Senators, VFW: Cut Off Funds For Veterans Corp. Leaders of the Senate Small Business Committee are urging Congress to end federal funding of the Veterans Corp., after the committee staff found the corporation has “squandered” hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money, while doing little to help veterans start and grow businesses. The bipartisan Senate investigators said the nonprofit corporation, formally known as the National Veterans Business Development Corp., has been given $17 million in federal funds since its founding, but has spent only 15% of the money on the veterans business resource centers that were its primary mission. Spending on the centers dropped to 9% of appropriated funds last year, and the three remaining centers have warned they may be forced to shut down for lack of money. At the same time, former Veterans Corp. CEO Walter Blackwell was being paid nearly 8% of the corporation’s budget, $187,000, according to the report. He and other top executives were reimbursed for first-class travel, luxury hotel rooms, and thousands of dollars in meals at some of Washington’s most expensive restaurants. Blackwell resigned in May. "It's appalling that an organization created to aid our nation's heroes would instead squander taxpayer dollars, wining and dining their executives instead of helping veterans," said committee Chairman John Kerry, D-MA. He and the panel’s ranking Republican, Olympia Snowe of Maine, ordered the investigation after persistent complaints about the Veterans Corp.’s performance. The Veterans of Foreign Wars also called for the corporation to shut down. "This is a prime example of a good government initiative that went bad," said VFW national commander Glen Gardner Jr. When Congress created the Veterans Corp. in 1999, the corporation’s principal mission was to establish resource centers to help veterans start and expand businesses. The committee investigators said four centers opened, but one has closed. In recent years, the corporation shifted its emphasis to online training instead of face-to-face counseling sessions. It also sponsored teen essay contests and sent CEO Blackwell on a tour to promote a movie about a disabled veteran. Congress authorized four years of federal funding for the corporation; after that it was supposed to be self-supporting. The investigators said the corporation made little progress in raising private funds. It spent $2.50 for each $1 it raised. Executives devoted much of their effort to lobbying Congress for additional money. The Bush administration tried to zero out the Veterans Corp.’s funding in the past two annual budgets, but Congress put the money back in. The staff report blames many of the problems on poor oversight by the corporation’s board. For example, the chairman of the board’s audit committee told investigators he could not name the two other members of the committee. “Through its misguided programs, excessive executive compensation, and questionable spending, TVC has squandered hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of the $17 million in taxpayer dollars it has received since 2001,” the report says. The Veterans Corp. named a new CEO the day before the report was issued. James Mingey, a disabled veteran, said, “VC will recommit to expand the network of Veteran Business Resource Centers and create a funding stream in the private sector that will enable TVC to gradually become less dependent on government funds.”