Federal Daily - March 15, 2010

DoD Resumes Popular Military Spouse Career Program

In response to the prodding of Congress and complaints from enrollees, DoD on March 11 announced a partial resumption of the popular Military Spouse Career Advancement Account program for the 136,583 military spouses who already are enrolled.

Those with existing accounts once again will be able to receive tuition assistance effective March 13, said Tommy Thomas, deputy under secretary of defense, military community and family policy. However, MyCAA will not be taking any new applications for tuition assistance until DoD reconfigures the program guidelines, Thomas said.

The first phase of the reinstated program will enable the department to continue to pay up to $6,000 in tuition assistance for spouses currently enrolled. The program, which was launched March 2, 2009, was suspended on Feb. 16 after DoD recorded an unexpected spike in tuition-assistance applications.

The program offers military spouses opportunities to pursue “portable” careers in high-demand, high-growth occupations such as education and health care. The program offers spouses assistance with training, job readiness and employment and career services. In addition to tuition assistance, spouses can use the program to receive free career counseling and access to military-friendly employers.

Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Va., who pushed to have the program reinstated, applauded the DoD announcement. In coming weeks, the Pentagon plans to introduce a proposal to fully reopen MyCAA for all military spouses, Nye said.

“Our military families make incredible sacrifices every day, and they must be able to count on their benefits, no matter what,” Nye said.

To see more, go to: www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=13367 (DoD) or
http://nye.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=24&parentid=23
&sectiontree=23,24&itemid=377 (Nye).

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Commission Urges USPS to Open Up Consolidation Process

In an opinion that tracks many of the recommendations of postal unions, the Postal Regulatory Commission urged the U.S. Postal Service to improve the transparency of its consolidation process and enhance USPS financial analysis of facilities scheduled for closure.

PRC issued the March 10 advisory opinion in response to a request from USPS, which had asked the commission to evaluate its ongoing initiative to review more than 3,000 stations and branches for possible consolidation and closure. Over the past year, the list of facilities has since shrunk to just 162 under review; however, PRC reported that the Postal Service plans to extend the initiative to more retail facilities in the coming months.

Echoing earlier postal union complaints about the Postal Service’s review process, the commission said that USPS should implement uniform procedures for closing or consolidating various types of retail facilities (such as post offices, stations and branches), as well as improve opportunities for the public to comment on those plans.

The commission also said USPS should enhance its financial analysis of those facilities under consideration for closure, Specifically, the commission noted that the Postal Service’s financial review does not adequately reflect potential revenue declines, operational expenses or personnel costs. An improved analysis model would permit more accurate evaluation of essential policy considerations, PRC said.

“I urge the Postal Service to take our recommendations to heart and implement them quickly in order to respond to public concerns and build goodwill.” said PRC Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway.

The PRC conclusions reflect many of the complaints previously aired about the consolidation process by the American Postal Workers Union, said APWU President William Burrus.

“This opinion reiterates many of the criticisms the APWU has made about the Postal Service’s plans to close stations and branches,” said Burrus. “We believe the [proposed] closures would result in sharply reduced service to the American people.”

To see more, go to: www.prc.gov/Docs/67/67174/Advisory_Opinion_031010.pdf (Opinion) or www.apwu.org/news/webart/2010/10-020-prc-100311.htm (APWU).

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VA Reports Drop in Number of Homeless Vets

The number of homeless veterans dropped 18 percent last year, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The department said the decline occurred largely as a result of its campaign to eliminate homelessness among vets within the next five years.

VA’s Community Homeless Assessment Local Education and Networking Groups reported on March 10 that its annual census of homeless veterans showed an estimated 107,000 vets were homeless each night in 2009, compared to 131,000 in 2008 and 154,000 in 2007. Over the past two years, the number of homeless vets dropped about 30 percent.

As part of the its campaign, the agency said it has entered into about 4,000 agreements with other organizations—ranging from faith-based groups to veteran service organizations and community partners—to offer more services to homeless vets.

VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said that one key program that has helped vets leave the streets began in June 2008 when VA partnered with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Under that program, VA provides dedicated case management to homeless vets, while HUD provides them with housing vouchers. Since the program began, 20,000 housing vouchers have been given to homeless vets, Shinseki said.

“To eliminate homelessness, we must help more than veterans currently without a place to live,” said Shinseki. “We must prevent approximately 27,000 new veterans who are at risk of becoming homeless from crossing that tragic line each year.”

2,200 New Beds—As part of its five-year initiative, VA also announced last week that it would set aside $39 million to fund about 2,200 new transitional housing beds—with the emphasis on housing for homeless women veterans and housing on tribal lands. About $24 million of that money will go to grants to renovate or rehabilitate space for about 1,000 transitional housing beds. A second group of grants, valued at about $15 million, is expected to fund about 1,200 new beds for existing housing providers who already have suitable transitional housing and want to expand their capacity.

To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1863 (Homelessness) or http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1865 (New beds)

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