WALGREEN PAYS $7.9 MILLION TO RESOLVE FALSE PRESCRIPTION BILLING ACCUSATIONS

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WEBSITE
Friday, April 20, 2012
Walgreens Pharmacy Chain Pays $7.9 Million to Resolve False Prescription Billing CaseAllegedly Offered Illegal Inducements to Government Health Care Programs Beneficiaries to Transfer Prescriptions to Walgreens
Walgreens, an Illinois-based corporation operating a national retail pharmacy chain, has paid the United States and participating states $7.9 million to resolve allegations that Walgreens violated the False Claims Act, the Justice Department announced today.

The settlement resolves allegations that Walgreens offered illegal inducements to beneficiaries of government health care programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), in the form of gift cards, gift checks and other similar promotions that are prohibited by law, to transfer their prescriptions to Walgreens pharmacies.  The government investigation alleged that Walgreens had offered government health beneficiaries $25 gift cards when they transferred a prescription from another pharmacy to Walgreens.  The company’s advertisements that promoted gift cards and gift checks for transferred prescriptions typically acknowledged that the offer was not valid with Medicaid, Medicare or any other government program.  Nevertheless, the government alleged that Walgreens employees frequently ignored the stated exemptions on the face of the coupons and handed gift cards to customers who were beneficiaries of government health programs, in violation of federal law.

“This case represents the government's strong commitment to pursuing improper practices in the retail pharmacy industry that have the effect of manipulating patient decisions,” said Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice.

The allegations were brought to the government by two whistleblowers, known as relators, in two separate whistleblower lawsuits filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act and state False Claims Act statutes.  The relators, Cassie Bass, a pharmacy technician formerly employed by Walgreens, and Jack Chin, an independent pharmacist, will receive $1,277,172 from the United States for their role in filing the qui tam actions.  The federal share of the settlement is $7,298,124.

“This case vindicates and protects the interests of consumers throughout the nation by ensuring that they remain free from undue influence by large retail chains when making decisions about which pharmacies to entrust their own individual health care,” said André Birotte Jr, U.S. Attorney for Central District of California.
   
“The law prohibits pharmacies from using their retail clout to lure patients whose prescriptions are subsidized by the government,” said Barbara L. McQuade, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.  “Continuity with a pharmacist is important to detect problems with dosages and drug interactions.  Patients should make decisions based on legitimate health care needs, not on inducements like gift cards.”

“This settlement makes clear that corporations seeking increased profits over their patients' needs will pay a substantial price,” said Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services.  “Violating Federal health care laws, as Walgreens allegedly did by offering incentives for new business, cannot be tolerated.”

This resolution is part of the government's emphasis on combating health care fraud and another step for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced by Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius in May 2009.  The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation.  One of the most powerful tools in that effort is the False Claims Act, which the Justice Department has used to recover more than $6.7 billion since January 2009 in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs. The Justice Department's total recoveries in False Claims Act cases since January 2009 are over $9 billion.

This case was investigated jointly by the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Central District of California and the Eastern District of Michigan, the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units and the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.
           
The claims settled by today’s agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.

FORMER GATEWAY CFO SETTLES SEC FRAUD ACTION

FROM:  SEC
April 18, 2012
On April 10, 2012, a final judgment was entered against John J. Todd, a former CFO of Gateway, Inc. Todd consented to entry of the final judgment without admitting or denying the allegations made by the Securities and Exchange Commission that he engaged in fraud and other violations of the federal securities laws in connection with Gateway’s recognition of revenue in the third quarter of 2000. This concludes the litigation of this action, brought in 2003 against three former officers of Gateway.

The SEC alleged that Todd falsely represented Gateway’s financial condition in the third quarter of 2000 in order to meet financial analysts’ earnings and revenue expectations. Among other transactions, the SEC alleged that Todd caused Gateway to record $47.2 million in revenue from a one-time sale of fixed assets to Gateway’s third-party information technology services provider in violation of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and that Todd, then Gateway’s CFO, caused Gateway to recognize an additional $21 million in revenue from an incomplete sale of computers to a second entity, also in violation of GAAP. The SEC alleged that absent either of these transactions, Gateway would not have met analysts’ expectations with regard to its third quarter revenue.

