Archives for May 2021

Disability claims backlog will get worse before it gets better, VA warns

The Department of Veterans Affairs is juggling a variety of challenges to deliver benefits more quickly and work down its backlog of disability claims, which skyrocketed last year as the COVID-19 pandemic placed new constraints on an already complex process.

There are 191,700 disability claims in VA’s backlog today. The Veterans Benefits Administration expects the backlog will grow and then peak sometime this summer, to somewhere in the range of 225,000-to-240,000 pending claims by August.

“Not all the challenges we face are related to the pandemic,” Thomas Murphy, VBA’s acting undersecretary for benefits, told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Wednesday afternoon. “Under a recent court order, VBA must re-adjudicate over 62,000 Blue Water Navy claims. These claims were added to the inventory in April. In addition, we’re about to begin processing claims for the three new Agent Orange presumptive conditions mandated by Congress of bladder cancer, Parkinsonism and hypothyroidism. We’ve seen a slow decrease in the backlog over the last couple of months, but these new issues and a continued rollover of claims currently in inventory, will see a short-term spike in the backlog this summer.”

If all goes well, the disability claims backlog should drop to 140,000 by the end of this fiscal year and return to pre-pandemic levels of about 100,000 by the end of 2022, Murphy said.

“I’m concerned, however, that next year isn’t soon enough for disabled veterans weathering the storm of this pandemic,” Jon Tester (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said. “I’m also concerned that as VBA concentrates on speed, it risks sacrificing quality. Disabled veterans must have confidence that their claims will be fairly and accurately decided.”

VBA made progress with the disability claims backlog in recent months. When the department last testified on this topic before the House back in March, it had 210,000 disability claims in the backlog.

Murphy said VBA is trying to scan and digitize more veterans records, which helped the department address veterans’ claims with slightly more speed.

The pandemic created a chokepoint within the National Archives and Records Administration, which stores military records at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri. Veterans need access to those records in order to begin the disability claims process with VA, and the pandemic forced NARA to close its facilities.

“We got to the point where we were right around 100,000 [records requests],” said Murphy, who sent VBA officials to the NPRC to determine what VA could do to help.

VBA spoke with NARA and encouraged the agency to add additional employee shifts on nights and weekends so it could process more records requests. VA will also help NARA pay for additional employee overtime to process those requests using some of the COVID-19 relief funds it received from Congress, Murphy said.

As of April 11, NARA had a working inventory of 8,700 military records requests, which Murphy said falls within the agency’s pre-pandemic levels. NARA today can turn documents around within a few days’ time, he added.

“At the same time, we know that NARA is sitting on several hundred-thousand records requests that come through other sources, but we’ve been prioritized because we’re taking care of veterans,” Murphy said.

Congress skeptical of VA’s reliance on contractors for C&P exams

Compensation and pension (C&P) exams, which the agency uses to determine a veteran’s eligibility for health and other benefits, is another chokepoint.

The department temporarily paused in-person exams for two months starting last April during the height of the pandemic. VBA’s contractor workforce gradually restarted in-person exams over the course of last year, and the Veterans Health Administration is performing more of its own face-to-face exams as well.

Still, at least 58,000 veterans haven’t shown up for their C&P exams, Murphy said, and their claims will stay pending until they do.

Contractors, which VA rely on to conduct nearly 90% of its C&P exams today, are a key part of the department’s plans to work down the backlog of pending disability claims.

The department said VBA’s contractors conduct roughly 45,000 C&P exams each week.

“While it’s a bad thing to have our backlog doubled, it’s only doubled based on what we had,” Murphy said of the backlog. “That includes us shutting down for five months. We have a fairly quick recovery here. Our contractors are covering in excess of 45% more exams per day than we were, and VHA has more than doubled the capacity of examinations they are doing. Through leveraging what we have in VHA and tie that with our contractors, we’re able to quickly recover from this and get all of our veterans through in a fairly expeditious manner. It can never be fast enough; I get that. But it’s going fairly well.”

Some in Congress, however, are skeptical VA’s contractors are truly equipped to conduct accurate exams, and the Government Accountability Office said the department didn’t have a system in place to ensure their vendors have completed proper training.

The department said VBA is communicating with VHA about the number of C&P exams it needs VA examiners to handle. But GAO said VA’s long-term strategy for the C&P exam workload isn’t clear.

