CQ TODAY - DEFENSE

A Senate panel on Thursday approved a bill aimed at addressing inadequacies in the care of wounded servicemembers and veterans.

The bill (S 1606), which the Armed Services Committee approved, 25-0, would establish a Defense Department and Veterans Affairs Interagency Program Office to implement a joint electronic health record system. It would authorize $50 million for the treatment and rehabilitation of servicemembers with traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder and create common disability ratings to determine those eligible for care.

Panel Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the "clumsy handoff" of wounded veterans between the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs (VA) necessitated a more seamless transition between the agencies. The bill would require the VA and Defense secretaries to develop a policy on the management of servicemembers' transition.

Levin said the bipartisan measure was initially prompted by a series of Washington Post articles in February highlighting what he called "deplorable" living conditions for some servicemembers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and a "bungled, bureaucratic process" of assigning disability ratings.

"In record-breaking time, it is a very comprehensive bill needed to address the treatment and care of veterans and warriors," Levin said.

The measure also would increase the minimum severance pay for wounded soldiers to one year of basic pay for those whose disabilities were incurred in a combat zone, and six months of basic pay for other disabled servicemembers. It would eliminate the current requirement that severance pay be deducted from disability compensation for disabilities incurred in a combat zone.

Republican John W. Warner of Virginia emphasized that the bill was aimed at bureaucracy, not the quality of care.

"Where the system unfortunately lapsed into a state of disrepair was following that treatment, as [patients] transitioned back to duty stations and civilian life," Warner said.

Democrat Daniel K. Akaka of Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said he and Levin first started discussing the legislation while on a visit to Walter Reed.  Akaka said his panel would consider legislation to complement the "wounded warriors" bill at a June 27 markup.

Amendments

The Armed Services panel adopted 28 amendments to the bill Wednesday, all of them by voice vote and without any opposition or dissent.

Several amendments dealt with the treatment of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder; others addressed the treatment of female servicemembers.

One, by Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., would require an "urgent report" from Defense and VA on the need for mental health services for female servicemembers and veterans. Lieberman said the fact that women now make up 16 percent of the armed forces presents unique questions about mental health and sexual assault.

The panel also approved a Warner amendment that would lower the threshold to qualify as having a "severe injury or illness." It would be changed from a Defense Department disability rating of 50 percent or higher to a VA disability rating of 30 percent or higher.

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York stressed the importance of measuring the pre-deployment cognitive functioning of servicemembers, to establish a baseline that would help assess them for traumatic brain injuries after deployment. The bill includes a provision for testing pilot programs to establish pre-deployment screening.

One of four adopted Clinton amendments would require the Defense secretary to implement one of the screening programs no later than 180 days after the completion of the pilot programs.

Traumatic brain injuries have become common in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Although body armor often shields soldiers from fatal injuries, bomb blasts have caused lingering brain damage in many combat veterans.

"We're just beginning to grapple with the challenge of dealing with it," Clinton said.

An amendment by Democrat Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts was withdrawn after Levin requested that it be offered to the defense authorization bill.

Kennedy claimed that the Defense Department has been "deliberately twisting language" established by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in order to "outsource" the Armed Forces Institute on Pathology. His amendment would establish a Joint Pathology Center for the Defense Department at the National Naval Medical Center.

Levin said he expects the Bush administration to support the measure.

"We think that they've had such significant input along the way that we're hopeful that they'll be supportive of it," he said.

He said Senate leaders would decide whether the measure heads to the floor as a stand-alone bill or is attached to the defense authorization bill. The House-passed defense authorization (HR 1585) includes that chamber's Wounded Warrior Assistance Act (HR 1538).

Source: CQ Today
Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill.
© 2007 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.