As the federal shutdown continues, thousands of veterans might find it harder to gain their promised military benefits as Department of Veterans Affairs offices throughout the nation begin to falter.
More furloughs on the horizon
Nearly 7,000 of the 21,000 Veterans Business Administration employees have been furloughed this week, leading to the closure of regional VA offices, the Army Times reported.
Congress passed a last-minute bill Sept. 30 that ensured active-duty troops and civilian employees of the Department of Defense received their paychecks during the government shutdown. A liberal reading of the law by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel led to the recall of nearly 350,000 furloughed Pentagon workers. Unfortunately, there was no measure to spare the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is currently bracing for the worst as it closes its doors to veterans this week.
According to the news source, the federal furloughs mean that VA offices around the nation will be unable to receive walk-ins or take phone calls from veterans asking for status updates on their benefits, including veterans life insurance, pension payments and disability claims. However, most toll-free phone services – except for the G.I. Bill Center – will remain open.
While a majority of Veterans Business Administration workers are still employed, the suspension of the regional VA offices might have a large impact on former servicemembers, since most veterans rely on their local offices for assistance.
Increase in backlogs
The ongoing federal furloughs have also hindered the progress of the disability claims backlog, which was decreasing before the shutdown began due to mandatory overtime. According to the news source, the VA currently has 725,165 pending benefits claims. More than 400,000 of those claims have extended past the 125-day processing goal set by the VA.
Beginning last May, the VA ordered mandatory overtime for claims processors in 56 regional offices throughout the nation in order to reduce the disability claims backlog and completely eliminate it by 2015, according to a statement released by the agency.
VA officials said that it has reduced the backlog by 30 percent, processing roughly 100,000 disability claims per month. However, the progress might be reversed due to the cancelling of the overtime during the federal shutdown.
Military towns around the nation have been bracing for the worst since the federal government shutdown left commissaries at all U.S. military installations closed and thousands of active-duty servicemembers, veterans and civilian defense department workers unsure about their military benefits.
Many of these towns depend on the military bases they house. For instance, Fayetteville, N.C., is home to Fort Bragg, and with 57,000 servicemembers, thousands of veterans and more than 200 defense contractors, it's one of the most populated military installations in the nation. More than 7,000 civilian workers were furloughed at the large southern base Oct. 1, and the shutdown combined with the earlier sequester and other defense reductions have left the town faltering financially, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The news source reported that Fort Bragg funnels $25 million into the town's economy each year, while the greater Fayetteville area relies on the base for 38 percent of its gross domestic product. Street sweeping, maintenance repairs and other functions have also ceased at the base, according to the news source.
Although the town has been protected from the recession, many business owners told the news outlet that they were finally feeling the effects of an economic downturn.
"It'll definitely hurt us," local business owner Jose Valentin told the news outlet. "And the longer it goes on, the worse it's going to get."
Most of the 400,000 furloughed civilian employees of the Department of Defense were summoned back to work this week by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, according to a written announcement released by the DOD.
Half of the Pentagon's civilian workforce was suspended Oct. 1 despite a last-minute measure drafted by Congress that allowed both civilians and active-duty servicemembers to receive their paychecks on time during the government shutdown, the Associated Press reported.
According to the news source, Hagel, along with Defense Department lawyers, took a liberal interpretation of the newly passed military pay law – an action he promised he would take just days after the shutdown began.
The Defense Department also consulted the Department of Justice about the law, Hagel said in the DOD statement. While the DOJ legal counsel decided that the law does not allow a "blanket recall" of all the Pentagon's civilian employees, there was still good news to be had for suspended defense department workers.
"Attorneys concluded that the law does allow the Department of Defense to eliminate furloughs for employees whose responsibilities contribute to the morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members," Hagel said.
Under Secretary of Defense Robert F. Hale told CNN that about 90 percent of the Pentagon's furloughed civilian staff will be returning to work. Overall, 800,000 federal workers were furloughed last Tuesday, the news outlet reported.