Todd consented to a final judgment permanently enjoining him from violations of the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and from violations of SEC Rule 13b2-2, which prohibits making misrepresentations and omissions of material fact to company auditors, as well as from aiding and abetting the issuer reporting provisions of Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act and Rules 12b-20, 13a-1 and 13a-13 thereunder. Todd further consented to be barred for ten years from acting as an officer or director of a public company, and to pay disgorgement of $165,000, constituting his salary and bonus for the relevant quarter, together with prejudgment interest thereon of $138,162.24 totaling $303,162.24, and a $110,000 penalty.

Previously, on March 7, 2007, a jury had rendered a unanimous verdict finding Todd and defendant Robert D. Manza, Gateway’s former controller, liable for fraud, making false representations to auditors, aiding and abetting issuer reporting violations and other violations following a three week trial. On May 30, 2007, the Honorable Roger T. Benitez overturned the jury verdict as to the fraud and certain other claims. The SEC appealed that ruling, as well as the District Court’s prior August 1, 2006, grant of summary judgment to Gateway’s former CEO, Jeffrey Weitzen, dismissing the SEC’s case as to Weitzen. On June 23, 2011, the Ninth Circuit reversed those rulings and remanded the matter to the District Court. On January 25, 2012, the Court entered final judgments against Weitzen and Manza pursuant to their consents. [LR 22244 (January 31, 2012.]

DOJ AUDIT FINDS $64 MILLION IN ADDITIONAL PAYMENTS FROM DEEPWATER HORIZON DISASTER

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Audit of Gulf Coast Claims Facility Results in $64 Million in Additional Payments Department of Justice-Ordered Audit Found the Gccf Marked a Significant Advance in Disaster Response
                                                                                                       Photo:  Wikimedia
WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today released the executive summary of the report by an independent auditor of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF), the facility set up to process claims in the wake of the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  The audit found that the GCCF claims process constituted a significant advance in disaster response.  But the audit also identified significant errors that are now being corrected by sending more than $64 million in additional payments to approximately 7,300 individuals and businesses throughout the Gulf region.

“When the Attorney General visited the Gulf last summer, he heard concerns about the GCCF and ordered an independent auditor to evaluate it,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West.  “Approximately 7,300 individuals and businesses throughout the Gulf region will now see the benefits of that action, to the tune of over $64 million in additional payments.  While there’s no question that the independent GCCF labored under extremely challenging circumstances to get a huge number of payments processed successfully, the fact that this audit has resulted in tens of millions of dollars being made available to claimants who were wrongfully denied or shortchanged underscores the importance of the audit.”

Last summer, the Attorney General visited the Gulf and met with individuals and small business owners whose lives were affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  He acted on those concerns and ordered an independent auditor to evaluate the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.  The evaluation is now complete, and the Department of Justice has released the Executive Summary of the auditor’s report.

As a result of the Attorney General’s acting on those concerns, checks totaling approximately $64 million are now being sent to approximately 7,300 claimants who received less than they were entitled to under the GCCF’s procedures.

The auditor also found claimants who were overpaid as a result of errors applying the GCCF’s procedures, but did not attempt to identify all the claimants who were overpaid or quantify those overpayments.  The GCCF is not making any effort to recover those overpayments.

The report also noted the unprecedented nature of the spill and the context that surrounded the GCCF’s operations:  intense pressure to pay claims quickly, a claimant community that was experiencing significant economic pressures after a very difficult post-spill tourist season, and over a million claims that included many with very complex economic losses.  The GCCF paid out $6.2 billion to more than 220,000 claimants before it closed its doors as a result of the settlement between BP and the private plaintiffs.

