The attack on America’s veterans continues. We’re now being compared to those receiving government entitlements and entered into the same database the federal government uses to track deadbeat dads, and insurance frauds. On March 21st, on a vote of 424–0, the House passed HR 797, the Dr. James Allen Veteran Vision Equity Act, sponsored by Tammy Baldwin (D-WI). It has now been referred to the Senate. Since I am one of the veterans affected by this bill, I decided to conduct some further research.

I’m not amused.Today, if a veteran has a service-connected disability for blindness in one eye, then suffers blindness in the other eye as a result of a non-service-connected condition, their disability rating increases to 100% as if the blindness in both eyes were related. With HR 797, “blindness” will be expanded to include “visual impairment”; essentially legal blindness, or visual acuity of 20/200 or less in both eyes. This is a good thing, considering many of the burns and shrapnel injuries to the eyes suffered by Iraq veterans. But the “other purposes” provided for in this bill should scare the pants off the average citizen.

This legislation also contains a provision that requires the Veterans Administration to match the names of the veterans affected by this law against the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH). This is a burdensome requirement. I should know. I resigned last year as a Systems Analyst for the Oregon Department of Justice over concerns regarding the handling of confidential information, including the use of NDNH among other abuses.

During the days of welfare reform, the NDNH was established to serve the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). It is a database of every person newly hired in the United States and territories that have signed reciprocity agreements. Its original purpose was to assist the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) in the establishment of wage assignment orders against the earnings of people who owed child support and couldn’t be located.

When an American obtains employment, their job and wage data are transmitted to their state clearinghouse, then to NDNH. States who have the capabilities then conduct regular matches against this database to recover unpaid child support. It has now morphed into the ultimate repository of information, casting a wider and wider net. In 2002, the program was expanded to investigate bogus Unemployment Insurance claims, fraud and overpayments. Another attempt at expansion was made in 2006. I obtained a GAO study from July of that year that requested utilization of NDNH data to update the National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) to better track the whereabouts of sex offenders. The request was denied on the grounds that law enforcement was beyond the scope of the original intent of the NDNH. It also cited security concerns.

Congress has determined that the VA doesn’t have sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that increases in VA disability ratings for these veterans wouldn’t result in widespread fraud. But instead of addressing the problem, they turned to Big Brother and are using the NDNH to cover their own neglect, mistakes and funding shortfalls. The clear intent of the NDNH was for child support. It was expanded to include Unemployment Insurance because it is a related social service and the government has a vested interest in reducing fraud. UI is considered wages for tax purposes and wages and taxes can legally be attached for child support. But VA compensation is not an entitlement like welfare. It was earned -in most cases- in blood or lost limbs. Disabled veterans are not pedophiles, deadbeats or public charges and any legislation that treats them as such should be roundly condemned.

I would submit to you as one of those visually impaired veterans, that there are far more illegal aliens fraudulently claiming welfare or state disability benefits than there are blind or even partially-blind veterans. Forgive me if I’m a little slow, but sex offenders who rape and murder women and children are exempt from NDNH, illegal aliens with no social security numbers who work under the table are -by default- exempt from NDNH, but visually impaired veterans or those who lost use of their “paired limbs” aren’t?

Who is the next group to be captured in this behemoth and what will their information be used for?

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