Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I am pleased to be here today to provide the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) views on pending legislation. Accompanying me is Diane Hartmann, Director of National Programs and Special Events. VA is still reviewing H.R. 6221, H.R. 6225, and 6272 and will provide views on those bills in a subsequent views letter.

H.R. 2721

H.R. 2721, would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop, and the Secretary of Defense to distribute to members of the Armed Forces upon their discharge or release from active duty, in a compact disk read-only memory format, information that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs determines would help veterans. That information would include the benefits for which veterans may be eligible under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, a comprehensive explanation of how to apply for benefits, and a list of all VA facilities and contact information for them. The bill would also require the secretaries of Veterans Affairs and of Defense, along with the head of any other relevant government agency, to maintain an Internet website with information clearly explaining VA benefits, how to secure those benefits, and how veterans’ family members may request copies of the compact disk.

VA supports this bill. VA recognizes the importance of providing benefit information to separating servicemembers and their families. This bill would support expansion of VA’s extensive outreach efforts.

We estimate at least 250,000 compact disks would be needed each year to provide one to every separating servicemember. An additional 50,000 copies would be needed to provide upon request. At an estimated cost of $1.00 per copy, which would include distribution costs to each service, the total cost for all copies would be $300,000 annually.

H.R. 3786

H.R. 3786, the “Servicemembers Telecom Contract Relief Act,” would amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to permit servicemembers to terminate certain telecommunications contracts before their expiration if the contract was entered before the servicemember entered service or received permanent change-of-station orders or deployment orders.

Because this bill if enacted would affect active-duty servicemembers, we defer to the Department of Defense (DoD) regarding the merits of H.R. 3786.

H.R. 4255

H.R. 4255, the “United States Olympic Committee Paralympic Program Act of 2007,” would authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make a grant to the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) to plan, develop, manage, and implement the Paralympic program for veterans and members of the Armed Forces. It also would require the Secretary to inform all veterans with physical disabilities about the existence of the Paralympic program and to encourage their participation, as well as require the Secretary to ensure access to and appropriate use of VA facilities by program participants. VA opposes this bill because it is unnecessary, would divert funds intended for veterans’ care to nonveterans, and would benefit only a limited number of veterans.

VA has an established Office of National Programs and Special Events (ONPSE) that oversees highly-successful and well-attended national rehabilitative programs for disabled veterans. This office already works with the USOC to help elite-level athletes compete in their Paralympic programs. ONPSE currently oversees four national events: National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, National Veterans Wheelchair Games, National Veterans Golden Age Games, and National Veterans Creative Arts Festival. Also, a pilot summer sports clinic, scheduled for September 28 through October 3 in San Diego, California, is specifically designed for veterans with amputations, traumatic brain injuries, burn injuries, or post-traumatic stress disorder. The goals of these events are to reach disabled veterans during their recovery from traumatic injury or disease, introduce them to adaptive recreational activities, and challenge them with activities that give them a sense of accomplishment and enable them to redefine their capabilities. Veterans service organizations support these events, which, although they are open to all disabled veterans who meet the eligibility criteria, are particularly geared toward first-time participants. Each year, thousands of disabled veterans have the opportunity for self-development through participation in these events.

Certain provisions in H.R. 4255 are prescriptive, such as requiring VA to notify all veterans with physical disabilities about the existence of the Paralympic program and to encourage their participation. Under this provision, VA would have to notify and encourage the participation of catastrophically injured veterans, who cannot participate in these events. VA currently allows the USOC to distribute materials about the Paralympic program at any of VA’s ONPSE events. Additional notification is unnecessary.

VA is particularly concerned by the provision that would grant access to VA facilities to all individuals–not necessarily veterans or servicemembers– participating in the Paralympic program. VA’s resources should be limited to the medical rehabilitation of eligible veterans and not diverted to provide access to facilities for non-veterans.

Further, H.R. 4255 would require VA to support a program that would benefit only a small number of elite athletes. Although we applaud the USOC’s efforts to bring more veterans into their elite-athlete competitions, we believe VA’s rehabilitative events are much better suited to providing the services veterans need. For example, last year, 28 veterans participated in USOC programs as opposed to over 1,500 veterans who participated in VA’s Winter Sports Clinic, Wheelchair Games, or Golden Age Games. VA’s programs are designed to include veterans of all ages and levels of impairment and are aimed primarily at medical rehabilitation.

VA’s goal is to introduce sports and recreation to disabled veterans and make it a part of their daily lives. Our existing partnership with the USOC allows those who rise to elite athletic performance to take their training to the next level through the USOC Paralympic program.

We are in the process of estimating the costs that would be associated with enactment of this bill and will provide them for the record.

H.R. 6070

H.R. 6070, the “Military Spouses Residency Relief Act,” would amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to protect spouses of servicemembers from losing or acquiring domicile or residency for purposes of elections and taxation if the spouse is absent from a state because the spouse is accompanying a servicemember who is absent from the state in compliance with military orders.

Because this bill if enacted would affect active-duty servicemembers and their spouses, we defer to DoD regarding the merits of H.R. 6070.

H.R. 6224

H.R. 6224, the “Pilot College Work Study Programs for Veterans Act of 2008,” would require the Secretary to conduct a 5-year pilot project to test the feasibility and advisability of expanding the scope of certain work-study activities, to include work-study positions available on site at educational institutions. The positions in this program may include those in academic departments (tutors or research, teaching, and lab assistants) and in student services (positions in career centers, financial aid, campus orientation, admissions, records, and registration offices). The bill would require the Secretary to issue regulations providing for the supervision by VA personnel of these positions.

While VA supports the principle of exploring the feasibility of expanding the scope of qualifying activities for the provision of work-study allowances under 38 U.S.C. § 3485, we do not support this bill because the types of activities now described in that section relate primarily to activities that support VA’s mission of services and assistance to veterans and their dependents, whereas the types of activities proposed for evaluation apparently would not need to relate to that mission. In addition VA supervision of the work-study participants concerned would be administratively burdensome, given the breadth of the types of activities or functions that would be involved throughout a university.

This concludes my statement, Mr. Chairman. I would be happy to entertain any questions you or the other members of the Subcommittee may have.