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Positions and Views on Other Issues where Information is Available: |
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| Veterans |
Positions and Views |
| Veterans, a General Statement |
Biden: A grateful nation needs to always, always, always honor and celebrate our veterans. And we must fulfill our solemn obligation to as Lincoln said, ‘care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.
Senator Biden is committed to taking care of the men and women who have put their lives on the line to protect our country through military service. Ensuring that all veterans have top-notch medical treatment in a fully-funded VA health care system is a key priority, as is strengthening the GI Bill’s educational benefits. Those who have been injured in action, as well as the survivors of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, must continue to have ready access to the benefits they have been promised.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 12/01/2007 |
| Veterans' Health and Medical Care |
Biden: Believing we owe our returning troops the highest quality care for they have made every kind of sacrifice for us, Senator Biden has sponsored legislation that would:
Direct the DOD/VA Interagency Program Office to develop and implement a joint electronic health record.
Increase the number of caseworkers and requiring that the ratio of case managers to patients must not exceed 1 to 20. Senator Biden would also require that case managers be properly trained so they can better assist their patients in navigating the VA system.
Authorize medically retired service members to receive the active duty health care benefit for 3 years.
Streamline and revise the Physical Disability Evaluation System by bringing it all under one command, creating injury specific PDES procedures, making it accessible entirely online.
Require the creation of a single manual for outpatient care services, including PDES, family support, personnel processing and finance requirement, which is available online.
Establish a board to review disability determinations of service members separated between September 11, 2001, and December 31, 2009, with a disability rating of 20% or less.
Senator Biden knows how important it is for Delaware’s veterans to be able to access needed health care services in their own state. As such, the Senator fought to ensure that the VA hospital in Elsmere remained open and did not suffer cutbacks in services during the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) review of VA facilities around the country. Senator Biden is currently fighting for outpatient facilities to be opened in Kent and Sussex counties.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| GI Bill & Veterans' Benefits |
Biden: No Response |
| Retired Veterans Benefits and Health Care |
Biden: Senator Biden voted in favor of H.R. 4986, the National Defense Authorization Act, which included provisions to extend special eligibility coverage for OIF/OEF veterans from 2 to 5 years of VA health care.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Survivor Benefits |
Biden: No Response |
| Disabled Veterans Health Care |
Biden: Senator Biden believes there is no reason for one payment to reduce the other. He has repeatedly co-sponsored legislation to authorize full concurrent receipt, allowing disabled military retirees to receive full military retirement pay in addition to VA disability compensation.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Homeless Veterans |
Biden: No Response |
| Vetreran Job Retraining |
Biden: When our service men and women return from Iraq they will need jobs, and Senator Biden has always championed efforts to increase job opportunities for members after they leave the service. He co-sponsored legislation to establish the Troops to Nurse Teachers program, encouraging nurse veterans to become nurse teachers.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) |
Biden: Require the Department of Veterans Affairs to report on long-term care needs for the next 50 years, since hundreds of thousands of additional veterans with multiple care needs will be coming into the system, and we must be ready to help them.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Veterans Funding |
Biden: A top priority of veterans groups, and one Senator Biden has consistently supported, is to change the budget for the Veterans Administration, so they are guaranteed a proper budget, and do not have to fight every year for money. He would have a mandatory formula for allocating money to the VA, instead of having their budget be a discretionary item that can be cut. The Administration grossly underestimated the number of Iraq veterans requiring care, but Senator Biden helped to pass a double-digit funding increase, as recommended by several veterans’ service organizations.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Disability Claims |
Biden: The backlog of pending claims and the delays in the appeals process is simply unacceptable: at the end of the 2006 fiscal year, rating-related compensation claims were pending an average of 127 days and appeals resolutions took an average of 657 days to resolve. In order to reduce these backlogs and the hardship they impose on veterans and their families Joe Biden would:
Update and simplify the disability determination and claims processing system. Building on the recommendations of the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors, periodic reviews of veterans’ disability status should be undertaken to ensure proper compensation.
Establish a lawyer corps that represents veterans free-of-charge during the adjudications process. Based on a JAG model, these lawyers would receive loan forgiveness and be paid a monthly stipend while agreeing to guide veterans and their families through the adjudication process.
Allow survivors to step in and pursue undecided claims or those under appeal that were pending at the time of a veteran’s death. This would prevent claims from having to start over again and delaying benefits for the surviving family members.
