Newsbytes August 23, 2024
In this issue:
Concurrent Receipt in Senate NDAA
Housing Program Expands
Suspension of ANC Caisson Platoon
FRA Moving Soon
USMCR Birthday
Ask for Concurrent Receipt in Senate NDAA
We need your help now at this critical stage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) process to end an unjust pay offset, one that costs tens of thousands of injured veterans a dollar of DoD-earned retirement pay for every dollar of VA disability compensation. More than three-quarters of lawmakers have co-sponsored this concurrent receipt bill (the Major Richard Star Act), but funding concerns and budgetary rules have so far kept it from moving forward as an amendment to the must-pass NDAA. Please ask your Senators to support a Senate floor amendment to include concurrent receipt reform in the NDAA this year. With 74 Senators in support of the Major Richard Star Act, it deserves a vote. Please use the FRA Action Center to weigh in on this issue at: https://www.votervoice.net/FRA/Campaigns/116752/Respond
Housing Program Expands for More Veterans
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a new set of policy changes that will help more veterans receive assistance under the HUD-Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program and improve their access to supportive housing developments. Veterans experiencing homelessness often receive VA benefits as a result of an injury or illness that was acquired or worsened during military service. Before this change, these benefits were considered income when determining eligibility for certain supportive housing developments, causing some veterans to exceed the income threshold for these programs. HUD’s policy changes will help more homeless veterans with service-connected disability benefits gain access to these housing developments. Additionally, HUD awarded $20 million to public housing agencies to continue to improve the HUD-VASH program. The FRA advocates for the VA and other government agencies to enhance efforts to ensure that veteran homelessness is rare, brief, and nonrecurring.
The FRA is supporting the House-passed HOME Act (H.R. 3848), which passed 408-10, to help lift veterans out of homelessness. The HOME Act would increase the per diem rate the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pays to nonprofit organizations that assist veterans with short-term transitional housing, such as the Salvation Army. The per diem rate would also continue to adjust for inflation every year. The HOME Act also creates a stipend that veterans experiencing homelessness can use to purchase necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, and hygiene items; transportation services; or communication equipment such as smartphones, so the veterans can maintain contact with health care providers, prospective landlords, and family members. Members are urged to use this Action Center to ask their Senators to support the bill at: https://www.votervoice.net/FRA/Campaigns/110027/Respond
Concern About Suspension of ANC Caisson Platoon
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost (Ill.) and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Jerry Moran (Kan.) dispatched a letter to Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth regarding the Army’s indefinite suspension of the Caisson Platoon at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) for military funeral services. The letter urges committee briefings on progress toward the restoration of horse-drawn caissons at military funerals.
“Too many of our nation’s heroes have not been able to receive the full military funeral honors they have earned due to the Army’s years-long mismanagement of the Caisson Platoon military horses. That’s unacceptable, and veterans and their families deserve better,” said Chairman Bost. “The indefinite suspension of the Caisson Platoon at Arlington National Cemetery has left over two thousand veteran families unable to lay their loved ones to rest with the full military honors they deserve,” said Sen. Moran. “The Army has still not solved the issues that have led to the decline in health and living conditions of the Caisson Platoon’s military horses."
The suspension followed a string of military working horse deaths, reports of unsanitary and potentially life-threatening living conditions, as well as congressional scrutiny directed at the Army's 3rd Infantry Regiment, also known as "The Old Guard," the ceremonial unit in charge of conducting the horse-drawn services.
FRA Moving Soon
On August 29, 2024, FRA HQ will be moving to its new home at 1600 Duke Street, Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314. We will be offline from August 28 through September 3, 2024. We will attempt to keep things as normal as possible; however, some tasks may take a little longer than usual to complete as we prepare for the move. We ask for your patience during this time. Some of our IT processes are already in the cloud, while others will be down for a few days. We will need to shut down servers, move them, and then bring them back online. Our goal is to minimize the amount of time that systems, including the phone system, will be out of order. (Our phone numbers will remain the same.)
USMC Reserves Birthday
This Thursday, August 29 marks the 108th birthday of the United States Marine Corps Reserve. As U.S. involvement in World War I appeared more likely, the formal creation of an operational Reserve Force was established on August 29, 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Naval Appropriations Act of 1916, which established the Marine Corps Reserve.