FederalDaily.com > House Passes Bill Placing Security Contractors Under U.S. Law

FederalDaily - October 9, 2007

House Passes Bill Placing Security Contractors Under U.S. Law

Spurred by the controversy surrounding the shooting last month of numerous possibly non-hostile Iraqis by private U.S. security guards, the House on Oct. 4 overwhelmingly passed a bill to make all government contractors in combat zones subject to American criminal courts. The vote was 389 to 30 and if the bill, sponsored by Rep. David Price, D-N.C., receives similarly overwhelming support in the Senate, its passage would be veto-proof. President Bush has expressed his displeasure with the measure, but has stopped short of a veto threat. The bill, H.R. 2740, would increase the jurisdiction of the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) to include all contractors working for the federal government in a war zone. MEJA covers Defense Department (DoD) contractors, but not State Department contractors, Price said. Meanwhile, U.S. contractors are immune from Iraqi criminal laws. Private contractor Blackwater USA remains the focus of the debate after Blackwater guards engaged in a Sept. 16 shoot-out in a Baghdad square. At least 17 Iraqis were killed under circumstances that some lawmakers say points to a shoot-first, ask-questions-later approach on the part of Blackwater guards. "The bill closes a major loophole in the law that allows thousands of contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan to operate with impunity," Price said. To see more, go to: http://price.house.gov/apps/list/press/nc04_price/100407.shtml

GAO: Feds Wasted $146 Million on Premium Airfare

Federal workers misspent at least $146 million on business- or first-class airline tickets when they just as easily could have flown coach, a Government Accountability Office report released Oct. 3 found. Breakdowns in internal controls—and a weak control environment in the first place—resulted in the improper first and business class travel for government-sanctioned trips, the GAO said. GAO examined $230 million worth of premium tickets bought by the federal government—about 53,000 premium class tickets—from July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006. Many of the tickets violated government rules on premium travel, and GAO estimated that fully 67 percent of premium class travel was not properly authorized, justified, or both. Provisions of the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) allow premium class travel for flights over 14 hours if properly authorized. However, executives at the Foreign Agricultural Service frequently used "mission critical" to justify flights to Western Europe that typically lasted less than 10 hours, the report said. And, premium class tickets are costly—for example, a Department of Agriculture (USDA) executive flew business class from Washington, D.C., to Zurich, Switzerland, at a cost of $7,500 compared to $900 for a coach class ticket, the report said. Or, at the United States Postal Service (USPS) a member of the board flew first class round trip from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, at a cost of $2,200. A coach ticket was $400, the report said. Notably, the abuses could be more widespread because most agencies don't monitor employees' use of costly business-class tickets, the report said. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/highlights/d071268high.pdf

Commission Calls For Update of Vet Disabilities Rating Scale

The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) need to update the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) to include the evaluation and rating of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other mental disorders and traumatic brain injury (TBI), said a blue-ribbon commission report released Oct. 3. That recommendation was one of 113 issued by the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission in its report: Honoring the Call to Duty: Veterans’ Disability Benefits in the 21st Century . The commission said that its recommendations, if carried out, would help ensure that the VA benefit system fairly compensates the service-disabled veterans and their families. The commission also recommended that the VA initially increase compensation rates as much as 25 percent, eliminate the ban on concurrent receipt for all military retirees and for all service members who are separated from the military due to service-connected disabilities and eliminate the benefit's offset for survivors of retirees and in-service deaths. “For almost three years, the Commission has studied the existing systems and found disparities that directly impact the benefits that our veterans receive,” said Commission Chair James Terry Scott, retired Army general. “It is important that all those who have served our nation receive an appropriate, equitable and consistent benefit for their sacrifices.” Lawmakers also applauded the commission's work. “This latest report and other reviews make it clear that there is a critical need for a restructured and modernized disability system," said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo. To see more, go to: https://www.1888932-2946.ws/vetscommission/e-documentmanager/gallery/Documents/Reference_Materials/NewsRelease_10-3-07.pdf