FederalDaily - January 24, 2008

GAO: Army’s $70 Billion Expansion Plan Needs More Transparency

The Army needs to improve the transparency of its $70 billion plan to permanently expand its active and reserve levels by about 75,000 troops, said a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report dated Jan. 18. GAO looked at the Army’s Grow the Force initiative funding plan to increase the total number of servicemembers from 1,037,000 to 1,112,000 by Fiscal Year 2010. But the plan is neither transparent nor comprehensive, GAO found. The Army lacks documentation on how it developed the cost estimates that served as the basis of its $70 billion funding plan, GAO said, noting that Army budget analysts complained they had limited time to prepare the plan before President Bush submitted the budget last year. And, there is some indication that the plan may have understated the true cost of the initiative, GAO said. For example, the $70 billion funding plan did not include more than $2.5 billion for health care and educational support assistance associated with increasing personnel levels. Also, because the initiative has been accelerated—final implementation deadlines were moved from FY 2013 to FY 2010—associated military and civilian personnel hiring costs would probably increase, GAO said. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/new.items/d08354r.pdf.

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Bill Would Offer Whistleblowers Greater Protection, Triple Damages

A new bill would offer government whistleblowers more protection when disclosing official wrongdoing, as well as a streamlined administrative review process and the ability to seek a triple damage award in federal court. Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md., who introduced the Congressional Disclosures Protection Act on Jan. 22, said the bill would “add teeth” to existing statutes, “and truly protect our federal employees who disclose fraud, waste and abuse in the federal government.” The bill would speed the administrative review process by allowing whistleblowers to seek immediate review in federal court, a practice that is not now allowed. The bill also would triple the amount of damages that can be awarded to whistleblowers who are victims of retaliation or discrimination, triple the amount of potential attorney’s fees and allow whistleblowers to seek representation through the Office of Special Counsel, Wynn said. To see more, go to: www.wynn.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=515&Itemid=1

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Bill Would Forgive VA Debts of Fallen Servicemembers

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, on Jan. 22 introduced a bill that would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to forgive VA loans of servicemembers who are killed in combat. Under current law, if a servicemember is killed in combat and still has any outstanding VA indebtedness, the agency is required to contact the family for collection, Bailey said. Although the law does allow the VA Secretary some discretion for waiving certain cases, the bill—S. 2536, the Combat Veterans Debt Elimination Act—would require VA to forgive all such debts. The bill would be retroactive to Sept. 11, 2001. “The fact that the VA is forced to collect a few hundred dollars from bereaved mothers and fathers for something as simple as a small debt for education benefits is ludicrous,” said Hutchison, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. In one sample case cited in a release from Hutchinson’s office, VA is seeking $845 from the mother of a Marine reservist who was killed in an explosion in Iraq. The loan paid for education assistance allowing him to attend Texas A&M University. To see more, go to: http://hutchison.senate.gov/pr012208a.html.

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