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Veterans Affairs
The first veteran I knew was my father Harry Specter, a veteran of World War I. Next to his family, my father was proudest of his service in the American Expeditionary Force in France, where he rose to the rank of buck private. Harry Specter was placed on the front lines, and was wounded in the Argonne Forest.
My father’s experience led me to become a dedicated advocate for veterans and their entitled benefits. As a senior member and a former chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, I worked to increase overall Veterans Affairs funding in Fiscal Year 2003 (FY03) by $2.5 billion, in FY04 by $2.9 billion, and in FY05 by $3.8 billion. I helped defeat proposals to freeze and cut federal funding for veterans’ medical care; cosponsored the Bond amendment to the FY04 Iraq/Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations bill which provided an additional $1.3 billion for veterans medical care; and supported the Murray amendment to the FY05 Iraq/Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations bill to provide an additional $1.98 billion for veterans medical care.
One of my priorities remains the construction of a new national cemetery in southeastern Pennsylvania, which will ensure the region’s veterans and their family members do not have to travel long distances. Congress passed H.R. 1516, the National Cemetery Expansion Act of 2003, which directed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to construct a national cemetery in southeastern Pennsylvania within four years. The VA is currently reviewing potential sites—a selection process that includes many factors such as topography, size, environmental and historical concerns, and land acquisition costs. Once the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) has concluded its review, it will make a site recommendation to the Secretary.
Our veterans deserve access to top quality healthcare and facilities. In 2004, with the threat of VA health facility closures in Altoona, Butler, and Erie pending, I held field hearings and urged the VA Secretary to keep the VA facilities in those areas open. I also led the effort to establish four new community-based outpatient clinics in Warren, Northampton, Fayette, and Venango counties, and to build VA medical facilities in Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre, Butler, and Lebanon. I secured funding for a new state veterans’ home in Philadelphia and for improvements at the Spring City state veterans’ home. These new, retained, and improved facilities not only provided veterans with care, but also added new jobs and boosted Pennsylvania’s economy.
Our freedom has been assured by the courageous service of our veterans. Our gratitude can best be shown by ensuring that their needs–medical, educational, professional, and legal–are met. On March 14, 2005, I introduced legislation (S. 614) that would make low-cost, VA purchased prescription drugs available to veterans who receive medical care from Medicare reimbursed private physicians. I have fought aggressively to increase the educational assistance benefits to veterans and supported legislation that nearly doubled educational benefits for the widows and orphans of soldiers and sailors. I have supported improvements to veterans’ job training, employment preference, and transition assistance benefits. As an advocate for our veterans, I successfully guided legislation increasing the service members’ life insurance payout. Further, I helped secure enactment of the Service Members’ Civil Relief Act legislation to provide legal protections to service members, reservists, and their families, who are assigned to duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere overseas.
I will continue to fight for proper treatment of our veterans during the 109th Congress.
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Veterans Affairs
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Main Office:
711 Hart Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: 202-224-4254
Contact Form: Click here
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