers license. In other words, she was not given the same courtesy of claiming the residency of the families' choice that her husband had, that we had given to him as a member of the service. This seemed, to me, to not be a fair thing to happen. She pointed out that she actually made more income than her major soldier did, but they honored the Army and they were proud to be part of it.
It seemed to me that this is something that we ought to be able to fix. I think it will provide relief. Remember, we say now, and I know this is said at Fort Hood all the time, we recruit a soldier, but we retain a family. The vast majority of our servicemen and women today that are in our military service are married, many with children, and so we are now a married military. We need to provide the relief to these spouses that we give to the soldier, and that is that she or he should be able to choose the residency that her spouse, his or her spouse shows as their residency so the family has the same residency, they get their same services from the same Congressional district, they vote for the same Congressman or Congresswoman, and they have a relationship to where they choose to call home.
We can do this with this bill. This will allow the wife to choose that place, or where her husband has chosen. It helps with land titles, it helps with titles to vehicles. If there is a divorce, it is very important if there should be a divorce in the family. It helps voter registration, it helps with vehicle registration, and most of all, it helps with income taxes versus other taxes in the States where they have chosen to be residents.
This has no effect whatsoever—it is revenue-neutral for the United States Government, but it is important to the revenue of the families of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and I would respectfully request that this is a simple matter that will make a major difference in the lives of these folks.
The average loss that every spouse makes on a move is somewhere between $5,500 and $7,200. Every time they make a move. Almost 90 percent of our spouses work. It is critical we give the same relief to the spouse that we give to the soldier.
I would hope that you would support this idea and this bill so that we can make this family united in their residency and domicile.
I thank you for allowing me to be here.
[The statement of Congressman Carter appears in the Appendix]
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Carter.
I do support this bill and this concept. We look forward to getting some additional input from the folks who will be testifying later, but I certainly agree with you that in light of whether it is the example you provided in some of the temporary assignments to people here in the Pentagon, but also the other moves that we know our military families make on such a frequent basis, that we will be looking to simplify their lives in those transitions, not the complexities of the jurisdictional issues they face when spouses can't claim the same benefit as it relates to residency.
So we appreciate your testimony and sharing with us your constituent's experience, your concern, and all the other examples you gave about how this can become very complicated for families and a way of cutting through some of this jurisdictional matters that they are facing to make it easier for them
Mr. CARTER. Thank you for allowing me to be here and thank you for admitting the evidence that Ms. Poynter submitted to the committee.
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you very much.
Mr. Welch, we have pending votes, as you know, but I think we have time to wrap up our first panel with your testimony.
You are recognized.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. PETER WELCH
Mr. WELCH. I really appreciate it, Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin and Ranking Member Boozman. We are all grateful to you in Congress because you have been doing something all of us know we need to do, and that is respect the service of our soldiers.
I am here to testify on behalf of a reauthorization of the Service Members Occupational Conversion and Training Act. As you know, that had been authorized in the 1990s and it was to assist veterans returning home to get employment after their military careers. It worked. And expired. The question is will we reauthorize it.
What I think is so tremendous about this program is that it focuses on soldiers and their future because when they come back, there is an enormous amount of dislocation, as you know. Sometimes soldiers have very bad injuries. They have got to contend with that. This Congress, with your leadership, has paid a lot of attention to increasing veterans benefits, particularly in the area of healthcare, because the cost of the war has to include the cost of caring for the warrior.
But what soldiers want is what any other American wants, and that is hope. It is about getting on with the future, and that is about having a job where you can feel good about showing up for work, where you can pay your bills, and take care of your family, be a provider.
What this does is recognize that these employment-based programs have to be a very important component of making our soldiers get integrated back into life. It was a practical program, in that it worked with employers who were willing to work with veterans by reimbursing them for an 18-month period that would allow workers to get the skills they needed to do sometimes retraining, some job programming. So it is a practical and proven program that helps our soldiers get back into normal life, and most of us, normal life includes a job that we really value.
So you know better than I all the compelling reasons to do what we can for our soldiers. This is a program, this is relatively inexpensive, proven to be effective, talks about the future, and gives soldiers an opportunity to develop their skills in civilian life.
I thank you very much for the opportunity to be here before you and again applaud you for the tremendous work you have done on a bipartisan basis to help us meet our commitment to our soldiers.
Thank you.
