Federal Daily - March 25, 2009

Lawmakers Offer Troop Tax Cut Bill

Active-duty servicemembers would get a tax break under a bipartisan bill that—if passed into law—is designed to lower their federal income taxes. The bill, the Military Personnel Income Tax Exclusion Act (H.R. 1624), was introduced March 19 by Reps. Gus M. Bilirakis, R-Fla., and Chris Carney, D-Pa., chairman of the Homeland Security subcommittee for Management, Investigations and Oversight. The bill would exempt all active-duty military personnel from paying federal income tax on his or her annual pay up to a $16,800 ceiling, Bilirakis said in a statement. If enacted, it would result in a 100 percent tax cut for 66,000 of the military’s lowest paid troops, Bilirakis said. “While the debt we owe our troops for their sacrifices can never be fully repaid,” said Bilirakis, “this tax cut would be a step in the right direction to show our appreciation for their enduring valor.” To see more, go to: http://bilirakis.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content
&task=view&id=430&Itemid=115.

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VA to Build New Hospital in Denver

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced last week that it planned to build a stand-alone replacement hospital for its existing facility in Denver. The new facility will be located on the grounds of the Army’s closed Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colo., VA said. The new medical center will provide Denver-area vets with a full range of medical, laboratory, research and counseling services, including services for veterans with spinal cord injuries (SCI) and other disabilities. The new medical center in Denver will include a 30-bed SCI center providing services to veterans throughout VA’s Rocky Mountain network, which includes Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, plus parts of five other states. The VA will also create new health care centers to provide ambulatory care and same-day surgical services in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Billings, Mont. VA also plans to add eight new health care facilities in rural areas throughout the region. To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1659.

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VA Official to Plead Guilty to $8 Million Pharmacy Wire Fraud Scheme

The head of pharmacist staffing at a regional Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mail-order pharmacy agreed to plead guilty in an $8 million scheme that illegally directed business to a firm he co-owned with his wife, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said March 23. William Brandt, who was associate director of the Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy in Hines, Ill., his wife, Esperanza A. Brandt, and Pronto Staffing Inc. each agreed to plead guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Brandt, who had served as the associate director of the VA facility from 1996 until April 2007, also agreed to plead guilty to one charge of wire fraud. The Outpatient Pharmacy in Hines, one of seven regional VA mail-out pharmacies, processes and sends out more than 90,000 prescriptions each day to veterans. The Brandts and Pronto admitted to conspiring with others to illegally allow Pronto to provide temporary pharmacists to the Outpatient Pharmacy where William Brandt worked supervising pharmacists. The Brandts admitted that they secretly agreed that the billing rates charged to VA for certain pharmacists provided by Pronto should be increased. Between 2000 and 2007, the Brandts and other unindicted co-conspirators used Pronto to fraudulently bill VA for more than $8 million in services to the facility, DOJ said. William Brandt also agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud for making materially false misrepresentations to hide his involvement with Pronto. Brandt claimed that Pronto was solely managed by his wife in order to avoid conflict of interest laws governing federal employees. William Brandt faces a maximum 25-year sentence, plus fines; Esperanza Brandt faces a maximum five-year sentence, plus fines. To see more, go to: www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/March/09-at-263.html

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