VA is making disability payment errors in rush to cut backlog, watchdog says

The Department of Veterans Affairs is making disability payments to thousands of veterans without adequate evidence they deserve the benefits as the agency attempts to cut the huge backlog of claims, a department watchdog said Monday.
Without improvements, the VA could make unsupported payments to veterans totaling about $371 million over the next five years for claims of 100 percent disability alone, said Linda Halliday, an assistant inspector general, in prepared testimony at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing.
VA whistleblowers also revealed widespread problems at VA regional offices at the hearing, saying mail bins of disability claims were ignored or shredded so employees could work faster.
Committee member Rep. Tim Huelskamp said the “unbelievable” testimony showed that while agency officials have told Congress the backlog was being reduced in a timely and accurate manner, it seemed to be a sham.
“That’s all baloney,” said Huelskamp, R-Kansas. “They are all concerned about numbers and not veterans.”
Halliday said spot inspections revealed that VA also made errors in one in four claims involving traumatic brain injury. Special initiatives designed to remove older claims and to speed processing of new claims are worthwhile, Halliday said, but in some cases they "have had an adverse impact on other workload areas such as appeals management and benefits reductions."
"Improved financial stewardship at the agency is needed," Halliday said. "More attention is critical to minimize the financial risk of making inaccurate benefit payments."
The VA used the hearing to claim "tremendous progress" in reducing a disability claims backlog that reached about 611,000 in March 2013. The backlog is now about 275,000 — a 55 percent decrease from the peak, said Allison Hickey, undersecretary for benefits at the VA.
Last year, the Veterans Benefits Administration completed a record 1.2 million disability rating claims, Hickey said, and the agency is on track to complete more than 1.3 million rating claims this year. More than 90 percent of the claims are being processed electronically, she said.
The VA has set a goal to process all claims within 125 days at 98 percent accuracy in 2015, but so far has fallen far short. The VA now processes most claims within 154 days at a 90 percent accuracy rate, compared with an accuracy rate of 86 percent three years ago, Hickey said. At one point, veterans were forced to wait an average nine to 10 months for their disability claims to be processed.
"It has never been acceptable to VA ... that our veterans are experiencing long delays in receiving the benefits they have earned and deserve," Hickey said. She said the department has spent the past four years redesigning and streamlining the way it delivers benefits and services.
Halliday, however, said her investigators have found numerous problems in handling VA benefits, including faulty claims processing that "increases the risk of improper payments to veterans and their families."
Inspectors surveying Philadelphia's VA benefits center in June found mail bins brimming with claims and associated evidence dating to 2011 that had not been electronically scanned, she said.
Inspectors also found evidence that staffers at the Philadelphia regional office were manipulating dates to make old claims appear newer. The findings are similar to problems that have plagued VA health centers nationwide. Investigators have found long waits for appointments at VA hospitals and clinics, and falsified records to cover up the delays.
In Baltimore, investigators discovered that an employee had inappropriately stored thousands of documents, including some that contained Social Security data, in his office "for an extensive period of time." About 8,000 documents, including 80 claims folders, unprocessed mail and Social Security information of dead or incarcerated veterans, were stored in the employee's office, Halliday said.
Kristen Ruell, an employee at the VA's Pension Management Center in Philadelphia, told the committee that mail routinely "sat in boxes untouched for years" at the pension office. Once, after becoming concerned that unopened mail was being shredded, Ruell opened the boxes and took photos. Instead of addressing the problem, she said, VA supervisors enacted a policy prohibiting taking photos.
"A lot of the mail that should not have been shredded was shredded," she said.
After VA officials in Washington issued a directive last year ordering that a backlog of claims older than 125 days be reduced, the Philadelphia office "took this to mean that they could change the dates of every claim older than six weeks," Ruell said. While pension center managers later told the IG's office that the mislabeling was based on a misunderstanding of the directive, Ruell said, "these behaviors are intentional."
The incorrect dates "are used to minimize the average days pending of a claim to make the regional office's numbers look better," she said. For instance, claims that should have been dated 2009 were dated 2014, "therefore making the claim appear 'new,' " she said.
"The VA's problems are a result of morally bankrupt managers that through time and (government service) grade have moved up into powerful positions where they have the power to and continue to ruin people's lives," Ruell said.
The VA has long struggled to cope with disability claims. The backlog had intensified in recent years as more solders returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, and as the VA made it easier for Vietnam-era veterans to get disability compensation stemming from exposure to Agent Orange.
Lawmakers in both parties have complained about the Obama administration's handling of the problem and some have called for an independent commission to address it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

Forty illegal immigrants returned to Honduras amid massive influx

Some 40 illegal immigrants, including both adults and children, were returned to Honduras from a U.S. detention facility in New Mexico on Monday, Homeland Security officials confirmed to FoxNews.com.
The group had been housed at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, N.M., and was among thousands of illegal immigrants from Central American countries, including Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, apprehended at the border.
After the plane landed, U.S. officials touted the move as a step in the right direction.
“As President Obama, the vice president, and (Department of Homeland Security) Secretary (Jeh) Johnson have said, our border is not open to illegal migration and we will send recent illegal migrants back,” Homeland Security officials said in a written statement.
The proverbial pat on the back for sending 40 Hondurans home came as close to 82,000 illegal immigrants remain in the country. Of that number, minors make up about 57,000.
Homeland Security officials said Monday’s flight was just the “initial wave” of deportations. Immigration officials have seen a spike in immigration in recent months as false rumors spread of a June deadline under which they could legally stay in the U.S.
Many of those who crossed the border said they came to America looking to escape atrocities back home.
As required by law, recent border crossers subjected to expedited removal are screened for “credible fear,” DHS said, adding that despite quick removal proceedings, adults and children “maintain important due process rights, including the ability to seek asylum, appeal to an immigration judge the denial of a credible fear finding, and the ability to seek legal representation.”
Last week, the president of Honduras declared a humanitarian emergency and announced that the country would create a revolving fund to coordinate the deportation and reintegration of children.
In Honduras, immigration officers review the documents of deportees before they leave the plane. They are then moved to a processing center where they get their “documentation, coffee, hygiene kits, and their property (i.e. luggage),” ICE officials said.
Representatives from the Labor Office are there to help them with employment, and, in a separate office, the National Registry of Persons signs them up for national identification if they don’t have any.
For minors, the child welfare agency in Honduras tries to connect them with family members living in the country.

Earnest defends notion of 'most transparent administration' in US history (Is this a joke or what?)

The White House on Sunday stood by President Obama's position that he continues to be the most transparent president in U.S. history, despite widespread complaints from journalists and other Americans about a lack of information or apparent misinformation.
“I have a responsibility in this job to try to help the president live up to his commitment to be the most transparent president in history,” new White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”
Earnest said he “absolutely, absolutely” sticks by Obama’s line about having the most transparent administration, after continued criticism about apparent attempts to not make full disclosures.
Among the criticisms are that the president and his administration misled Americans by telling them they could keep their existing health insurance plans under ObamaCare, intentionally tried to conceal what sparked the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya in which four Americans were killed and prosecuted federal employees who should have been protected under the whistleblower protection act.
Last week, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Poynter Institute and others sent a letter to Obama complaining about the lack of access to information from federal agencies, citing several recent examples.
And last month, Steve Thomma, a senior White House reporter for McClatchy newspapers and president of the White House Correspondents Association, expressed some frustration about the White House posting its own photographs of official events.
“We have no problem with the White House sending out that stuff,” he told FoxNews.com. “But we’d also like to be in the room.”
Earnest suggested at least some of the complaints were part of the traditional struggle between reporters and government.
“They're all journalists,” he said. “The day that they sort of sit back and say, you know, we don't need to write a letter, the White House is telling us everything that they're supposed to, is the day that they're no longer doing their jobs.”
Earnest also said the administration has taken several steps “to give people greater insight into what's happening at the White House.”
He argued the White House guest log is routinely and voluntarily posted on the Internet and that reporters now have access to presidential events held in private homes.

