March 19, 2021

Senate passes bill allowing VA to vaccinate all veterans, spouses

Source: Stars and Stripes

By NIKKI WENTLING STARS AND STRIPES

WASHINGTON -- The Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday evening that would order the Department of Veterans Affairs to offer vaccinations to any veteran who wants one, regardless of whether they are enrolled in VA health care.

Under the Saves Lives Act, veterans' spouses and caregivers would also become eligible for vaccines through the VA. The department is currently vaccinating only employees and veterans enrolled in VA health care, as well as some veteran caregivers.

"Vaccines are our best shot at ending this pandemic," said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. "Unanimous passage of Saves Lives Act brings us one step closer to our goal of providing free vaccination services to every veteran, spouse, child and caregiver at VA."
(Snip)

There are about 6 million veterans who actively use VA health care, as well as 450,000 employees. As of Wednesday, about 1.4 million veterans had been fully vaccinated by the VA, including slightly more than 1 million veterans. The legislation would add millions more people to the population that the VA is responsible for vaccinating. Dr. Richard Stone, the VA's acting undersecretary for health, said at the end of February that the VA had the ability to vaccinate between 350,000 to 600,000 people each week - about double the number it was vaccinating at the time.




Read more: https://www.stripes.com/news/us/senate-passes-bill-allowing-va-to-vaccinate-all-veterans-spouses-1.666209

---

Only about 60% of all veterans are eligible for VA health care- mostly those who have service connected ailments, or those who are low income. You may have read about several cases where veterans were recently denied vaccine, because only those eligible can get medical treatment from the VA.

This is needed. We need to push this through. It's H.R. 1276, the “Save Lives Act”, and is sponsored by Rep. Mark Takano.

The VA has the capability to vaccinate at twice the rate it currently is, and could vaccinate far more veterans if only it were legal for them to do so, and if adequate supplies of vaccine were made available to the VA for all veterans- not just the 60% who are eligible for regular VA care.

March 18, 2021

Dozens of Lawmakers Call on Biden to Replace Entire USPS Board

Source: Govexec.com

By Eric Katz

A group of 50 Democratic lawmakers is pressuring President Biden to remove all existing members of the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors and replace them with his own nominees.

Such a move would likely allow the board to fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who has faced significant criticism for his reform strategies since taking office last year. All six current board members were appointed by President Trump, though two of them—including Chairman Ron Bloom—are Democrats. Still, the lawmakers said the entire board in its current makeup has failed, citing ongoing mail delays and operational changes in the run up to last year’s election.

“Under the tenure of this [board], the Postal Service was blatantly misused by President Trump in an unsuccessful gambit to influence a presidential election, the Postal Service is currently failing to meet its own service standards with historically low rates of on-time delivery, and conflicts of interest appear to be a requirement for service,” said a letter spearheaded by Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., who lead House subcommittees on government operations, trade and oversight, respectively. “It is time to remove all governors and start over with a board vested with the expertise and acumen this nation needs in its Postal Service leadership.”

(Snip)

In their letter on Thursday, the lawmakers noted Bloom’s praise for DeJoy in saying he should be removed. They also cited the board for failing to speak out as DeJoy implemented operational reforms that led to delays, withheld analyses underlying his decisions, faced rebuke in an inspector general’s report and announced new changes this year. While the House members criticized DeJoy for his handling of mail ahead of the presidential election, USPS was overwhelmingly successful in delivering mailed ballots on time.



Read more: https://www.govexec.com/management/2021/03/dozens-lawmakers-call-biden-replace-entire-usps-board/172769/

---

This letter was sent today- asking fir the entire USPS Board to be fired and replaced. A copy of the letter can be found here:
https://connolly.house.gov/uploadedfiles/letter_to_biden_bog.pdf

March 18, 2021

Joe Biden's accomplishments

I have some right-wing friends who are asking me what I like about Joe Biden’s accomplishments.

I wish there was a web page to capture them as they happen. The $1.9 trillion Covid bill is great- but I want to quickly reference so much more.

Do you have a quick link or web page to list Biden accomplishments?