The evaluation was conducted by BDO Consulting.  BDO’s team was selected after interviews with the Department of Justice and the attorneys general from the five Gulf states, and drew on previous experience in the Gulf Coast area assisting clients with claims related to Hurricane Katrina, including in the hospitality, retail, commercial and residential properties, seafood processing, consumer products and transportation industries.  As part of this evaluation, BDO evaluated tens of thousands of claims files and searched the GCCF’s entire database of over one million claims to identify other claims that may have suffered from the same errors.  BDO is preparing a full report of its findings that will be published later this spring.

U.S. Navy Photos of the Day Update

U.S. Navy Photos of the Day Update

SPEECH BY KATHLEEN SEIBELIUS, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Atlantic Health Care Forum
April 19, 2012
Washington, DC
It’s good to be with you this morning to talk about the future of health care at a time when that future looks brighter than ever.
For years, we’ve known that health care costs were rising at an unsustainable rate.  Families saw their health insurance premiums rise three times faster than their wages.  Doctors saw patients go without medications they couldn’t afford.  Businesses saw health coverage grow into one of their biggest expenses.  State and city governments saw rising health care bills crowd out investments in education and public services.
We knew it was possible to do better.  Around the country, leading health systems and forward-looking communities were showing that you could bring costs down by improving care and promoting better health.  There were hospitals cutting readmissions by doing better follow-up care; employers lowering costs with innovative wellness programs; states saving money by giving people more tools to help them quit smoking.  The critical question for our health care system was whether we could help these pockets of excellence spread.

Three years ago, the answer to that question wasn’t clear.  After all, we had been talking about many of these issues for years.   I like to quote a piece from the New York Times.  “Although four fifths of the population is covered by some kind of health insurance, the protection afforded is often skimpy and unreliable….  Close to half the people who file pleas for bankruptcy each year do so because of medical debts….  Americans might bear these medical burdens more cheerfully were they getting their money’s worth; but if the price of health care isn’t right, neither is the product.”

The article goes on to talk about the shortage of primary care physicians, unnecessary procedures, the high number of preventable deaths, and exorbitant out-of-pocket costs.  It sounds very familiar, right?  And it was published in 1977.

So it’s understandable that there was some skepticism about the possibility improving care on a broad scale.  We had been hearing the mantra of better care and lower costs for decades, but we had limited results to show for it.

That’s why the last few years have been so exciting.  From a health policy perspective, they have been the most transformative years in decades.  Everyone knows the Affordable Care Act, the most important health legislation since Medicare and Medicaid.  But we have also had historic tobacco control legislation, major children’s health coverage legislation, the beginning of a national transition to electronic health records, an unprecedented campaign to end childhood obesity led by the First Lady, a first-of-its-kind effort to make health data available to innovators, and the list goes on.

But what’s been even more thrilling is the wave of innovation we’re seeing in state houses, town halls, hospitals, health centers, insurers, schools, and boardrooms across the country.  More than ever before in my lifetime, we are seeing a surge of efforts to shape a better health care system for the future – not just in pockets of excellence, but in cities and towns across the country.

In many cases, these efforts have been encouraged and supported by the policies I just mentioned.  But the driving force behind them has been leaders on the state and local level who want to make health care work better for the people in their communities.  Together, they are starting to answer the question of whether widespread improvement is possible, and the answer is: yes.

This morning, I want to talk briefly about three areas where we’re seeing some of the biggest changes.

I can still remember one of the most heartbreaking letters I got since I took this job.  It was from a woman in Maine whose elderly father had gone to the hospital with a minor infection.  While he was receiving care, he acquired a much more serious infection.  A day and a half after he came home, he collapsed.  Within a couple months, he was dead.
In the US today, these stories are far too common.  At any given time, about one in every 20 patients staying in a hospital has an infection related to their care – even though these infections are largely preventable.

But we are seeing signs that the tide is turning.  Our department recently released new data showing significant nationwide reductions in three common healthcare-associated infections since 2008.  In particular, we’ve seen a nearly one third drop in central line blood stream infections – one of the most common kinds.   This means these infections are now falling at roughly four times the rate we saw a decade ago.  And today, we are announcing new estimates that show that this reduction alone has saved up to 1,250 lives and an estimated $82 million.