[The statement of Congressman Welch appears in the Appendix]
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Welch, for introducing this bill. You are right about the proven effectiveness of the program, and we look forward to working with you to ensure reauthorization, with perhaps looking forward and seeing if there might be some changes that might be necessary.
I know that Mr. Boozman will want to visit with you as we head down to votes perhaps, or now, since we have a little bit of time, about some of his thoughts about the Reauthorization Act
Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Chair, again, I appreciate you bringing this forward. I think it is something that we need to do, I think something that we are committed to doing. I think what we would like to do is work with you to have some ideas of tweaking things.
Mr. WELCH. I would be delighted. As you know, Peter King had very similar legislation in another bill, and has been a leader in Congress as well.
Mr. BOOZMAN. We look forward to working with you, and hopefully getting this thing done.
Mr. WELCH. Thank you.
Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you for your commitment to our Nation's servicemembers and veterans.
We will resume this Subcommittee hearing after this series of votes.
[Recess.]
Mr. BOOZMAN. [Presiding]. Thank you all for bearing with us. The only thing we have to do here is vote, and that is one thing we can't put off.
Let's go ahead and get the second panel.
Joining us on our second panel of witnesses is Mr. Charles Huebner, Chief of Paralympics for the United States Olympic Committee, and Mr. Bobby Franklin, Executive Vice President of CTIA, the Wireless Association. We are very pleased that you are here at the Subcommittee today. In the interest of time and respect to all the panelists here today, we ask that you limit your testimony to five minutes. Your entire written statement will be put in the record.
Mr. BOOZMAN. Let's start with Mr. Huebner.
STATEMENTS OF CHARLES HUEBNER, CHIEF OF PARALYMPICS, UNITED STATES OLYMPIC COMMITTEE; AND BOBBY FRANKLIN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CTIA—THE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION
Mr. HUEBNER. Ranking Member Boozman, thank you for allowing us to be here again. I am really go to update you a little bit on what we have been doing with the Paralympic Military Program. As you know and the Subcommittee knows, the Paralympic movement exists today because of injured veterans following World War II using sport as rehabilitation.
USOC today spends more than $12 million annually on Paralympic Programs. All of these funds, of course, have been from private sources. Paralympic organizations throughout the U.S. spend an additional $30 million at the local level to provide sports and physical activity programs for persons with physical disabilities, including veterans and injured military personnel.
I would like to ad lib a little bit. Looking at the some of the testimony from some of our other partner organizations that we work with, I just want to clarify, and maybe even assist some of their testimony. What we do is not exclusive competition or just elite competition. The priority focus of the Paralympic movement is, one, to send a team to the games. But 95 percent of the participants that participate in community-based Paralympic Programs will never go to the Paralympic games.
Our focus at the USOC with our partners is to provide physical activity as part of rehabilitation for persons with physical disabilities. The majority of the population that we touch on a daily basis will never, ever see the Paralympic games.
Let me give you a couple examples of that. Veteran Kortney Clemons, who currently resides in Chula Vista, California, was injured in Iraq. Kortney participated in our Paralympic Military Sport Camp three years ago. Last month, he graduated from Penn State University. Last week he started an internship at San Diego Adaptive Sports and Recreation, and is pursuing his career interest to be a therapeutic recreational specialist in community Paralympic Programs.
He is just one example. Kortney is not going to the Paralympic games. He is one example of what we are trying to do in looking at the rehabilitation process by using sport as a platform to re-engage in life, education and employment, and that is a primary focus of what we are trying to do.
In the past two weeks, the USOC and our partners, including Paralympic organizations, veteran organizations, parks and recreation offices, and Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) chapters accomplished the following: 20 veterans participated in a Paralympic veterans program in Alabama led by Paralympic mentor Carlos Leon, a Marine veteran; 18 veterans participated in a Paralympics veterans program in Oklahoma, led by Army veteran, Paralympic mentor and, sir, I have to do this, University of Arkansas graduate, John Register.
The USOC launched a pilot program at Fort Lewis, Washington, last week focused on providing programming and physical activity support to more than 700 individuals in the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Lewis.
In collaboration with Mesa Parks and Recreation, Arizona Disabled Sports, and Arizona PVA, more than 85 athletes participated in Paralympic track and field events in Tempe, Arizona, including 15 injured veterans.
