From: Lisa Bogle, Disabled American Veterans" lbogle@davmail.org

www.dav.org  

Disabled American Veterans
National Headquarters
3725 Alexandria Pike
Cold Spring, KY 41076
Phone: (859) 441-7300



           NEWS RELEASE   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 23, 2006



   House VA Panel Hearing Plan Mutes Veterans' Voices

   WASHINGTON-An overhaul of legislative hearings announced by the chairman
of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee seems deliberately designed to
marginalize the influence of the nation's veterans on funding levels for the
Department of Veterans Affairs and other important public policy issues,
according to the Disabled American Veterans.

  

Last November Committee Chairman Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) decided to end a
decades-long tradition that gave veterans groups the opportunity to present
testimony regarding a wide range of legislative priorities before a joint
session of the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees. The DAV and
other organizations tried, unsuccessfully, to get Rep. Buyer to reinstate
those joint hearings, which they viewed as an invaluable tool in formulating
public policy toward America's veterans.

 

When the new schedule of hearings and their format were announced in
January proved to be even more disappointing to veterans, DAV National
Commander Paul W. Jackson sent a letter of protest to Chairman Buyer.



   The first of those hearings is scheduled for February 8, just two days
after the anticipated release of the President's budget proposal for fiscal
year 2007 on February 6, and copies of written testimony from veterans
service organizations must be submitted to the Committee by noon that very
day. The Chairman also imposed a three-minute limit on oral remarks by
representatives from veterans organizations, each of which could invite no
more than five persons in the audience.

 

"Both the timing of the hearings and the absurdity of a three-minute limit
for oral remarks make it all too clear that Chairman Buyer is not interested
in a meaningful dialogue with the veterans community," said DAV National
Commander Paul W. Jackson.



   "How could the Chairman expect us to analyze and comment on the
President's budget request before it is even made public? Or is it his
intent to blunt criticism and suppress diverse points of view regarding
funding levels and policy initiatives in the President's budget?" Commander
Jackson said.



   "The revised schedule for hearings and the change in format amount to a
slap in the face of individual veterans as well as the groups that represent
them in the public policy arena. Chairman Buyer has slammed the door in the
face of America's veterans," Commander Jackson said.



   The 1.3 million-member Disabled American Veterans, a non-profit
organization founded in 1920 and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1932,
represents this nation's disabled veterans. It is dedicated to a single

purpose: building better lives for our nation's disabled veterans and their
families. For more information, visit the organization's Web site
www.dav.org.