Part of this drop can be explained by a national Action Plan for reducing these infections that our department launched in 2009.  But efforts by state health departments and individual health systems and hospitals have been just as important.

The best example is probably the Partnership for Patients.  The Partnership is an alliance created under the Affordable Care Act that seeks to reduce preventable injuries in hospitals by 40 percent and preventable hospital readmissions by 20 percent by the end of next year.  Achieving these goals would save 60,000 lives and reduce Medicare costs alone by $10 billion over a three year period.

When we launched this Partnership a year ago, we weren’t sure what reaction we would get.  It was totally voluntary.  There was no direct financial incentive for joining.  But today, more than two thirds of America’s hospitals – over 4,000 in total – have signed on to do their part to reduce these errors.  And it’s not just hospitals.  We have more than 4,000 additional partners from employers to health insurers.

There is much more work to be done.  But when you visit health systems around the country as I do, it’s hard not to feel the change in the air.   Every day, more and more care organizations are setting the same goal as a doctor I spoke to at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.  He told me that they did not strive to reduce harmful errors for the children they treat by 20 percent, or 40 percent.  Their goal was to eliminate these preventable errors altogether.   And we have never been moving faster towards that goal as a country than we are today.

Another area where we’ve seen dramatic gains is health information technology.  The promise of electronic health records goes back to the 1960s.  For decades now, Americans have been hearing that the days of musty cabinets and misplaced paper files were coming to an end.  And yet when this Administration came into office, less than a fifth of doctors used even a basic digital record.
What we’ve seen since then is incredible.  In just three years, the share of primary care doctors switching to electronic health records has almost doubled from 20 percent to 39 percent.  The share of hospitals using electronic health records has more than doubled from 16 percent to 35 percent.

The potential health benefits from this shift are huge.  One recent study looked at more than 27,000 adults with diabetes.  Those with paper health records got the best standard of care seven percent of the time.  Those with electronic health records got the best standard of care 51 percent of the time.  That’s a more than 600 percent improvement!

And in the long run, it’s not hard to see how electronic health records might help bring down costs too, by reducing paperwork and helping eliminate duplicate tests and procedures.

This transformation would not be happening without the investments we made in the Recovery Act.   From creating new centers to help small practices make the most of their health records, to working with industry to establish common standards, to providing incentive payments to help offset the upfront cost, we are eliminating many of the obstacles that kept this technology from spreading.

And today, I’m happy to announce that as of this March, nearly 225,000 health care providers and nearly 3,500 hospitals have signed up for these incentive payments, committing themselves not just to adopting electronic health records, but to using them to improve care.

But government action alone cannot explain the change we’re seeing around the country.  As I’ve traveled the country, I’ve seen a new level of interest among providers, driven in part by a new generation of doctors for whom a tablet computer in the pocket of their white coat is just as essential as a stethoscope around their neck.  And there is a new level of excitement among technology developers too.  Since 2009, hundreds of new health IT products have been developed, mostly by small companies with 50 or fewer employees. And venture capital investment in health IT is up more than 60 percent.

We’re witnessing something that’s never been done before: a national transformation in how we store and share health information, all happening in a matter of years.

Finally, a third area where we’re seeing significant movement is the emergence of new care models.  Everyone here understands the limitations of our current system, which rewards increases in the quantity of care, not improvements in the quality.   It’s a system nobody would design today if we started from scratch.  But in the past, many have resisted change.  The attitude was: better the devil we know, than the devil we don’t.

That’s why it’s been so encouraging over the last couple  years to see the response to some of the reforms in the health care law.  This winter, 32 leading health systems and physician groups signed up to be Pioneer ACOs, pledging to lead the way in transforming their practices to emphasize prevention, improve care coordination, and cut waste.  We estimate their efforts will improve care for about 800,000 people with Medicare, while saving up to $1.1 billion over five years.

Then, earlier this month, another 27 organizations signed on for a different version of the ACO model.  They represent almost every kind of health organization you could imagine.  And we’ve already received another 150 applications for a July start date.  ACOs used to be a kind of code for the cutting edge care that could only be practiced at certain elite health systems.  Now, it’s a model that health organizations around the country are embracing as the best path forward.