We also have developed and are implementing community sports programs that are recreational in nature, supporting VA facilities in Augusta, Tampa, Richmond, Minneapolis, San Diego, Palo Alto, Birmingham, Chicago, Cheyenne, Atlanta, and Oklahoma City.
Our focus in what we are trying to develop with the Paralympic Military Program is not to develop elite athletes. The primary focus and what lacks today greatly in the United States is the availability of community-based programs for injured military personnel and veterans to participate in upon their return home. That is a major concern of ours.
There are a lot of great events that our partners and us put on on an annual basis that people come to for a week and participate in. Our biggest concern in the thrust of everything we are doing and the resources that H.R. 4255 would provide for veterans is to make sure that there are programs existing in their communities when they go home. That is the major emphasis to what we are trying to develop, ensuring that community programs and Paralympic mentors are available to veterans upon return home.
Those programs are not at VA facilities. I am going to read you a direct quote from a Paralympic mentor. I emphasize community and I emphasize collaboration because it is cost-efficient and it is effective and we can reach more people. This is what a veteran said: "The reason I do, as one veteran said, I spent a year of my life in a hospital rehabbing. The last place I want to go with family or friends to play basketball is the hospital."
Our programs are focused on creating programs in the community, and we see ourselves as an extension of the Department of Veterans Affairs and other entities, the Department of Defense, to support injured military personnel with community programs. When I say we, it is not just the U.S. Olympic Committee. It is organizations look the Parks and Recreation Association, which has 6,000 programs in communities all over the United States; it is organizations like the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and the PVA that we collectively will be efficient from a cost perspective and, most importantly, more effective in reaching more people.
I thank you for the opportunity to speak in front of you today. I am available for any questions that you may have.
[The statement of Mr. Huebner appears in the Appendix]
Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you. I think what we will do, go ahead, Mr. Franklin, and do your testimony. What we are trying to do is make it easier for you all. I think that would probably be the easiest thing.
Mr. FRANKLIN. Very good. I thank the Chair. Good afternoon. Since Arkansas was already invoked at this panel, let me start by saying that after 20 years in Washington, I still consider Russellville, Arkansas, home, with my family and friends there.
My name is Bobby Franklin, I serve as Executive Vice President of CTIA, the Wireless Association. We at CTIA are proud to count among our vast membership wireless carriers, equipment manufacturers, and applications developers that collectively provide amazingly innovative products and services that keep Americans connected in their day-to-day needs.
Let me first make one point very clear. CTIA's wireless carriers already allow members of the U.S. Armed Forces facing military deployment to terminate contract-based wireless service without penalty. Additionally, many of our carriers have taken steps to create special military programs that allow servicemembers to suspend service so they may retain their phone numbers upon their return.
While CTIA and our highly-competitive industry generally oppose government mandates, in an effort to combat unverified reports of contract problems with deployed servicemembers, CTIA's board of directors charged us to actively support Federal legislation allowing our servicemembers to terminate wireless contracts without penalty when they are deployed abroad or to a location that does not support the service from that particular carrier.
We do have three suggestions for the legislation to improve H.R. 3786. First, the bill should be amended to make sure the definitions of "covered services" conform to the definitions in the Communications Act. This will hopefully eliminate any potential confusion about what is or is not covered by the legislation.
Second, we propose a clarification of the bill's provisions on pro-ration to better reflect the way that wireless service is both purchased and used. By accommodating the way our billing systems work, you will help keep the cost of wireless service continuing to decline for all users.
Thirdly, we believe any fines should be capped at no more than $10,000 dollars, and that such penalties should be levied only in cases where there is a knowing and a repeated violation of the law.
These suggestions are consistent with the recommendations we offered this Subcommittee at your April hearing on Congressman Patrick Murphy's bill, H.R. 3298. We are pleased to report that Congressman Murphy has incorporated our suggestions into a revised version of his legislation. We are also happy to report, and I think Congresswoman Lofgren mentioned on the earlier panel that we have been working closely with both her and her staff and hope to achieve the same outcome with respect to the bill before the Subcommittee today, H.R. 3786.
Finally, let me just share that the wireless industry recognizes the sacrifice and the dedication of the members of our U.S. Armed Forces, and we are pleased to work toward enactment of appropriate legislation to benefit servicemen and servicewomen facing military deployment. In fact, CTIA and its member companies are hopeful that this Committee, as well as this Congress, can address this legislation just as soon as possible.