Require the VA to review educational and training requirements for claims adjudicators. With an increasing number of veterans citing more disabilities in their claims, the claims are becoming more complex and the claims processors may need more training to complete the claims process in a timely fashion.
Require the VA to publish the number of claims that are rejected each year in each region. This could help bring transparency to the claims process and explain variations in disability ratings in different areas of the country.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 12/01/2007 |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Brain Injuries (TBI) |
Biden: Soldiers returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom are suffering traumatic brain injuries (TBI) at much higher rates than past wars and many also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To address the growing demand for TBI and PTSD services and other needs of our Armed Forces and veterans, Joe Biden would:
Establish a protocol for pre-deployment assessment and documentation of cognitive function of members that can be used for comparison after deployment to assist in the diagnosis of TBI.
Require the Secretary of Defense to establish two centers of excellence - one for TBI and one for PTSD – to develop the best treatment and screening practices.
Authorize the use of non-VA facilities for the implementation of rehabilitation and community reintegration plans for veterans with TBI, allowing veterans to get the care they need, wherever they live.
Establish a pilot program for assisted living services for veterans with TBI.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 12/01/2007 |
| Persian Gulf War Illnesses |
Biden: No Response |
| Agent Orange Related Illness |
Biden: For three decades Joe Biden has worked to get veterans of Vietnam who were exposed to Agent Orange and other toxins access to the care and benefits they deserve. He has pressured the VA to resolve claims, expanded compensation for veterans injured by exposure, extended eligibility for inpatient and outpatient care and worked to make sure that children suffering from Spina Bifida because of parent exposure to Agent Orange are eligible for disability benefits. He will continue to fight to make sure our Vietnam veterans receive adequate care and benefits and ensure that the best available medical and scientific evidence is used by the VA when determining disability claims.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 12/01/2007 |
| Walter Reed Army Medical Center Scandal |
Biden: Unfortunately, a series of articles in the Washington Post exposed delays in care that soldiers face and highlighted horrible living conditions that many endure while they are receiving treatment for their wounds. Joe Biden would ensure a Walter Reed situation won’t happen again and that our hospitals and military medical facilities are ready for the new, special needs of our troops for decades to come by: Prohibiting private contracting of maintenance services at military medical complexes while the nation is at war to prevent the kind of backlog of maintenance orders and maintenance breakdown that occurred at Walter Reed. Stopping budget cuts to military medical facilities while the nation is at war. Requiring the Secretary of Defense to establish uniform standards for military medical treatment facilities, specialty medical care facilities, and military quarters housing patients, and requiring robust inspections. Requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to report on long-term care needs for the next 50 years. Hundreds of thousands of additional veterans with multiple care needs will be coming into the system and the VA must have a plan in place to ensure they receive adequate care.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 12/10/2007 |
| POWs and MIAs |
Biden: No Response |
| Veterans Administration (VA) |
Biden: We owe our troops and veterans the highest quality care. To ensure that they receive it Joe Biden would:
Direct the DOD/VA Interagency Program Office to develop and implement a joint electronic health record keeping system.
Increase the number of caseworkers and prevent the ratio of case managers to patients from exceeding 1 to 20.
Require that case managers be property trained in assisting their patients in navigating the VA system.
Authorize medically retired service members to receive the active duty health care benefit for 3 years.
Streamline and revise the Physical Disability Evaluation System by bringing it all under one command, creating injury specific PDES procedures, making it accessible entirely online.
Require the creation of a single manual for outpatient care services, including PDES, family support, personnel processing and finance requirement, which is available online.
Establish a board to review disability determinations of service members separated between September 11, 2001, and December 31, 2009, with a disability rating of 20% or less.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 12/01/2007 |
| Theft of Military Identity Data from VA |
Biden: No Response |
| Veterans' Recognition |
Biden: Too many American children lack family ties to the military. Senator Biden wants to better educate America’s youth on the accomplishments of our veterans. Every year he has introduced a resolution designating National Veterans Awareness Week, the week of Veterans Day. Senator Biden co-sponsored the legislation to build the World War II, Korean, and Vietnam War Memorials, and throughout his career has supported numerous measures to honor the service and dedication of the country’s soldiers and veterans. He also co-sponsored legislation several times to grant a federal charter to the Korean War Veterans Association.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |