The Podcast Patriot

A new bill was introduced April 17, 2008: HR 5831 “Separating Servicemembers Handbook Development Act.”

The bills proposal is to provide “information on Available Compensation and Benefits- Not later than October 1, 2008, the Secretary of Defense shall develop and maintain, in a handbook and on a publically-available Internet website, a comprehensive description of the compensation and other benefits to which a member of the Armed Forces, and the family of such member, would be entitled upon the separation or retirement of the member from the Armed Forces as a result of a serious injury or illness.”

I think that this is a great idea, but does this have to be a law? As we saw how even the most popular laws can take forever, and be force to latch on to other appropriations to find their way to the president’s desk; wouldn’t it make sense just to walk over to Secretary Gate’s office and just say, “Hey, could you make a handbook for our wounded vets and get it to them so they know what their benefits are?”

This seems to be a “no brainer.”

As I look through the current legislation that pertains to our military and veterans, I see a lot of bills that just seem to be time wasters. We signed the new G.I. Bill into Law on Monday, and there are already three new bills reaching committee. None of the new Bills have much to improve on, but I am sure that they will obfuscate a few long lunches (er, I mean “business lunches”) for some elected officials.

Another Bill that was introduced May 22, 2008 is the H.R. 6140 ” PRESUMPTION OF DEATH FOR PARTICIPANTS IN SURVIVOR BENEFIT PLAN IN MISSING STATUS” bill. This bill almost scares me, because it is designed to keep military members who are captured or missing in Iraq or Afghanistan as “missing” and not “dead” for seven years. What scares me about this bill, is that in order for it to have been “thought up” there must have been at least one case of a Soldier who went missing, was declared dead quickly and– after a horrible grieving process by the family– found alive and well.

A possible worse revelation is that there needs to be Congressional action for the military to change policy. Are budgets so mired in red tape that a simple adjustment to how missing Soldiers are classified needs over 400 congressmen, 100 senators and the president to fix?

If anyone reading this knows why this Bill is in Congress, please chime in.

While everyone talks about “reforming” and “change,” why don’t we look at the institution itself. I am sure that the “founding fathers” wanted the Congress to be making laws and not dealing with the minutia of  policies that should be able to be delegated to the appropriate agency.

What business would run this way? I believe the term is “micro-managing.”

It would make much more sense to break down the areas of fiscal and legislative responsibility to appropriate categories and then look at the systems as a whole: making adjustments holistically instead of patching and “band-aid”ing issues as their arise (or dreamed up).

Liberal or Conservative, Big Government or Free Market: no reasonable citizen can think that this is an efficient and effective way to do business on The Hill.