Netanyahu vows 'any means necessary' to stop Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he will use “any means necessary” to stop Islamic militant group Hamas from bombing civilians but declined to say when his military action will stop or whether he will continue using ground troops.
Netanyahu said on “Fox News Sunday” that his objective was to reach “sustained quiet” and that he’ll continue “until it’s achieved.”
The prime minister spoke as Israeli ground troops moved into the Gaza Strip early Sunday for the first time in the increasing bloody battle with Palestinians, sparked by the recent killings of three Israeli teens, then the apparent revenge killing of an Arab Palestinian youth.
The troop movement also has prompted concerns about whether the Gaza attack, the first such since 2009, will result in a full-scale ground war.
The week-long dispute until Sunday has been limited to Hamas rocket attacks and Israeli rocket and airstrikes that have killed an estimated 160 Palestinians, in a decades-long battle between both sides in Israel.
Israel has launched more than 1,300 airstrikes since the offensive began, military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said Sunday.
Palestinian militants have launched more than 800 rockets at Israel, including 130 in the last 24 hours, the Israeli military said Sunday.
Several Israelis have been wounded, but there have been no fatalities.
“We cannot accept that and will take the necessary action to stop it,” said Netanyahu, who declined to get into specifics. “We’ll do what any country would do."
He also apologized for the civilian casualties but blamed Hamas for trying to use residents as human shields.
Former U.S. Ambassador Dennis Ross, who also appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” speculated that Netanhayu’s goal is to restore calm, not dismantle Hamas.
He suggested a foray into Gaza to eliminate Hamas creates too much risk for a high number of civilian casualties, which could result in international opposition.
“I’m not sure what you would achieve,” Ross said.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday criticized the United States for not condemning Israel’s attacks, which he described as a “slaughter” on “men, women and children.”
“We don’t see any move by the United States to condemn this,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Israel on Sunday briefly deploying troops inside the Gaza Strip resulted in roughly 4,000 people fleeing southward.
Neither Israel nor Palestinian militants show signs of agreeing to a cease-fire to end their week-long conflict, despite calls by the United Nations Security Council and others that they lay down their arms.
With Israel massing tanks and soldiers at Gaza's borders, some fear the latest Israeli threats could signal a wider ground offensive that would bring even heavier casualties than the Palestinian deaths already registered.
Early Sunday, Israeli naval commandos launched the brief raid into northern Gaza to destroy what the military described as a rocket-launching site, an operation it said left four of its soldiers slightly wounded.
The Israeli Air Force later dropped leaflets warning residents to evacuate their homes ahead of what Israel's military spokesman described as a "short and temporary" campaign against northern Gaza, home to at least 100,000 people.

