IAVA recommends the following steps to improve government accountability.

5.1 End Abuse of the Emergency Supplemental Process

• Emergency supplemental funding undercuts Congressional oversight of spending. While supplemental funding is crucial for real emergencies, IAVA opposes the use of emergency supplementals to fund predictable military needs.

5.2 Mandate an Official Response to the Walter Reed Commissions

• IAVA recommends requiring official recommendation- by-recommendation responses from the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission and the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors, followed by quarterly reports on implementation.

5.3 Build Accountability in the Acquisitions and Contracting Process

• In the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008, a Wartime Contracting Commission was established to investigate the practices of defense contractors. This Commission was not granted subpoena power to conduct their work. Providing the Commission with the ability to subpoena will substantially increase the Commission’s ability to investigate wartime contracting practices.

5.4 Provide a Road to Citizenship for Military Families

• IAVA believes that the deportation of spouses of troops deployed to a combat zone should be deferred until at least one year after the deployed servicemember returns from combat. In addition, surviving widows and widowers of those killed in action should be eligible for expedited citizenship and/or “bereavement visas” to allow them to visit family in their country of origin in the two years after their spouse’s death.

5.5 Protect the Iraqis and Afghanis Who Protect Our Troops

• American lives depend on the indigenous populace working side by side with our brave men and women in uniform. It is our nation’s responsibility to ensure that those endangered by their service to our country be given the opportunity to find safety in the United States.