TREA Washington Update for December 21, 2007

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TREA WASHINGTON UPDATE
December 21, 2007

Merry Christmas to you and yours. We hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday. Congress has been working like mad before leaving for the Christmas break. They have now gone and won’t return until 2008.
There will not be an Update on December 28. See you all next year!
From the Washington Office:
1) Congress Passes And Sends The President The Omnibus Bill (And Then Congress Goes Home)
2) Dr. James Peake Is Sworn In As New Secretary of The VA
3) NDAA Does Not Change Paid Up Provisions of SBP
4) Last Minute Senate Bills
5) Percentage of Veterans In Congress Drop
Other News:
6)DFAS To Release 2007 Tax Statements
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1) Congress Passes and Sends the President the Omnibus Bill (And Then Congress Goes Home)-Congress passed a $555 billion Omnibus bill to finance the federal government; sent it off to the President, and then adjourned. (Technically, only the House adjourned; the Senate is keeping pro forma sessions to stop the President from making any recess appointments. ) The bill includes $70 billion to finance military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The President has said that he will sign it. The final House vote was 272-142 to approve the Senate version, including the war funding. This bill funds the Cabinet Departments including the VA. The bill provides $473.5 billion for the 11 remaining spending bills. It also included $11.2 billion under emergency funding to cover additional and enlarged veterans programs, border security expenditures and drought relief (emergency funding is not counted towards the spending caps). Congress also passed a CR (Continuing Resolution) to finance the government through December 31 to give the President time to go over the Omnibus Bill (all 3,500+ pages of it).
2) Dr. James Peake Is Sworn In As New Secretary of the VA-On Thursday, Dr. James Peake was sworn in as the new Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. That was just 6 days after he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Dr. Peake, a retired Army Surgeon General, will be focusing on seamless transition of DoD patients to VA ones. The swearing in was held at the VA’s National Headquarters and attended by both President Bush and Vice President Cheney. It has an honor to represent TREA at the event. At the end of this Update please find the Statements made by President Bush and Secretary Peake. (The Vice President administered the oath to Dr. Peake.)
3) NDAA Does Not Change Paid Up Provisions of SBP-The final version of the NDAA unfortunately does not change the paid up provisions of SBP (We have been receiving some calls on this issue). The paid up requirements- the paying retired service member must be at least 70 years old and has been paying into the program for at least 30 years. It will go into effect on the first day of the 2009 fiscal year, which is October 1, 2008.
4) Last Minute Senate Bills–The Senate is passing a string of bills of concern to many on us. On Wednesday they passed a bill allowing the Coast Guard to assume management over its troubled Deepwater modernization program from Lockheed Martin. This 25 year modernization plan has suffered from numerous delays, mistakes and overruns. The bill would also require an outside review of all Deepwater assets, require the Coast Guard to report to Congress before awarding new contracts and authorize the Coast Guard to shift personnel to manage the program. The House has a similar bill. The Senate also passed legislation Wednesday (previously passed by the House) to expand Small Business Administration programs for veterans and military reservists. The bill, HR4253, will reauthorize the programs for the next two years and grant $4.4 million to fund the Veterans Business Outreach Centers. It allows the SBA to offer loans of up to $50,000 without requiring collateral. Fourteen percent of small businesses are owned by veterans (approximately 4,000,000 vets).
5) Percentage of Veterans in Congress Drop-The 110th session of Congress has the lowest percentage of veterans in the House and Senate since before World War II. And that number is expected to drop even further with 10 veterans planning to retire or run for other offices. After the Korean War, well over 70% of all members of the House and Senate were veterans. Now the number is 24% - 29 Senators and 100 House members have had some military experience. (In the 109th Congress the total number was 141).
Only eight World War II vets are still serving: Sens. Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye, both D-Hawaii; Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.; Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and John Warner, R-Va.; and Reps John Dingell, D-Mich.; Ralph Hall, R-Texas, and Ralph Regula, R-Ohio. Warner and Regula will retire in 2009.
6) DFAS To Release 2007 Tax Statements - Military service members, military retirees and annuitants, and federal civilian employees paid by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) can expect to receive their 2007 tax statements beginning in December 2007.
DFAS customers with myPay(https://mypay. dfas.mil/ mypay.aspx) access will be able to retrieve their tax statements electronically up to two weeks sooner than those relying on regular mail delivery.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) forms W-2s, 1099Rs and 1099-INTs, along with retiree and annuitant annual account statements for DFAS customers are projected to be distributed by the dates in the following table:
Form/Document
Available on myPay
Mailed via the
U.S. Post Office
Retiree Annual Statement (RAS)
Dec. 10, 2007
Dec. 16-31. 2007
Retiree 1099R
Dec. 18, 2007
Dec. 16-31, 2007
Annuitant Account Statement (AAS)
Dec. 18, 2007
Dec. 19-31, 2007
Annuitant 1099R
Dec. 18, 2007
Dec. 19-31, 2007
VSI/SSB W-2
Not available
Jan. 4-6, 2008
Active Duty Air Force, Army, Navy W-2
Jan. 22, 2008
Jan. 23-29, 2008
Reserve Air Force, Army, Navy W-2
Jan. 2, 2008
Jan. 5-8, 2008
Marine Corps Active & Reserve W-2
Jan. 7, 2008
Jan. 9-10, 2008
Civilian employee W-2
Jan. 4, 2008
Jan. 11-18, 2008
Savings Deposit Program 1099INT
Jan. 18, 2008
Jan. 19-20, 2008
Vendor Pay 1099
Not available
Jan. 27-31, 2008
MISC W-2
Not available
Jan. 19-30, 2008
Civilian PCS W-2
Not available
Jan. 19-30, 2008
NAF Vendor Pay 1099
Not available
Jan. 17-24, 2008
NAF MISC W-2
Not available
Jan. 17-24, 2008
NAF Civilian Pay W-2
Jan. 11, 2008
Jan. 14-18, 2008

