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Bush: Bill to improve vet care is premature

The Bush administration opposes a House bill aimed at improving care and cutting red tape for wounded combat veterans, saying it does not want to be rushed into accepting permanent changes in medical and administrative policies.

“The administration endorses the goals of the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act of 2007 but believes that this legislation is premature,” the White House’s Office of Management and Budget said in a statement of administration policy issued Monday.

The statement asks Congress to postpone passing legislation until an interagency task force and a separate presidential commission finish studying military medical care and make recommendations for change. The two reviews will not be completed before July 31, the policy statement says.

The bill, HR 1538, was approved last week by the House Armed Services Committee and could come to a vote in the House as early as Wednesday. At the same time, the Senate is considering an amendment to the 2007 supplemental appropriations bill, offered by Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., that includes some of the same ideas, such as adding caseworkers to help with disability paperwork, adding more mental health and crisis counselors and electronic submission of paperwork.

The policy statement appears unlikely to delay either vote, but it could complicate efforts to write a compromise proposal.

One provision of the House bill has drawn strong objection from the White House. It would place a one-year moratorium on contracting out any more jobs at military medical facilities. It was added at the urging of Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee, because among the problems discovered at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center was deferred or unfinished maintenance and repairs after maintenance jobs were given to civilian contractors, resulting in a dramatic reduction in the number of people assigned to make repairs.

“The Department of Defense should retain the full range of management tools to improve services at military medical facilities,” the administration policy statement says. “The tailored application of competition at select military medical facilities allows the Department to use its full continuum of military, civilian, and contractor resources to ensure better operations, better quality accessible care to its patients, and optimal readiness and deployment capabilities.”

Numerous administration reports provided to Congress over the last several years on competitive sourcing, in which federal workers compete against contractors to determine who can do the job at a better value, have documented the significant savings and improved management practices that have been achieved. Competitions completed over the last four years are expected to generate more than $6 billion in savings over the next 10 years.