United States Senate WASHINGTON. 0¢ 20510 February 8, 2018 ‘The Honorable David Shulkin Secretary United States Department of Veterans Affairs 810 Vermont Avenue, NW ‘Washington, IC 20430 Dear Secretary Shulkin: ‘Thank you for your continued work to strengthen transparency and accountability throughout the USS. Department of Veterans Affirs (VA). We believe such step are essential to fulfilling our ‘commitment to best serve the needs of our veterans. We are writing to you regarding issues faced by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated veterans, and to report our concern that the VA is ‘making it harder for veterans with criminal records to successfully reintegrate due tothe manner jn which it is recouping compensation and pension benefits, Federal law requires the Veteran Benefits Administration (VBA) to reduce compensation and pension benefits payments to veterans who are incarcerated for more than 60 days. However, the ‘VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that from May 2008 through June 2015, the VBA failed to adjust the disability or pension payments for 1,300 of 2,500 cases of federally incarcerated veterans. This equates to 53 percent of federal cases and has resulted in improper payments worth approximately $59.9 million Additionally, between March 2013 and August 2014, the VBA failed to adjust benefits for 3,800 out of 21,600 veterans incarcerated atthe state and local level. This equated to 18 percent of cases, and approximately $44.2 million in wrongful payments. ‘The OIG also reported that the Computer Matching Agreement (CMA) between the VBA and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which was intended to manage the information flow between VBA and BOP, expited in July 2008. Although a new CMA was reached in October 2010, the VBA failed to establish a secure method for receiving BOP data and allowed the CMA. ‘to expire again in April 2012. A new CMA to replace the 2010 agreement was not in place until ‘April 2015, but in March 2016, the VBA had still not utilized BOP data as they were unsure how ‘to manage the workload. This failure ofthe VBA to implement the CMA, and general ‘mismanagement over the course of eight years, has direstly eontrihuted ta the overpayment problem. ‘As the VBA seeks to implement the repayment program, we respectfully sock your assistance in learning more about how veterans wi fll under the repayment provisions will be affected, Specifically, we would appreciate information regarding: ‘+ The process and progress of repayments, specifically how much money has so far been collecied, and the types of repayment plans availabe;‘+ How many prior year repayments the VBA intends to collect, How and when veterans are originally informed of their obligation to self-report; Whether the VBA has begun to utilize the information from BOP via the CMA, and if 0, when that process began; ‘+ The rationale for veterans to self-report incarceration while the VBA possesses a CMA With the BOP, and is also provided information via the Social Security Administration; and ‘+ The number of reductions or waivers that have been granted through the appeals process. | In short, we remain concerned that these recoupment efforts constitute a further barter to reintegration for affected veterans, We are sure you share the goal of helping these veterans have the best chance of becoming productive citizens ater incarceration and leading fulfilling lives ‘Thank you for your time and consideration ofthis matte. le ‘Cory A. Booker ‘Chris Van Hollen United States Senator A United States Senator Tina Smith Robert Menendez United States Senator United States Senator