I thank you for this opportunity and I look forward to any questions you may have.
[The statement of Mr. Franklin appears in the Appendix]
Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you very much.
Mr. Huebner, one of the problems, one of the criticisms that we have heard in the past, and I am glad that you seem to have addressed it in your testimony, but one of the criticisms that we have is that the program is only about elite competition, things like that.
It sounds like you are doing a lot of things to try and address that. How many current partners do you have to help provide ongoing programming at the community level?
Mr. HUEBNER. Sir, our focus is to have 75 Paralympic sport clubs created by the end of this year, where the focus in those communities is participation. It is participation in physical activity. We are working with the National Recreation and Parks Association, we are working with Paralympic organizations. We have more than 43 signed up already. We will be in 75 communities by the end of this year. But the absolute emphasis, you don't get to elite Paralympic sport just by joining a participation club. It is very important. We understand that research shows physical activity for persons with physical disabilities does some very important things like reduce stress, reduce depression, raise self-esteem, things very important to veterans coming home from a very difficult environment.
We are very focused on creating participation programs, and this is the most important piece; participation programs at the community level that they can go to every day, not drive eight hours to go participate in a physical activity with their friends and their family, but in their backyard, in their community that they go home to. That is our primary focus. The majority of those programs are in the community. So we see ourselves very strongly as an extension of the VA system, not developing programs within VA facilities.
Mr. BOOZMAN. Good.
On average, how many Paralympians are veterans compared to nonveterans?
Mr. HUEBNER. I am very proud to say the beauty of participating in programs is some people are going to have more athletic talents than others. I am very much aware of that because I never had the opportunity to make an Olympic team. But we have six veterans right now that will serve, veterans of the Iraq or Afghanistan campaign that will represent this country again.
Our team size is about 205. Ninety percent of the population that we deal with on a daily basis, Olympic or Paralympic, in terms of athletes, will never participate in the Olympic or Paralympic games. The majority of the program is at the community level are participatory and I noted in the DAV comments to exclude the word competitive. Our programs at the community level are participation and focused on physical activity. Only a very few raised up to that level of being able to represent this country at the Olympics or Paralympics. When they do, it is a great story. It is great to hear about a veteran like Kortney Clemons succeed, not only in participation in sports, but also in employment and in education.
Mr. BOOZMAN. If H.R. 4255 were to pass, what would be the impact on your organization?
Mr. HUEBNER. When I talk about our organization and our programs, I am talking about collaboration with organizations like the PVA, Paralympic organizations around the country. Those dollars would specifically be focused on veterans to support, develop, and train, which is extremely cost-efficient.
I mean, I talked with Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin about this; a rural community in South Dakota, to go in and develop a program would not make efficient sense from a cost perspective or participation perspective if it was for one veteran. But if we can train a parks and recreation in a rural area to support that veteran, they already have existing programming, they have existing buildings. What we are doing is providing the training and ongoing technical assistance to allow communities all over the country to expand programs focused on veterans.
We could significantly increase the number of people participating in physical activity on a daily basis. There is a great need in the country for that.
Mr. BOOZMAN. Is there anything we can do to help you serve the recently-injured veteran?
Mr. HUEBNER. Sir, everything you have been doing has been outstanding. Our role has been in collaboration with numerous other organizations. The greatest need now is there is a great lack of programming around the country. There are a lot of great events, but events last a week and then somebody goes home. What we want to make sure, and we see this all the time, you are familiar with our Paralympic military sport camp, people come to the Olympic training center and have the greatest week of their life, 50 or 100 people. What we are most concerned about is when those 100 people go home to their 100 communities, is there a program for them to participate in, because it is our understanding, and yours more so, that is when bad things start happening.
When you get back to your home community and the resources of the program isn't there at the local level to immediately integrate you, that is our primary focus with what we are trying to do with the Paralympic Military Program, and H.R. 4255 would allow matching dollars to support the dollars we and other organizations are investing to significantly increase participation, as well as programming at the community level.
Mr. BOOZMAN. Very good.
I think I can speak for Ms. Herseth Sandlin. We really do appreciate your hard work. I personally feel like this is a great program. We can always improve and we can always better support. But as somebody that chased athletics awful hard in my youth, unsuccessfully, I might add, again, getting these men and women where they are concentrating on a goal, I think it does play an important part of the healing process. And, again, something that can be a lifelong thing that they can pursue.