“They do appear to coordinate on a day-to-day basis on what exams need to be done right now,” Elizabeth Curda, GAO’s director of education, workforce and income security, said. “But what concerns us [is] that as of this year to date, the contractors are now performing 90% of exams, and a lot of medical examiners we spoke to weren’t aware the capacity was shifting to mostly contractors.”

VBA said it has three layers of quality checks to ensure contractors’ C&P exams are up to par, including financial penalties for the vendors if they fail to meet quality metrics.

“[With] the training program, the requirements [and] the credentialing that we have, the quality of the examination you can get from one of our contract providers is equivalent to what you can get in VHA,” Murphy said.

Emergency program to give people $50 off internet bill

Americans can begin applying for $50 off their monthly internet bill on Wednesday as part of an emergency government program to keep people connected during the pandemic.

The $3.2 billion program is part of the $900 billion December pandemic-relief package. The government is increasing spending on broadband as the pandemic made stark that millions of Americans did not have access to, and could not afford, broadband at a time when jobs, school and health care was moving online.

It’s unclear how long the money will last but it’s expected to be several months. Tens of millions of people are eligible, although the Federal Communications Commission, which is administering the program, did not specify a number.

For example, your household is eligible if you receive food stamps, have a child in the free or reduced-price school lunch program, use Medicaid, or lost income during the pandemic and made $99,000 for single filers, or $198,000 for joint filers, or less.

There are other eligibility requirements, too — see https://getemergencybroadband.org to find out if you qualify.

The website, where people submit applications for the benefit, on Wednesday afternoon said the program was having “connectivity issues” due to “high demand.” Submitting an application resulted in an error message. A phone number for the program played a message saying there was a “high volume of calls” and to try back later.

The FCC said it is working to resolve issues and increasing resources to meet demand for the program. The agency did not say how long the fix will take.

You can get the discount even if you owe your phone or cable company money. That’s important because some people have been barred from low-cost plans offered by internet service providers when they owed their service provider money. More than 800 cellphone and home-internet companies are participating, including AT&T, Charter, Comcast, T-Mobile and Verizon.

People in tribal areas are eligible for up to $75 off their bill. There is also a $100 reimbursement for desktop computers, laptops or tablets — in that case, you must pay between $10 and $50 of the cost of the device yourself and buy it through your broadband provider.

The discount could apply to a household’s whole bill, or you can use it to trade up to a more expensive offering and your bill is partly covered.

The Emergency Broadband Benefit is a more robust, although temporary, program to help people afford internet than Lifeline, the FCC’s other affordability program, which subtracts only $9.25 a month from phone or internet bills. A household can use both the Lifeline and EBB programs.

The Biden administration has proposed $100 billion to get Americans connected, and even before that, billions of dollars are going to improve internet access.

The FCC on Tuesday approved a $7.2 billion program for schools and libraries to connect students in their homes. The Treasury Department is also setting up a $10 billion fund for improving internet connectivity. The money for both came from the $1.9 trillion March pandemic relief package.

There has also been hundreds of billions more in general funds sent to states that could be spent on broadband access.

EXPLAINER: With bankruptcy tossed, what’s next for the NRA?

NEW YORK (AP) — Now that a judge has rejected the National Rifle Association’s bankruptcy bid, blocking its plan to reincorporate in Texas, the gun rights group is back to fighting a lawsuit that threatens to put it out of business.

Harlin Hale, a federal bankruptcy judge in Dallas, dismissed the NRA’s case Tuesday. He ruled the organization’s leadership sought Chapter 11 protection in bad faith — without informing most of its 76-member board — and did so to gain an “unfair advantage” in its fight with New York regulators.

What does that mean for the NRA and America’s long-running battle over guns? Here’s a look at where things go from here.

NEW YORK’S LAWSUIT

Hale’s ruling ensures New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit seeking the organization’s dissolution can continue. James, a Democrat, said Tuesday that discovery is ongoing. The case is expected to go to trial next year.

“The rot runs deep, which is why we will now refocus on and continue our case in New York court,” James said.

James sued the NRA in August 2020, alleging executives diverted tens of millions of dollars for lavish personal trips, no-show contracts for associates and other questionable expenditures. NRA chief Wayne LaPierre and three others who have worked for the organization were also sued.

The NRA countersued, alleging James — who once called the NRA a “terrorist organization” — was motivated by political hostility. That case is pending.

In filing for bankruptcy protection in January, the Virginia-headquartered NRA made clear it sought to escape regulatory oversight in New York, where it was chartered as a nonprofit in 1871. James has regulatory power over nonprofits incorporated in the state.