Although Congress passed a last-minute measure Sept. 30 to fund servicemembers and civilian Department of Defense employees working during the government shutdown, the Pentagon has yet to tell which employees will receive their military paychecks, according to Stars and Stripes.
Signed by President Obama just hours before the shutdown began, the Military Pay Law ensures that active-duty troops would receive their paychecks during the shutdown instead of having them suspended due to the lack of government funding. The law also applies to the nearly 400,000 defense department civilians that were not furloughed.
In a statement released by the DoD earlier in the week, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel claimed that supervisors would provide their employees with the proper information. However, defense officials were still finalizing guidelines on how to implement the law, leaving many workers unsure about their financial situations, the news source reported.
Employees of the Defense Department of Defense Education Activity told the news outlet via email that they were still unsure if they would receive their paychecks.
"[We were told] that our pay will be delayed. We have been given no further information," one employee wrote. "I think it is important that our community understands that currently, teachers are still teaching their children with no idea when a paycheck will come."
Officials from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service also told the news source that the agency was waiting for a final word from the defense department before processing paychecks.
Wholesale retailer Sam's Club announced this week that it will waive membership requirements for servicemembers, veterans and their families during the government shutdown, according to Military Times. A Sam's Club spokesperson told the news source that it will allow them to shop at the large retailer as if they were members and receive discounts on their purchases.
To obtain the military benefits, servicemembers must present proof of present or past military service at a Sam's Club member desk or checkout counter.
The announcement came after dozens of commissaries at U.S. military installations were forced to close Oct. 2, leaving military families already living on tight budgets with less affordable shopping options. Military families save about 30 percent on groceries and other household goods at commissaries, and the products are tax-free, according to the Defense Commissary Agency. The Associated Press reported that nearly 12 million military personnel, veterans and their family members are eligible to shop at commissaries worldwide.
"Military personnel, retirees and their families heavily depend on commissaries for low-cost groceries and everyday needs," the retailer said in a statement.
The new directive applies to every Sam's Club in the U.S. and will last until the shutdown is resolved, the news source reported.
Despite the recent change in the Department of Defense's policy, many same-sex military couples are facing obstacles when trying to obtain the full military benefits they were promised.
Following the landmark Supreme Court ruling of the Defense of Marriage Act, the Pentagon announced in mid-August that servicemembers involved in same-sex relationships will be eligible for a range of benefits, including low-cost health care and military identification cards, that were previously exclusive to heterosexual couples. For couples who do not reside in a state where same-sex marriage is legal, the DoD is granting them up to seven days of leave to travel to state where a marriage license can be obtained.
However, the policy has caused widespread confusion among servicemembers, according to the Los Angeles Times. Only the Marine Corps has issued official guidelines explaining the leave application requirements, the news source reported. The Air Force has yet to issue any directions to its same-sex servicemembers.
After interviewing more than half a dozen servicemembers and their same-sex partners, the news source found that same-sex service members are repeatedly having their requests for leave denied by their superiors without an explicit reason.
"[My commander] said if leave is granted for me to be married then it's not fair to heterosexuals," Ohio National Guard Spc. Jodie Harper told the news source.
Some branches of the military, including the Army, plan to remedy the leave process soon.
"[The Army] will issue additional guidance clarifying the policy in the coming weeks," Army spokesman Lt. Col Justin Platt told the news outlet.
It's only been two days since the government shutdown began, but veterans might already be feeling the strain of the federal closure. According to The Washington Post, veterans benefits are currently in danger – especially if the shutdown continues past October.
The Department of Veterans Affairs will run out of funds for disability checks, pensions and insurance for veterans by the end of the month, the news source reported. Losing these benefits might heavily impact wounded servicemembers who rely on VA paychecks to live.