Israel military says it has shot down drone along southern coastline

Israel's military said Monday that it had downed a drone along its southern coastline, marking the first time it had encountered such a weapon in its week-long campaign against Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip. 
The drone came from Gaza and was shot down by a Patriot surface-to-air missile near the southern city of Ashdod, the military said. It did not say what the drone was carrying and there was no immediate confirmation from Gaza on the use of unmanned aircraft.
However, the use of drones with an offensive capacity could potentially inflict significant casualties -- something the rockets from Gaza have failed to do, largely because of the success of the military's 'Iron Dome' air defense system in shooting them down.
In addition to the drone, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) says that militants have launched 971 rockets at Israeli cities in the six days since Israel launched "Operation Protective Edge," a bid to halt such attacks. No Israeli fatalities have been reported, though a teenage boy was seriously injured by rocket shrapnel in the town of Ashkelon on Sunday.
The military says that due to years of generous Iranian shipments, thousands of rockets remain in Gaza, and there is no quick way to eliminate the threat. The army says Hamas has an arsenal of some 10,000 rockets, including longer-range, foreign-made weapons capable of reaching virtually anywhere in Israel. The current round of fighting has seen air-raid sirens sound in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, Israel's three largest cities.
Israeli analysts say that most of the remaining long-range rockets are believed to be stashed beneath residential buildings, and that the only way to completely remove the threat would be to re-conquer Gaza, from which Israel withdrew in 2005, and stay there for a lengthy period. Such a scenario would carry great risk, and Israeli leaders are wary.
On Monday morning, The Times of Israel reported that the IDF had declared an area just north of the Gaza Strip border to be a closed military zone. The significance of the declaration was not immediately clear, but the paper reported that ground forces were continuing to muster on the border. 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the current Israeli operation could last for "a long time" and that the military was prepared "for all possibilities." That includes a wide-ranging Gaza ground operation, which would likely cause heavy casualties in the coastal strip.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says 172 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, though it is not clear how many are civilians and how many are operatives of Hamas or other militant groups. 
The IDF says its goal is to inflict so much pain on Hamas that it will be deterred from attacking Israel again — just like Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon have largely remained on the sidelines for the past eight years.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the military estimated 20 percent of the rockets in Gaza have either been fired or destroyed by Israel. Besides diminishing Hamas' future capabilities, he said Israel's assaults were mostly aimed at convincing Hamas never to try it again.
"When they come out of their bunkers and they look around, they are going to have to make a serious estimation of whether what they have done was worth it," he said. "And people will look in their eyes and say 'Why did you do this? What did you gain from this?'"
But Netanyahu is coming under increasing international pressure to end the operation soon. On Sunday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate cease-fire while U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry voiced American "readiness" to help restore calm. Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, continued to work behind the scenes to stop the conflict.
Hamas has sent signals it may be ready to consider a cease-fire but appears to be waiting for some tangible military or diplomatic achievement before moving ahead on that front. For his part, Netanyahu wants to show the Israeli public that he has succeeded in significantly degrading Hamas's ability to strike at its Israeli targets before moving ahead diplomatically.

Obama Cartoon

 

Israel issues new warning to north Gaza residents ahead of 'short and temporary' campaign

