Thousands of veterans may have been denied payments, Kucinich report says

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http://blog.cleveland.com/plaindealer/2008/07/thousands_of_veterans_may_have.html
Posted by cjindra July 15, 2008 12:03PM
AP file photo

Tens of thousands of veterans with service-related disabilities may have been denied government disability or pension benefits or given the wrong amounts, the result of failure by a government contractor and poor oversight by the Pentagon, according to a just-released review by a congressional subcommittee headed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

Additionally, 8,763 veterans with disabilities died before the contractor, Lockheed Martin, and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service got around to issuing them payments, according to Kucinich's investigation.

The director of DFAS and a top Lockheed Martin executive are expected to appear tomorrow morning at a hearing called by Kucinich, chairman of the domestic policy subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Kucinich is expected to ask the Pentagon's inspector general, who also has been asked to appear, to look into the matter.

The Plain Dealer has contacted DFAS and Lockheed Martin and is awaiting responses.


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Dems claim vets possibly shortchanged money owed

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i0dJrZaPbbdNGI6inZdzMgUphwWAD91UCLD88

By ANNE FLAHERTY – 41 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tens of thousands of veterans may not have been paid money owed them by the government because of hasty efforts to clear a massive backlog of claims, House Democrats said Tuesday.

In a new report, Democrats found that at least 28,283 veterans had their claims denied at a time when the government had stopped doing quality assurance checks. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service and contractor Lockheed Martin were working feverishly to clear a backlog of claims resulting from changes in the law that made veterans eligible to receive disability and military retirement pay simultaneously.

"Most guys who get a letter saying they get zero money would never challenge it. They wouldn't know how. . . . DFAS wants us to die or just give up trying" to get our benefits, retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. Harold Lewis is quoted as saying in the report.

Lewis, who was disabled during the Vietnam War, fought the government's rejection of his claim and was eventually awarded $15,000...