And this isn’t the only area where providers are stepping up.  One recent survey of 69 hospital executives found that just one in six have bundled payments to pay for episodes of care in place now.  But five in six expect to have them in place within two years.  And health insurers are also taking the initiative, providing more support for models like medical homes that emphasize primary care and helping patients manage chronic conditions.

Change is sweeping our health care system.  Across the country, health organizations are showing that high quality, low cost care isn’t like being an NBA star, restricted only to those with special genes.  Instead, it’s more like being a great free throw shooter.  Anyone can do it if they put in enough work.

Of course, we have a long way to go.  The process of improving care is always incremental and changes in the health care system are never easy.  It can be hard to focus on long-term reforms when there is always another patient to see.

But in many cases, the cost involved in these improvements is small: one of the most effective interventions for reducing healthcare-associated infections is a simple checklist.  And in cases where change is more expensive, like adopting an electronic health records system, people are increasingly realizing that the cost of not changing is even higher.

After all, the alternative to lowering costs through improvement is lowering costs through blunt cuts.  That would simply put more strain on a system that already is coming up short for doctors and patients.

The better path forward is improving care.  And communities across America are showing it can be done.  What we need to do now is make sure we continue to spur them on, whether it’s by creating new incentives, providing technical assistance, or just helping them learn from each other.  That’s what this Administration has been working to do over the last three years.  And it’s what we’ll continue to do with your help in the months to come.

Thank you.

Presseeinladung: ISS-Symposium in Berlin

Presseeinladung: ISS-Symposium in Berlin

GENERAL DEMPSEY VISITS AFGHANISTAN

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE

Chairman's Afghanistan Visit Focuses on Afghan Forces' Progress

By John D. Banusiewicz
American Forces Press Service

KABUL, Afghanistan, April 22, 2012 - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff  will focus on progress in Afghanistan's national security forces during a visit here.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey arrived this evening, and after a private dinner with a small group of field grade officers, met for about an hour with Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force.

Discussions here also will center on Allen's plan to draw down the U.S. presence in Afghanistan to 68,000 troops by the end of September, the chairman told American Forces Press Service during the flight here from Amman, Jordan.

Dempsey's visit to Afghanistan comes between last week's meetings in Belgium among NATO foreign and defense ministers and the alliance's summit in Chicago next month.

"The ministers get together and provide [the defense chiefs] with political guidance, and we discuss how we turn that into military advice and planning," the chairman explained. But the summit will focus on the way ahead after 2014, when Afghan forces will have security responsibility for all of Afghanistan, he added.

In the meantime, Dempsey said, the key for military leaders is to work along with their Afghan partners to ensure Afghanistan's national security forces continue their progress toward full security responsibility and to work together in addressing the challenges that lie ahead in that effort.

Earlier today, Dempsey met in Amman with Lt. Gen. Mashal al-Zaben, Jordan's defense chief. They discussed the long-standing U.S. Jordanian partnership and regional security issues, including Jordan's perspective on the situation in neighboring Syria.

U.S. CONCLUDES REVIEWING BILATERAL INVESTMENT TREATY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
United States Concludes Review of Model Bilateral Investment Treaty
Media Note Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC
April 20, 2012
The following is the text of a joint statement issued by the U.S. Department of State and the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
Begin Text:

Today, the U.S. Department of State and the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced the conclusion of the Administration’s review of the United States’ model bilateral investment treaty (BIT) and the release of the revised 2012 model BIT.

International investment is a significant driver of America’s economic growth, job creation, and exports. The 2012 U.S. model BIT text will help achieve several important goals of the Obama Administration ensuring that U.S. companies benefit from a level playing field in foreign markets, providing effective mechanisms for enforcing the international obligations of our economic partners, and creating stronger labor and environmental protections.