Israel has warned residents of the northern part of the Gaza Strip to evacuate their homes ahead of what a military spokesman promised would be a "short and temporary" campaign.
The Israeli air force dropped leaflets Sunday morning calling for the evacuation. A military spokesman told The Associated Press that the campaign would begin sometime after 12 p.m. local time (5 a.m. Eastern Time) Sunday. It was not immediately clear whether the promised action would include ground forces -- a step that Israel has so far been reluctant to undertake.
This is the second time in as many days that Israel has told residents of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to leave their homes for their own safety. On Saturday, the military said it was ordering Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate "for their own safety."
Gaza's Interior Ministry urged residents in the area to ignore Israel's warnings and to stay in their homes, saying the announcement was Israeli "psychological warfare" and an attempt to create confusion.
Sunday's warning came after Israel's military confirmed that four of its special forces soldiers were injured in clashes during an incursion into northern Gaza to destroy a rocket launching site as both sides ignored a unanimous recommendation for a cease-fire from the U.N. Security Council. 
The operation marks the first time that Israeli ground forces have been known to enter Gaza during the current fighting. The military said that the soldiers had returned to Israeli territory and the operation did not appear to herald the start of a larger ground offensive. 
The raid came after the Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for 10 rockets that were fired at Tel Aviv Saturday. The salvo was the largest barrage of the current fighting to target Israel's second-largest city and financial capital, but caused no damage or casualties. 
Earlier Saturday, Israel had announced announced it would hit northern Gaza "with great force" to prevent rocket attacks from there on Israeli cities.
"We are going to attack there with great force in the next 24 hours due to a very large concentration of Hamas efforts in that area," Israel Brig. Gen. Motti Almoz said. 
Shortly after the Israel's warning, an Israeli warplane struck the home of the Gaza police chief, Taysir al-Batsh, killing at least 18 people and wounding 50, said Health Ministry official Ashraf al-Kidra. He said worshippers were leaving the mosque after evening prayers at the time of the strike and that some people are believed to be trapped under the rubble.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council called unanimously for a cease-fire, while British Foreign Minister William Hague said he will discuss cease-fire efforts with his American, French and German counterparts on Sunday. In addition, the Arab League said foreign ministers from member states will hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Monday.
The statement approved by the Security Council's 15 members calls for "the reinstitution of the November 2012 cease-fire," which was brokered by Egypt, but gives no time frame for when it should take effect.
The press statement,  which is not legally binding but reflects international opinion, is the first response by the U.N.'s most powerful body, which has been deeply divided on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hamas has fired nearly 700 rockets and mortars at Israel this week and said it wouldn't be the first to cease fire.
In a sign that the conflict might widen, Israel fired into Lebanon late Saturday in response to two rockets fired from there at northern Israel. There were no injuries or damage, but Israel fears militant groups in Lebanon may try to open a second front.
Israel has said it's acting in self-defense against rockets that have disrupted life across much of the country. It also accuses Hamas of using Gaza's civilians as human shields by firing rockets from there.
Critics said Israel's heavy bombardment of one of the most densely populated territories in the world is itself the main factor putting civilians at risk. Sarit Michaeli of the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said that while using human shields violates international humanitarian law, "this does not give Israel the excuse to violate international humanitarian law as well."
The Israeli military said it has targeted sites with links to Hamas, including command centers, and that it issues early warnings before attacking. But Michaeli said civilians have been killed when Israel bombed family homes of Hamas militants or when residents were unable to leave their homes quickly enough following the Israeli warnings.
Before dawn Saturday, an Israeli missile hit the Palestine Charity, a center for the physically and mentally disabled in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, said its director, Jamila Alaiweh.
The center is home to nine patients, including four who were spending the weekend with their families away from the center, said Alaiweh. Of the remaining five, two were killed in the strike and three suffered serious burns and other injuries, the director said. A caregiver was also injured, she added.
The director said one of the women killed had cerebral palsy and the other suffered had severe mental handicaps. Among the three wounded patients were a quadriplegic, one with cerebral palsy and one with mental disabilities, she said.
The missile destroyed the bottom floor of the two-story building. Rescuers sifted through the pile of rubble, pulling out a folded-up wheelchair and a children's workbook.
An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, said he was looking into the incident.
An army statement said that from Friday morning to Saturday morning, Israel targeted 158 targets "affiliated with Hamas terrorism" in Gaza, including dozens of rocket launchers and a mosque where Hamas stored rockets and weapons.
Israel also targeted several civilian institutions with presumed ties to Hamas, widening its range of targets. Palestinian officials said this included a technical college, a media office, a small Kuwait-funded charity and a branch of an Islamic bank.
The Israeli military did not mention these institutions in its statement Saturday, saying only that in addition to the military targets, it struck "further sites."
Al-Kidra, the health official, said Israeli strikes raised the death toll there to more than 156, with over 1,060 wounded. Among the dead was a nephew of Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader, who was killed in an airstrike near his home, Hamas officials said.
Though the exact breakdown of casualties remains unclear, dozens of the dead also have been civilians. Israel has also demolished dozens of homes it says are used by Hamas for military purposes.
"Am I a terrorist? Do I make rockets and artillery?" screamed Umm Omar, a woman in the southern town of Rafah whose home was destroyed in an airstrike. It was not immediately known why the building was targeted.
At Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, 4-year-old Shayma al-Masri was in stable condition Saturday with shrapnel injuries to her upper body.
Her mother, a 17-year-old brother and a 14-year-old sister were killed earlier this week when two missiles struck as the family walked in their neighborhood, said Shayma's aunt Samah. The girl is left with her father and three older brothers.
The aunt, addressing Israeli mothers, said children are precious on both sides of the conflict.
"You can hide your children in the bomb shelters when you need them, but where do I hide her (Shayma)?" she said. "When the child comes to hide in my arms and I find the entire house falling on top of us what do I do then? Just like you fear for yourselves we fear for ourselves too. Just like you fear for your children we fear for our children too."
The "Iron Dome," a U.S.-funded, Israel-developed rocket defense system, has intercepted more than 130 incoming rockets, preventing any Israeli fatalities so far. A handful of Israelis have been wounded by rockets that slipped through.
The frequent rocket fire has disrupted daily life in Israel, particularly in southern communities that have absorbed the brunt of it. Israelis mostly have stayed close to home. Television channels air non-stop coverage of the violence and radio broadcasts are interrupted live with every air raid siren warning of incoming rockets.
The frequent airstrikes have turned bustling Gaza City into a virtual ghost town during the normally festive monthlong Ramadan holiday, emptying streets, closing shops and keeping hundreds of thousands of people close to home where they feel safest from the bombs.
The outbreak of violence follows the kidnappings and killings of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, and the kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian teenager in an apparent revenge attack.

