Congressman Jeff Miller Discusses House Veterans Affair Chair Post

December 11, 2010

In his latest newsletter, U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller discusses his appointment as chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

The following was submitted by Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla for NorthEscambia.com:

Just over a month ago, we all heard the American people speak out loud and clear about their desire for our nation to head in a new direction away from the course it had been on over the last several years. With the new majority in the House comes many significant changes and a new charge from the voters to eliminate wasteful spending and restore the federal government to its proper role. Included in those changes were the decisions on which members would lead the committees in the House.

This week, I was elected to serve as the Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee for the 112th Congress. To have this unique opportunity is a great honor, and I look forward to ensuring the best care and services are delivered to our nation’s veterans. I have served on this important committee since first being elected to Congress and have worked hard for our veterans during that time. We have seen in Northwest Florida some tremendous examples of success from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) co-sharing resources with the Department of Defense, and I look forward to leading that success across the country, including making further progress on a lifetime electronic record for our soldiers.

We have also seen in the past- both inside and outside VA- the failures of simply throwing money at a problem with the hopes that it would go away. Significant increases in VA funding to specifically address, and eventually eliminate, the claims backlog clearly did not do what was needed, and I intend to push a more efficient approach that addresses the claims system from top to bottom so that a veteran can more easily and accurately file a claim and at the same time receive a more timely response. Time is long overdue to eliminate the adversarial feeling that many of these veterans have toward VA and make it a more user-friendly system.

The committee must also ensure strict oversight at VA, especially in the areas of information security and patient safety. Just one stolen laptop with veterans’ personal information is one too many, and rigorous procedures must be put in place throughout the department to ensure such an incident does not occur in the future. So, too, must patients at VA facilities know that stringent procedures are being followed by workers in those facilities and that they are always receiving the highest quality of care.

I also hope to have a cooperative atmosphere guiding the committee’s actions where members on both sides of the aisle work together with VA, the veterans service organizations (VSOs), and individual veterans to see that VA can fulfill its mission to the best of its ability. We all have a common goal of ensuring the best care and benefits for those who bravely served this nation, and the time is over for letting disagreement on how to best achieve that goal impede our progress.

I am humbled by the privilege of not only representing over 110,000 veterans in Northwest Florida, but also serving our nation’s heroes across the country as the new Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs’ Committee. There is no doubt of the significant workload ahead of us, but I and my fellow committee members will fight to meet the needs of those veterans, just as they fought to protect our liberty.

Comments

6 Responses to “Congressman Jeff Miller Discusses House Veterans Affair Chair Post”

  1. petro kurkimilis on February 26th, 2011 9:34 pm

    Dear Sir: Please continue your support for hr-23 merchant marine veterans of ww 11.I’m an 84 year old merchant marine veteran who has’nt given up hope for eventual passage of this bill.I pray that this bill will be enacted into law for the few unsung heroes that voluntered their services and contributed so much to the war effort…I made my first trip at age 16 in a convoy to murmansk and many convoys in the atlantic pacific and the med including service as an able bodied seaman in a troopship in the normandy invasion. I registered for the draft when I turned eighteen and was told to stay on the ships because I was of more value to the war effort as a merchant seaman…….Sincerely and respectfully submitted–Captain Pete kurkimilis U.S.Merchant Marine ( retired )

  2. Gary Schaffer on January 25th, 2011 3:05 pm

    Dear Congressman Miller, congradulations on your appointment to the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
    My concern is with the fraud in the VA reguarding retired vets pensions entitlements. The system is broken when one retired vet draws full pension plus another full pension from a deceased retired vet spouse, yet lives with even another person reason being marriage would disqualify the second payment while other vets are sleeping in the street. Hopefully this is an area of concern for you to make distributions more fair and equitable for all vets. I’m a vet and draw nothing, however, there are vets in need of more assistance and if dispursements were more equal all could benefit from the system.

  3. Robert A. Brown on January 4th, 2011 9:15 pm

    I have been fighting with the VA for 7years to corect a situation where theVA Regional Counsel in Dallas in concert with a VSR Ofice in Waco hid 11 claims fo over 2 yeas until an investigation was requested by the Texas Governor. 7 of those claims still have not been worked after an additional 2 yeas. Their conspiracy also ikmnvolved changing the medical files onm seveeral cases hiding clear evidence of medical malpractice. One of those cases is going before a Judge Feb, 2011, but I am told that no one wins an 1551 Claim. I guess we will see. I has only been 5 years and 2 months and thousands of hours of letters of complainto the VA, Congressmen, Senators to get to this point. I lost everything I worked for my whole life, also with m health. THE SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK!

  4. Jim W on December 12th, 2010 5:15 pm

    I sure hope you can do all you are saying you will do. It is long overdue. I am a service connected Veteran and have had reasonable luck with the system but had some trials along the way. There are road blocks that Veterans should not have to deal with. The hardest part for most Veterans is being able to get into the system and then understand how the system works. Mentioning the VSO’s if it were not for them we the Veterans would be in deep trouble. The other unsung heros as far as I am concered are he staff and doctors who work so hard to deliver the very best they can for us. I would be remissed if I did not mention the thousands of volunteers who make the V.A. hospitals run. If you have ever considered volunterring this is the place to do it. Your help is always appreciated and needed.

  5. usmcvietvet on December 11th, 2010 12:26 pm

    I hope Congressman Miller considers the possibility of an increase in the monthly compensation rates for service-connected veterans. We deserve to live a decent quality of live, especially if our compensation is out only source of income. At one time, 2 or 3 years ago, a Study Commission did research on SC Disability monetary rates and came back with a recommendation that at least a 25% increase should be considered…all things equal. It was tabled, and then POOF..it disappeared. Please resume the process, again, of this possibility.
    We sacrificed for OUR country, now it is time that OUR country sacrificed for us.
    We received no COLA last year, and no COLA for this year. I have been receiving SC Disability Compensation since 1968, and over those 42 years tat has NEVER
    been an increase in those rates. Just the paltry COLA increases to pacify us.
    IT’S ABOUT TIME !!! Semper Fi.

  6. xpeecee on December 11th, 2010 7:44 am

    Congressman Jeff Miller’s appointment to this position can only be seen as a positive for the military veterans of this country. We need more Jeff Millers in Washington…

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News