The NRA had sought to move litigation to a state where it thought it could get an “even shake,” board member Charles Cotton said at the time.

Aside from putting the NRA out of business, James also wants LaPierre and the other defendants removed from leadership and ordered to repay money they are accused of illegally spending, plus penalties.

“Clearly the NRA is in need of oversight and reform, if not dissolution,” James said Tuesday.

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine is also suing the NRA’s foundation, seeking to have a court-appointed monitor supervise its finances. The organization is also embroiled in ongoing litigation with its former advertising agency.

An NRA lawyer said it filed for bankruptcy in part because it feared the lawsuits would result in “death by 1,000 cuts.”

SELF-DEALING ALLEGATIONS

James’ lawsuit highlights misspending and self-dealing claims involving LaPierre — from his wife’s hair and makeup to a $17 million post-employment contract for himself.

“There are individuals and officers who are using the NRA as their personal piggy bank and they need to be held accountable,” James said Tuesday.

LaPierre, who’s led day-to-day operations since 1991, is accused of spending millions on private travel and personal security, and accepting expensive gifts from vendors, including African safaris and use of a 107-foot (32-meter) yacht.

The lawsuit said LaPierre, 71, spent NRA money on travel consultants, luxury car services and private jet flights for himself and his family, including more than $500,000 on eight trips to the Bahamas.

LaPierre has defended himself, testifying last month that cruising the Bahamas on a yacht was a “security retreat” because he was facing threats after mass shootings.

He conceded not reporting the trips on conflict-of-interest forms, testifying: “It’s one of the mistakes I’ve made.”

Phillip Journey, an NRA board member skeptical of LaPierre’s leadership, said testimony at the bankruptcy trial about the organization’s operations could be fresh ammunition for James’ lawsuit or a potential criminal inquiry.

“They were just waiting for all of these transcripts to be completed, all of these exhibits to be admitted,” said Journey, a Kansas judge. “I figure they’re going to go throw them in front of a grand jury and see what pops out.”

SIGHTS STILL SET ON TEXAS

The NRA remains interested in moving to Texas and has powerful allies who’d be happy to see it set up shop there. But doing so through another bankruptcy attempt would be fraught with risk, and James says she has the authority to block efforts to abandon its New York incorporation.

Hale dismissed the NRA’s case without prejudice, meaning the organization can refile — but he warned a second bankruptcy petition would prompt him to take a hard look at the NRA’s lawyers “unusual involvement” in the group’s affairs.

The judge wrote that the lawyers’ actions raised concerns the group couldn’t fulfill its fiduciary duty, which might lead him to appoint a trustee. That would hand the organization’s reins to an outside official selected by the Biden administration’s Justice Department.

The NRA could still pursue other steps to incorporate in Texas, where it claims to have about 400,000 members. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said on Twitter that he supports the move.

But neither Abbott’s office, nor that of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s voiced support in past, responded to questions about the NRA’s possible path to Texas.

FUTURE OF GUN DEBATE

Even as it filed for bankruptcy protection, the NRA claimed it was in “its strongest financial condition in years” — but the coronavirus pandemic and mounting legal costs have hurt.

The organization, which in January reported total assets of about $203 million, liabilities of about $153 million, and $31 million in bank loans, said in court papers it saw revenues drop about 7% because of the pandemic. To cut costs, it laid off dozens and canceled its national convention.

Gun-control groups have seized on its troubles and a recent spate of mass shootings as prime opportunity to advance new legislation.

Yet the NRA has promised to “continue to fight on all fronts.” Even with Democrats in control of Congress and the White House, gun-control legislation faces barriers.

“The fact that the NRA is a shadow of its former self doesn’t mean all of a sudden the nation’s gun-violence problem is going to solve itself,” said Adam Skaggs, chief counsel at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. “But certainly, the days where the NRA could wield power and exert unprecedented influence in our legislatures and our political system, I think those days are numbered.”

In March, the House passed two bills requiring background checks on all firearms sales and transfers and allowing an expanded 10-day review for gun purchases. But the legislation faces a tough road ahead, with some Senate Republican support required for passage.

Meanwhile, Journey, who requested that a court-appointed examiner investigate LaPierre, worries what will become of the group’s non-lobbying work. He’s particularly concerned dismantling the organization will mean the end of things like firearms safety programs.

