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House Committee on Veterans' Affairs - Washington, DC

House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
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  2. Recent Posts by OthersSee All
    • David Hindenberger
      When will us disabled veterans be fully taking care of? I'm on my fifth year of trying to get help for.my injuries and they have only made it worse. I've lost everything, even my son and all simply BC the Va does not want to do their jobs. Service connected heart condition that the Va refused to do a single check up for four years and I end up having heart surgery! My injuries sustained in combat hinder me from working (my own drs will.not allow me to work) but yet only pay me a grand a month!?!? This is non sense and rediculous!! Mal treatment after mal treatment and its allll o. My very own personal hard copies before biloxi discarded them from my file. Corrupt?? I think so!! My attorney will love this!!! I've called your crisis hotline over 15 times and I've been cussed out and hung up on 5 times! Allll recorded as well. Does it seem the Veterans affairs is doing everythig possible to push us away until we mess up and won't be their problem anymore!?!? When will enough be enough???
      Yesterday at 12:35pm
    • Tammie Robison
      Is there anyone up on the hill who really gives two flips and a diddle about our veterans, or are you just on the committee's to make it look good for your voting public? Let's test this theory private message me and I will be happy to give you my phone number so you can call me, and I will give you at least 3 specific examples of gross negligence on the VA's part. Just to give you a little teaser....a young Marine who has been discharged for a year is having his foot amputated due to basically being ignored for the past year and what started out as a fairly routine issue has resulted in a serious issue....oh and he was injured while deployed to Afghanistan and discharged for it. I will NOT talk to a secretary an assistant or any other "employee" I want to talk to the person or person's who were actually put in that seat by votes. I seriously doubt I will hear from anyone. Another example of just how broken our government is.
      January 23 at 8:39pm
    • Robert F. Epps
      Other free services and information provided at the Veterans Health Exposition will be Veterans benefits from service officers and job services from the Virginia Employment Commission. It's going to be a great time for all. Register on facebook at dav21virginia or call 757-423-7100
      January 23 at 7:11pm
    • Mary Ritter
      I'm not sure why we have a House Committee for Veterans Affairs if individually you will only communicate with constituents from your own Districts. If the Congressman from my District is not on the committee, how do I get your attention? Let's try Facebook. YOU have to do something to change the application process. I have copied and pasted text from a letter that was sent to Allison Hickey and cc'd to Jeff Miller. The only response I have received is from an underling in the DVA saying she was instructed to look into the matter. The issue needs to be addressed for ALL veterans, not just my father. November 11, 2012 Allison A. Hickey Under Secretary for Benefits Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Benefits Administration Washington, DC 20420 RE: James H. Foster United States Navy Honorably Discharged Veteran Dear Ms. Hickey: I recently received your correspondence regarding a customer service satisfaction survey that was sent to my father, the above referenced Honorably Discharged Veteran. And while I believe the questions on the survey will not accurately paint a clear picture for you, my sister did complete the survey online. However, I feel compelled, especially considering that today is Veterans Day, to enlighten you on the experience that we had in trying – and I emphasize the word “trying” – to obtain the veterans benefits that my father so richly deserved. I would like to start by bringing to your attention a quote from our first President and Commander in Chief, George Washington, who so aptly said: “The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.” My father was an extremely proud man, proud to have been given the ability to serve his country, proud to be an American, proud of his family. Hopefully, you caught the word “was”. He passed away on July 8, 2012. My family and I are still trying to deal with the gravity of our loss. And receiving your survey did not help our situation. You see, my father was denied his Veterans’ benefits, not because of any fault of his own, denied because of bureaucratic red tape and an approval process no veteran should be tangled up in. He was not a rich man, he spent the last several years of his life in an assisted living facility. I say he was a proud man because he never took advantage of the government benefits that he was entitled to. He felt that as long as he could work and was capable of taking care of himself and his family, he would leave the benefits to his fellow veterans who were less fortunate than he was. He was self-employed for most of his life and while his business kept a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, food on the table, and provided an education for myself and my 5 siblings, we were far from wealthy. We were loved and cared for by our father and that was enough. However, when we finally convinced him that he should apply for some help from the government he fought for, where were they? He answered the call during World War II without hesitation. He was there for his country when they needed him. Too bad they couldn’t return the favor. Asking a 90 year old man to compile information to complete a 48-page application for benefits is, to say the least, asinine. Other than a copy of his birth certificate, and a copy of his discharge papers, why was any other information necessary? He didn’t ask the government to prove they needed him when he enlisted. He didn’t have to fill out a 48-page application to join the Navy when the call went out. Why was he required to provide endless pages of useless information, which then were obviously not reviewed by anyone? He was in the “process” for well over a year, waiting patiently for a response from his government which never came. Oh, we received numerous letters, about every 2 or 3 months, apologizing for the delay and indicating that his application was still being processed. Good job. You succeeded in delaying long enough for my father to pass away without receiving any of his rightful benefits. Your plan worked – just one more old man that you don’t have to deal with any longer. Finally, something in the government actually worked. Oh, and I would be remiss in my duties as a grieving child if I did not offer a heartfelt thank you for the condolence letter received from the Department of the Navy, thanking my father for his service to his country. Really? That’s the thanks he gets? A form letter to his family? At least we can take comfort in the fact that the ONE benefit he was able to take advantage of is to rest peacefully alongside the love of his life, his wife of 63 years, and his fellow veterans in the beautiful Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Cemetery in the rolling hills of Wrightstown, New Jersey, free of charge. I’m sure this letter is going to find its way into whatever shredder is closest to your desk, or perhaps it will find its way to whatever pile my father’s application ended up in – waiting for someone to review it – a review that obviously will never take place, but I owe it to my father and the countless veterans in this country who are still waiting for their 48-page applications to be reviewed to at least try to get someone’s attention. I hope you enjoy your job because you are just one more bureaucrat who gets a hefty salary and government benefits that you don’t deserve. With Heartfelt Thanks for a Job Well Done, I am sincerely, Mary E. Ritter Proud Daughter of Veteran James H. Foster, USN cc: Honorable Jeff Miller, Chairman House Committee on Veterans Affairs Senator Patty Murray, Chairman Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Honorable Eric Shinseki, Secretary US Department of Veterans Affairs Barack Obama, President of the United States of America
      January 20 at 8:30am
    • DAV
       Critical Issues for DAV Must be Addressed by the 113th Congress http://bit.ly/UFZ3Ke #House Committee on Veterans' Affairs #House Veterans' Affairs Committee Democrats #Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs #Bernie Sanders #Richard Burr
      41518124 · January 19 at 5:44pm
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  5. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs shared a link.
    January 17
    Florida State University works towards improving prosthetic limbs for military-veteran amputee patients:
    1 · Comment · Share
  11. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
    January 3
    Today marks the beginning of the 113th Congress. What are the key veterans related issues you would like to see the Committee address in the coming two years?
    14 · Comment · Share

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