According to Lee Krushinski, acting DFAS Operations Director, tax statements available through myPayare approved for use by the IRS and have several added benefits for myPayusers.
“As long as a user has their log in information, they will never lose their tax statements,” Krushinski said. “The statements remain online to allow customers to view and print whenever it is convenient for them. Should they need copies later in the year, they are still available.”
Krushinski also pointed out the use of “restricted access PINs” allows users to have other family members, tax preparers or other trusted individuals view and print their tax statements without the ability to change any pay account information. This can be of particular interest to military members deployed overseas, retirees, annuitants, or anyone who uses commercial tax preparation services. The restricted access PIN can be established after logging into a customer’s myPayaccount.
myPayis a secure Web-based pay information system. One of the many benefits of this system is avoiding risks associated with identity theft. myPay has a series of security measures with layers of defense against identity theft. The secure technology provided to myPaycustomers meets or exceeds security requirements in private industry worldwide.
Using myPayto access tax statements eliminates the preparation and mailing costs incurred with the traditional distribution methods. Combined with the earlier availability of statements online, this makes myPaya better option for many DFAS customers and the Department of Defense.
If customers have forgotten their personal identification number (PIN) or wish to open a myPayaccount can do so on the myPayWeb site.
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 20, 2007

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND DR. PEAKE
AT SWEARING IN OF THE
SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Washington, D.C.