The 2012 model BIT also supports our strategic international commitment to a robust economic agenda. It will play a critical role in ensuring that American firms can rely on strong legal protections when competing for the 95 percent of the world’s consumers who live outside the United States, as well as in promoting good governance, the rule of law, and transparency around the world.

Like the predecessor 2004 model BIT, the 2012 model BIT continues to provide strong investor protections and preserve the government’s ability to regulate in the public interest. The Administration made several important changes to the BIT text so as to enhance transparency and public participation; sharpen the disciplines that address preferential treatment to state-owned enterprises, including the distortions created by certain indigenous innovation policies; and strengthen protections relating to labor and the environment.

BACKGROUND
Since February 2009, when the Administration initiated a review of the United States’ (2004) model BIT to ensure that it was consistent with the public interest and the Administration’s overall economic agenda, the Administration has sought and received extensive input from Congress, companies, business associations, labor groups, environmental and other non-governmental organizations, and academics. While revisions to the model BIT do not require Congressional action, negotiated BITs require advice and consent of two thirds of the Senate.

A BIT is an international agreement that provides binding legal rules regarding one country’s treatment of investors from another country. The United States negotiates BITs on the basis of a high-standard “model” text that provides investors with improved market access; protection from discriminatory, expropriatory, or otherwise harmful government treatment; and a mechanism to pursue binding international arbitration for breaches of the treaty. High-standard BITs, such as those based on the U.S. model, improve investment climates, promote market-based economic reform, and strengthen the rule of law. The United States has more than 40 BITs in force with countries around the world, and the investment chapters of U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs) contain substantially similar rules and protections. USTR and the Department of State co-lead the U.S. BIT program.

THE CIVIL WAR AND HONORING THE WAR DEAD

FROM:  VETERANS AFFAIRS
PHOTO: AFTERMATH AT GETTYSBURG
The Civil War’s Legacy of Honoring War Dead
April 18, 2012 by Alex Horton
We’ve all been taught the consequences of the U.S. Civil War since childhood. How it led to the emancipation of slaves, solidified state and federal rights, and further made the case for women’s suffrage. But the unprecedented carnage of the war also transformed the attitude of how the nation honors its military dead; a tradition now indelible to the American spirit.

That was the premise behind a talk given by Harvard University President Dr. Drew Faust at VA central office in Washington today. Through her research, Dr. Faust found that the Civil War fundamentally changed the way our country handled death on the battlefield. Both the Union and Confederacy were ill equipped to bury fallen troops in a dignified manner, and death notifications sent to families were informal and happenstance, if they happened at all. Unmarked and hasty graves littered fields and farms near battlefields where hundreds of thousands of men struggled and died.

Humanitarian ideas and the dignity of the human spirit were transformed in the crucible of war, and an emerging sense of responsibility for our war dead led to drastic shift in government obligations.

Edmund Whitman, an Army officer and a quartermaster during the war, led the effort. Whitman inspected cemeteries and battlefields across the south from 1865-1869, examined informal records, and conducted interviews to find out locations of fallen troops. He oversaw the reinterment of over 100,000 Union soldiers. About 300,000 were reburied in 74 national cemeteries, which now fall under the purview of the National Park Service.
As Dr. Faust noted, it was Whitman’s mission to put human faces and human cost to the war, and to recognize the sacrifices of so many of our own. His work helped to establish the notion that those who fell in battle are to be honored, and it’s our duty as citizens to remember and cherish that.

It’s difficult to fathom the damage of the war. An estimated 600,000 soldiers from both sides were killed; if the war were fought today with the same casualty rate, six million would lay dead. But it’s also hard to imagine a time when the care of our slain troops was an afterthought—an annoyance to both troops in the field and folks in the halls of government. It’s now one of VA’s most sacred obligations, but it took a war of staggering magnitude for our nation to realize it had a duty to honor the dead as much as they honored us.

AIR FORCE WEEK IN PHOTOS

Air Force Week in Photos

EXERCISE FOAL EAGLE IN S. KOREA SHOWS U.S. AND KOREAN FORCES READINESS

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Korea Exercise Lets Battalion Stretch Its Wings
By Jim Garamone
WASHINGTON, April 19, 2012 - Exercise Foal Eagle – an annual training exercise in South Korea – has given a Hawaii-based battalion an opportunity to spread its wings.
The exercise, which ends April 30, allows U.S. and South Korean service members to work together in defense of the Korean peninsula.