"Congress and the White House, they're playing chicken with people's lives," Chief Policy Officer for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Tom Tarantino told the news source. "That's where this becomes scary."
Disability claims, which have been on backlog for the last year, are also at risk. According to the news outlet, the VA released a statement Oct. 1 warning that the shutdown will negate its recent progress on the disability claims backlog. Although the VA is keeping claims processors on staff during the shutdown, the agency was forced to suspend its overtime processors – an initiative that began in May and reduced the backlog by 30 percent.
An official from the VA predicts that the backlog will increase due to the shutdown, the news source reported. The Board of Veterans Appeals can no longer hear disability appeals cases, which might lead to a delay of thousands of appeals, according to Washington Post political reporter Steve Vogel.
Although the government shutdown is expected to have a larger effect on domestic U.S. military installations, many overseas servicemembers might feel the strain of the federal closure on some of their military benefits.
Administrative services at overseas bases will be reduced due to civilian furloughs, while the Armed Forces Network will be scaled back to only one news channel, Stars and Stripes reported. However, overseas commissaries and exchanges will remain open, despite being closed stateside.
According to the news source, military personnel will step in for furloughed civilian staff to help facilitate AFN's broadcasts.
The U.S. Air Force in Europe and Africa is expected to lose 1,400 of its 1,726 civilian workforce, the news outlet reported, while the Navy is bracing for the furlough of 60 percent of its 200,000 civilian staff.
Health care services for active-duty troops in Europe might also be reduced if the government shutdown lasts longer than a week, according to a statement released by the U.S. Army's Europe Regional Medical Command. The ERMC is suspending 38 percent of its civilian staff, and another 25 percent at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany – the largest military hospital outside the U.S.
"The absence of such a large portion of our Army Civilians could have an impact on access to care and the level of non-critical services we are able to provide," a spokesperson for the ERMC said in a statement.
A group of nearly 100 veterans did not let the government shutdown stop them from crossing the barricade of the closed World War II memorial in Washington, D.C., Tuesday Oct. 1.
According to ABC News, 92 members of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Honor Flight Veterans, an organization that provides the state's WWII veterans with free trips to the nation's capital, entered the iconic memorial just hours after the shutdown, crossing a make-shift barrier that blocked the site from visitors. The memorial is currently closed to due to the shutdown.
Details of how the veterans, some of whom in wheelchairs or holding onto walkers, were able to enter the barricaded memorial remain vague. The veterans arrived at Reagan National Airport at 10 a.m. and took a charter bus to the landmark, where they were initially going to see a bagpipe procession and wreath-laying ceremony, the news source reported. Videos show the veterans taking over the memorial without escorts, while Reps. Steve King, R-Iowa, and Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said in interviews that the gates were opened for the group.
The site was re-closed after the veterans left, and will remain closed until the government shutdown is resolved, according to the news outlet.
Many members of Congress, including Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., tweeted in support of the veterans Tuesday afternoon, asking the federal government to keep the memorials open during the shutdown.
Although active-duty troops will continue to work and receive paychecks during the government shutdown, they might find the bases in fragile conditions.
USA Today reported that the furloughing of civilian workers at military installations around the nation will affect base maintenance and might result in the suspension of various military programs. Recreational activities might also be eliminated.
One of the largest domestic U.S. bases, North Carolina's Fort Bragg, furloughed half of its 14,500 staff Oct. 1. A Fort Bragg spokesperson told the news source that there will be cuts to the base's survivor outreach program, while a free phone service for military families to call their loved ones in Afghanistan will be reduced.
Meanwhile in California, Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton furloughed more than 1,100 civilians, base spokesman 1st Lt. Ryan Finnegan told the news source.
Despite the vast effect the shutdown might have on the U.S. military, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told reporters Tuesday that America's homeland security is not in jeopardy.
The Pentagon expects to furlough 400,000 of its civilian workforce, the news source reported. Those civilians who work in national security will be able to stay on with pay at Hagel's discretion.