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Thanks for the warm welcome to the Department of Veterans Affairs. I am proud to introduce your new Secretary: Lieutenant General James Peake. (Applause.) And I am pleased to be joined by his wife, Janice, and daughter Kimberly, and her husband, Mack. I know they're proud of what Jim has accomplished during his career, and I thank them for supporting him in his work ahead.
I thank the Vice President for joining me today. We had a long ride over here, Jim. (Laughter.) Plenty of time to visit. (Laughter.) I want to thank the Secretary for joining us -- Secretary of Defense, Bob Gates; honored you're here, sir. Appreciate Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor; Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield -- I'm going to say something about you here in a minute. I appreciate Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, for joining us. Thanks for coming, Admiral. General Dick Cody, Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army. I appreciate all those who wear the uniform who have joined us today, as well.
I want to thank Arlen Specter, United States Senator, for joining us. Senator, thanks for coming. And my Congressman, the Congressman from central Texas, Congressman Chet Edwards, Chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee; proud you're here.
I want to thank the members of Veterans Service Organizations who are with us today.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hoo-rah. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Looking forward to working with you. (Laughter.) And behave yourself. (Laughter.)
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs has one of the most important jobs in our government. The Secretary leads a department of more than 240,000 employees -- and I want to thank every one of them for serving our country; appreciate your hard work. (Applause.) The Secretary is charged with a solemn responsibility: to ensure our nation's veterans receive the care and the benefits they deserve.
Dr. Jim Peake has the skills and experience to carry out this mission. He is both the first physician and the first general to lead this department. His 36-year medical career has taken him to military bases across the world. And during the opening years of the war on terror, he directed the Army Medical Department as Army Surgeon General. In that position, he led more than 55,000 medical personnel, and managed an operating budget of nearly $5 billion. Throughout his long career, Dr. Peake has worked to improve the way we deliver medical care to our troops. And thanks to his efforts, many who once might have died on the battlefield have returned home to live lives of hope and promise.
We see this hope and promise in the story of Dr. Peake's own life. Dr. Peake's first stay at a military hospital came years before he entered his -- earned his medical degree at Cornell. It came as a wounded patient during the Vietnam War. This West Point graduate received several medals for his valor, including the Silver Star; he earned a reputation for honor and selflessness.
Dr. Peake learned those values from his loving parents who taught him the meaning of service. His mother was an Army nurse. And his father was an Army officer, who spent most of his 30-year career in the Medical Service Corps. And I know they both would be proud to see their oldest son, Jim, become the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Dr. Peake follows in the footsteps of another fine public servant and Vietnam combat veteran: Secretary Jim Nicholson. Throughout his career, Jim Nicholson has served our nation with honor and integrity -- as an Army Ranger, and ambassador, and as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Secretary Nicholson built on the fine record of his predecessor, Tony Principi -- Mr. Secretary, glad you're here today -- and he leaves an impressive legacy of his own. Under his leadership, this department has worked to meet the needs of new veterans returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq. Secretary Nicholson also launched an effort to modernize the department's information technology systems -- so we can better protect patients' personal information. I want to thank Jim for his work on behalf of our nation's veterans -- and I wish him and his wife, Suzanne, all the very best.
I also want to thank Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield. He served as the Acting Secretary for Veterans Affairs since October. Gordon is a retired Army officer who has dedicated much of his career to serving his fellow veterans. I've benefited from Gordon's wisdom and counsel -- and he did a terrific job as Acting Secretary during this time of transition. (Applause.)
Dr. Peake takes office at a critical moment in the history of this department. Our nation is at war -- and many new veterans are leaving the battlefield and entering the VA system. This system provides our veterans with the finest care -- but sometimes the bureaucracy can be difficult. To address these problems, our administration, along with the Secretary's leadership is implementing recommendations of the Dole-Shalala Commission on Wounded Warriors. In other words, we're not going to tolerate bureaucratic delays. We want the very best for our veterans. Some of the commission's recommendations require the approval of Congress -- and Congressman and Senator, we're looking forward to working with you on those. I've sent legislation to Congress to carry out these additional recommendations -- and Dr. Peake is going to work with members from both sides of the aisle to get me a good bill that I can sign into law.
Our nation has no higher calling than to provide for those who have borne the cost of battle -- and we will honor our responsibilities. (Applause.) I am confident in the future of this department because I have seen firsthand the dedication and character of the men and women who work here. And I am confident that you will have a worthy and strong leader in our new Secretary.
Congratulations, Jim. I appreciate your willingness to serve. And now I ask the Vice President to administer the oath.
(The oath is administered. ) (Applause.)
SECRETARY PEAKE: Mr. President, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Mansfield, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen of the VA -- and of, really, the United States -- I cannot tell you just how proud I am to be back in service to this country and, most particularly, in this role serving those who have defended her.
Janice, thank you. We've been in lots of ceremonies over the 31 years, and none quite like this, I must admit. (Laughter.) But each time, I recognize just how lucky I am to have you.
Mr. President, I know how strongly you feel about doing right by our veterans. Your visit here at our headquarters today speaks volumes to that. I am deeply appreciative of your confidence and I pledge to you, sir, that I will do my very best to live up to that confidence.
As part of the process of confirmation, in addition to the hearing, there were a series of written questions from the Senate. One of them was: If given the chance, what would you say to all of the people of the VA? So they've sort of prepped me for today for you. What I told them then is what I tell you now: first, just how privileged I feel to be joining this team. I know of your commitment to veterans. I know that many of you have dedicated your lives to taking care of veterans, and that many of you are veterans yourselves.
I know many of the advances -- for example, leading in health care innovation -- that have been because of you. You touch lives all across this great nation, from enabling veterans to have a home, sometimes a special home; to getting an education; to having rehabilitation that enables a productive and proud citizen. Secretary Chao, I look forward to working with you, particularly in that regard. You need to know that I deeply believe in this mission, and that I believe in you.
I know quite a number of you already, and I have had emails from across the field of people that I have known over the many years. I've seen the ethic, I've seen the caring and the compassion and the technical skills, and I truly appreciate the quality of the leadership team, Gordon, that you've assembled.
I want you to get to know me. You've heard my background: 38 years in the military, with a chance to do lots of different things. But I also have had a rather long association with the VA: 10 years on the Special Medical Advisory Group for the VHA; this last year working with the VBA, and even experience with the VA cemetery when I was commanding general at Fort Sam Houston. I'm not a total newcomer.
With this great team in place, I aim to hit the ground running. And as I review the history, I cannot think of a recent time with more focus on our veterans or more in-depth looks coming together to allow us to chart a course forward, and the opportunity that provides to look to the future with this newest generation of combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, simultaneously honoring our nation's commitment to that generation of World War II and Korean veterans, and addressing the needs of the men and women of the Vietnam era, my generation, who are now finding more and more needs of our services.
The Dole-Shalala report that the President commissioned has given us a powerful blueprint to move forward. Already in partnership with DOD, recommendations are being implemented to better serve our wounded warriors. I do look forward to working closely with Congress and with our veterans' service organizations and our military service organizations -- and many, I am delighted to see, are represented here today -- to make meaningful progress where legislation is needed.
Secretary Gates, General Cody, Dr. Casscells, thank you for coming today. Our partnership in this quest is really important to move forward. I don't want "seamlessness" to be a buzzword -- I want it to be our way of doing business. I know we can do that together.
Admiral Allen, Commandant of the Coast Guard, is here today, and we not only take care of your veterans, but your presence highlights the VA's role in readiness and homeland security, and I appreciate you being here.
Finally, I told the Senate that I would commit to each of you in the VA my dedication to the mission, to you, and to creating the environment for your success as together, we serve the needs of veterans. Well, I do that now with all of my heart and all of my energy. We have a special mission, and I am delighted to be on this VA team. I'll see you on the high ground.
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