Nebraska gov, Illinois senator say White House sending illegal immigrant children to their states without notice

Elected officials in two states far from the U.S.-Mexico border have claimed that the Obama administration has resettled hundreds of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children without adequate notice and has refused to detail the exact locations where the children are being kept. 
Fox News has learned that 748 unaccompanied minors have been transferred from areas near the border to the Chicago area. Of the original group of 748 kids, 319 have been placed with family members or sponsors while they await an immigration hearing. The other 429 have been placed in facilities run by the Heartland Alliance, a nonprofit organization that receives grants from the Department of Health and Human Services. 
Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., told Fox News Friday that he did not know the exact locations of the facilities where the children were being kept, and stated his belief that the White House did not want the children's living conditions to be made public. 
"My worry is the administration doesn’t want people to know what the condition of these place are or how these kids are being treated in detention," Kirk said. "Kids can sometimes to be pretty cruel to each other, they don’t want those stories to get out and they don’t want us to know what is going on in these detention facilities. These detention facilities should be completely open to the press and to the American people so that we know how what conditions are, we should be able to talk to the kids who are there.  
"I can’t explain the incompetence of the Obama administration," Kirk said later. "This is a tremendous self-inflicted political wound ... This narrative, [that] this is Obama’s Katrina, [is] sticking really hard."
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman told the Wall Street Journal Saturday that 200 children were sent to his state without warning, and added that federal officials had refused to give him their names and locations. 
"Governors and mayors have the right to know when the federal government is transporting a large group of individuals, in this case illegal immigrants, into your state," Heineman, a Republican, told The  Journal. "We need to know who they are, and so far, they are saying they're not going to give us that information."
A White House official told the Journal that the Nebraska children were all being held with family and sponsors pending the outcome of immigration proceedings, and none were placed at a central facility. The official also told the paper that while some of the children arrived in the U.S. during the recent border surge, others crossed earlier in the year. 
Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Will Jenkins told The Journal that HHS is required by law to keep the personal information of unaccompanied children confidential. 
The Journal also reported Saturday that the White House has reached out to other states asking if they had any "big facilities" suitable for housing large numbers of unaccompanied children. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat, said his state was one of those approached, and told The Journal that the U.S. "should take a hard look at ... what we can do to be sure that as these kids get sent back they're going back to places that are going to be safer."
"This looks like permanent resettlement in the United States," Kirk told Fox News Friday, "which only encourage more people to join the 'coyotes', or the criminal trafficking networks.
Federal law requires that illegal immigrant children from countries other than Canada and Mexico have their cases heard in immigration courts, which can take years to resolve a case. In the meantime, the minors are permitted to stay in the U.S. 
Fox News' Chad Pergram and Garrett Tenney contributed to this report.