“I think some organizations may be able to pick up some of the pieces,” he said, “but most of it will simply go away.”

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Bleiberg reported from Dallas.

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On Twitter, follow Michael Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak and Jake Bleiberg at twitter.com/JZBleiberg

Revamped EPA website shows increased climate change risks

WASHINGTON (AP) — After a gap of more than four years, the Environmental Protection Agency is relaunching a website highlighting evidence of climate change in the United States, including rising temperatures, increased ocean acidity, sea level rise, river flooding, droughts, heat waves and wildfires.

EPA unveiled the revamped website on Climate Change Indicators on Wednesday, calling it a “comprehensive resource” that presents clear and compelling evidence of changes to the climate. The website was effectively suspended under President Donald Trump, who did not allow information on the site to be updated and who repeatedly disputed or downplayed the effects of climate change.

“There is no small town, big city or rural community that is unaffected by the climate crisis,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said Wednesday. “Americans are seeing and feeling the impacts up close, with increasing regularity.”

Unlike Trump, President Joe Biden calls climate change an existential threat to the planet and has made slowing global warming a top priority of his administration. He led a virtual global summit on climate change from the White House last month.

The Biden administration revived the climate change website and added some new measures, pulling information from government agencies, universities and other sources.

Regan called the revamped website “a crucial scientific resource that underscores the urgency for action on the climate crisis,” adding: “With this long overdue update, we now have additional data and a new set of indicators that show climate change has become even more evident, stronger, and extreme.”

Regan said it’s “imperative that we take meaningful action” to address climate change.

The new indicators show that 2020 was the second-warmest year on record, after 2016, and that Arctic sea ice was the second smallest on record last year.

The website also shows that heat waves are occurring more often across the United States, from an average of two heat waves per year during the 1960s to six per year during the 2010s.

Sea levels rose along much of the U.S. coastline between 1960 and 2020, particularly the mid-Atlantic and parts of the Gulf Coast, where some reporting stations registered increases of more than 8 inches, the EPA said.

Coastal flooding also is becoming more frequent, especially along the East and Gulf Coasts, while the average length of the growing season in the lower 48 states increased by more than two weeks since the beginning of the 20th century.

EPA said it worked with partners from dozens of government agencies, academic institutions and other organizations to develop the climate change indicators. Each indicator was peer reviewed by independent experts.

The revamped site also features interactive data exploration tools with graphs, maps and figures, along with an overview of the climate change indicators and climate change’s effects on human health and the environment.

7 Yanks coaches, staff have virus, Torres out as precaution

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — New York Yankees shortstop Gleyber Torres was kept out of Wednesday night’s starting lineup at Tampa Bay as a precaution as the number of confirmed positive COVID-19 tests among the team’s coaching and support staff reached seven.

Manager Aaron Boone said MLB’s Joint COVID-19 Health and Safety Committee is waiting and reviewing a number of test results. The members of New York’s traveling party have been tested at least three times each since Tuesday.

“I know everybody is going to read into that but hopefully it’s nothing, it’s more just getting all the information,” Boone said of Torres.

Boone said the Yankees expect to receive an update about Torres on Wednesday night. He added that Torres tested positive for COVID-19 in December and has been vaccinated.

It was also confirmed by Boone that pitching coach Matt Blake has joined third base Phil Nevin and first base coach Reggie Willits as members of the coaching staff testing positive for the virus. A couple additional staff members had positive tests confirmed on Wednesday, bringing the total there to four.

Six of the seven are asymptomatic. All are fully vaccinated.

“We’re seeing the vaccinations also kind of blunt the effects of the virus,” Boone said. “We’re also learning as we go and getting informed as what we need to do exactly and just try to do as best we can to be able to make quick adjustments on the fly. Just doing the best we can with it all.”

The Yankees on April 30 were able to relax MLB protocols after reaching an 85 percent vaccination rate among players and staff such as managers, coaches and athletic trainers.

“We’ve been dealing with this thing now for over a year,” Yankees pitcher Jameson Taillon said. “We’re just going to roll with the punches and try to protect each other, and do our responsibility to keep everyone safe. But we’re here and we’re to play.”

Both Boone and Rays manager Kevin Cash said the communication between the teams and MLB has been good.

“First of all you hope they’re OK,” Cash said. “We’ve got some very intelligent people and the right doctors that are advising the right way to go about things.”

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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Archives for May 2021

Congress skeptical of VA’s reliance on contractors for C&P exams

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