Mr. HUEBNER. Sir, one last point. I know employment is important for veterans. The people that are driving this program for us are veterans.
Mr. BOOZMAN. Very good. Thank you very much.
Mr. Franklin, how does the wireless industry inform not only their employees, but the servicemembers, about the policy to not charge cancellation fees when a servicemember is deployed? If Congress made this policy into law, do you believe this will reduce the incidence where we have the same problems we have now?
Mr. FRANKLIN. I do believe that this will help. I think, the fact that Congress is taking up this legislation and addressing it will go a long way to help us make sure that all servicemembers know that the policies, and in the case if the bill passes, the law, will state that this is what should happen.
We do a lot, our companies do a lot of training of their customer service employees, but when you have 260 million subscribers and tens of thousands of customer service reps, I am not here to say mistakes don't happen. But I think that with the policies in place and with Congress paying attention to this, it is my hope that all servicemembers recognize this availability.
Mr. BOOZMAN. Very good.
Are you aware of any complaints in the last couple of years with this type of thing?
Mr. FRANKLIN. We have unverified reports. We have certainly heard, but have not been able to verify, the fact that some servicemembers have had difficulty getting out of their contracts. But it certainly, as I said before, it is not the policy of the companies and, as I said in response to your first question, I think the fact that you all are looking at this and helping publicize the fact that these policies exist for most of the carriers in this country, that it will certainly help the servicemembers.
Mr. BOOZMAN. Currently, how long does a servicemember, how long are they able to reserve their phone number, and is that policy adequate or does that need to be extended?
Mr. FRANKLIN. I would like to get back on the technical answer to this because it has to do with how long a company can pool a number that is not being used in service. So there are specific rules that our companies must follow, the FCC has, the North American Numbering Administrator has, that we must follow. So I would like to get back to the Subcommittee on the answer to that.
I do know and am proud that many of our member companies have, on their own, initiated servicemember policies to allow them to suspend. The question is for how long. When it comes to how long we can suspend, our hands may be tied by another agency.
Mr. BOOZMAN. I am going to turn things over to Mr. Hall. I do want to thank you. The Subcommittee will probably have a couple more questions in writing that we would like answered. But I do want to thank you for your openness and willingness to work with us on this to make sure these men and women, as they are deployed, they have got enough to hassle with, and we all agree with this, I know that you agree with us and the people that are out in the field working, serving the veterans agree that they have got enough hassle without dealing with this.
So thank you very much.
Mr. FRANKLIN. Absolutely.
Mr. HALL. [Presiding.] Thank you, Mr. Boozman.
I regret missing your testimony. Permit me to ask you a couple of questions anyway. I did have the opportunity to read it.
I will briefly ask, and forgive me if these questions have already been asked. Mr. Franklin, which bill do you think would better serve our servicemembers, the Lofgren bill or the Murphy bill?
Mr. FRANKLIN. We are in support of both bills. Assuming that the suggestions on how to improve both bills are taken, we are really agnostic to both of those bills. We assume that you all will need to make that decision. I know that Madam Chairman Herseth Sandlin mentioned in her opening statement that there might be a way to pool those bills together, and we would be supportive of either or both, assuming the suggestions we made were incorporated
Mr. HALL. How much time elapses between when a servicemember requests to terminate a contract and when that contract is actually terminated?
Mr. FRANKLIN. I think that, in most cases, it can be done very quickly. Again, each company has, in some cases, multiple billing systems, and it could technically be a difference of what part of the country you lived in, depending on what billing system that company is using, to answer with great specificity, but the policy of the industry and of the companies is that once they receive the order or a copy of the order from the servicemen and women showing that they are being deployed or moving to an area that doesn't have service by that particular company, then the policy is for them to terminate that contract.
Mr. HALL. Mr. Franklin, to your knowledge, how many of the telecoms have international service? Can you estimate?
Mr. FRANKLIN. Well, international service plans are offered by many of the companies. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they have the facility in another country.
Mr. HALL. Like towers in Iraq or Afghanistan?
Mr. FRANKLIN. Correct
Mr. HALL. Even more difficult.
Mr. FRANKLIN. But they may have partnerships with wireless carriers internationally. In fact, they do—many of them do offer international plans, perhaps not in every part of the world where the servicemen and women are. That is why we do have these policies to let them out of the contract.
Mr. HALL. Right. In such locations that service exists, I assume that
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