DATE: Friday, July 11, 1997                 TAG: 9707110634

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   51 lines

REPORT: VA BENEFITS ARE IN A CRISIS THE $21 BILLION-A-YEAR PROGRAM HAS ``GOTTEN WORSE'' RECENTLY, A GROUP SAYS.

The government's $21 billion-a-year veterans benefits program has been severely criticized in a draft report by the National Academy of Public Administration, which portrays Veterans Affairs officials as incompetent managers whose actions ultimately could disrupt the flow of government checks to about 4 million people.

Instead of improving during the term of recently resigned Secretary Jesse Brown, who was regarded as a benefits expert, the program ``has gotten worse'' and could face ``potentially disastrous consequences'' in coming years, the report said.

Citing the VA's inability to process benefits claims quickly or plan for deep cuts in personnel, plus an ingrained fear of taking action lest members of Congress or the politically powerful veterans service organizations object, the $1 million study concluded that the department's long-troubled Veterans Benefits Administration is facing a crisis that the Clinton administration soon must resolve.

``This seemingly endless and unbreakable cycle of complaint and inaction about VBA is a major problem for the secretary, and improving its performance must be a top administration priority,'' the academy report said. ``It is time for the secretary to act.''

The report suggested that any reforms must begin with ``selection of a change-agent undersecretary for benefits with a clear charge to `fix the place.' ''

VA Secretary-designate Hershel W. Gober seemed to acknowledge last week that he has gotten the warning.

In a brief interview after his selection by President Clinton, Gober conceded major problems in the benefits program and said his top priority will be securing a benefits undersecretary ``to fix it.''

The report, delivered to the VA this spring, warned that harsh criticism of the benefits program in the past has failed to move the department to act and that, without a strong commitment from the administration and Congress, any reform effort may fail again.

Congress ordered the study, citing its frustration over the benefits program. The report did mention some signs of improvement at the VA, but said those efforts were ``at best . . . piecemeal, too slow in coming and not nearly comprehensive enough to overcome VBA's institutional resistance to reform.'' As problems emerge, ``executives resort to `old ways' even while acknowledging they no longer work,'' the report said.

To resolve some of the claims problems, the study urged the VA to revamp its network of 58 field offices, a politically sensitive bureaucracy with at least one ``regional VA office'' in every state.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu