By Lynn Goya

In what many vets consider a slap in the face, the new House of Representatives Veterans’ Affairs Committee has a decided lack of real-world advice from those who served in the military.  Only one of the new subcommittee chairs, drawn from the new class of incoming Republican freshman lawmakers, has military experience.  With budget cuts on the offing, that may directly impact the quality of the decisions coming out of the committee.

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, will chair the oversight and investigations subcommittee, that in part oversees the Veterans Affairs Department information technology systems.   Prior to his successful bid for office, he served as the chief information officer for the U.S. Special Operations Command and then as an IT executive in Ohio, according to Rick Maze in Army Times.

The Veterans Affairs Committee is responsible for reviewing veterans’ programs, examining current laws as they pertain to veterans, reporting on bills and amendments to strengthen and support veterans’ interests and to overseeing the Department of Veterans Affairs services including those that provide health care, disability compensation, the GI bill, job training, home loans, life insurance and nationwide veterans’ cemeteries and healthcare facilities. 

Veterans are also concerned about the choice of Committee chair, U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida.  The conservative Floridian is a former sheriff and realtor who is concerned about the recent bump up in the VA budget intended to be used to fight homelessness among veterans and increase healthcare benefits (Val, link to prev. stories). 

In an interview with the Pensacola News Journal, Miller says he wants the VA to get used to “looking over its institutional shoulder.” He is eager to conduct the oversight that, he says, has been lacking over the “last eight years under both presidents Bush and Obama. And I think, unfortunately, the bureaucracy within VA has grown immune to having someone check their work.” That lack of oversight, he feels, has led to a bloated budget and inefficiencies.

When reporter Carlson Proctor asked Miller about his priorities as the new Chair of the committee, he replied that he wanted to “renew a robust oversight and investigation of the VA to ensure that tax dollars are being used effectively.”  Miller indicated that recent VA budget increases went against the grain of his fiscal conservatism, saying that he had voted against the increases and that as chair, he will be asking veteran service organizations to “help me find ways to solve some of problems that exist financially in Washington.”