The exercise has added impetus this year, as North Korea launched a missile in defiance of United Nations agreements, said Army Lt. Col. Tim Hayden, commander of the 1st Battalion, 25th Infantry. His unit traveled to South Korea from its base in Hawaii to be part of the exercise.

"[The launch] did serve a strong point to remind us of our responsibility to maintain our readiness and our partnership with our Korean allies," he added.
The battalion focused on both the training mission and the combined mission with South Korean partners. The unit worked closely with South Korean army units as the exercise unfolded. It is a type of mission the unit, which has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, has not practiced for years, Hayden said.

The battalion started preparing for movement last year and deployed in March. The unit has been able to train on everything from individual skills up through platoon and company level, the colonel said, and conducted combined training with the South Koreans.

"One of the events I'd like to highlight was a combined defensive live-fire shot here on Rodriguez Range," Hayden said from South Korea. "It was a great event, because we partnered with a Korean tank platoon."

The South Korean tankers partnered with the battalion's mobile gun systems – a 105 mm main gun on a Stryker vehicle variant. This allowed the troops of both nations to fight a defensive live-fire battle together.

"What we found was through our troops leading procedures and our rehearsals was both the Korean army and our Army have a lot in common – we have high-caliber leaders, we have well-trained soldiers, we have very good equipment," he said. "We can communicate and fight on the battlefield today as allies and partners."

Many of the American soldiers are veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, Hayden noted.
"What this has been able to do for us is focus on a higher-intensity fight, more of a decisive action, and fight in the terrain that we would have to fight here on the peninsula should a contingency arise," he said. "The change of terrain has forced my leaders to think beyond the standard mission set they are used to in Iraq or Afghanistan."

The colonel said his unit is ready for the type of combat that could happen in Korea. "We are ready," he said. "We've mastered the basics, and we're focused on our core competencies and our fundamental warfighting skills, and we remain disciplined in what we do."

DAVE CAMP, CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE CALLS FOR LESS SPENDING, GREATER ACCOUNTABILITY

FROM:  CONGRESSMAN DAVE CAMP’S NEWSLETTER
April 17, 2012
Highlights from the House: Highlights from the House: Camp Calls for Less Spending, Greater Accountability & Comprehensive Tax Reform
Congressman Dave Camp met with constituents across Michigan’s Fourth District last week to listen first hand to their concerns. Camp answered questions about how economic uncertainty continues to dampen the nation’s economic recovery. Residents agreed with  Congressman Camp’s plan to advance comprehensive tax reform to restore economic growth and job opportunities for hardworking Americans. Coupled with tax reform, Washington must be held accountable for the use of taxpayer dollars  rein in out-of-control federal spending, which remains a significant threat to America’s economic future. AsCBS recently reported, the national debt has now increased more during President Obama's three years and two months in office than it did during George W. Bush’s presidency.

With spending and debt at record levels, it is no wonder that more than three-quarters of Americans believe the country is still in a recession. Historically, Small businesses have led the country out of recessions.  Congressman Camp knows their recovery plays a key role to unlocking job growth and getting Americans back to work.

A recent survey shows that with taxes due tonight, cash-strapped small businesses are putting their scarce resources towards tax compliance, rather than growth and hiring. The good news is: the Senate rejected a tax hike yesterday. The better news is: Camp is leading House Republicans in tax reform efforts to boost small business job creation. On Thursday, the House will vote on Camp’s Small Business Tax Cut Act (H.R. 9) to give small businesses a 20% tax deduction. A Fiscal Associates study shows the Small Business Tax Cut with help create more than 100,000 new jobs a year once fully in place, directly benefitting 22 million small businesses. The president has called small businesses the "anchors of our Main Streets" hopefully he and will join the House to provide lower taxes and higher growth to America’s job creators.