Veterans find ally in senators
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Printable FormatRockford Register Star Editorial
Maybe it was Sen. Barack Obama's star power or an automatic promise from a Cabinet nominee. Either way, we are glad that disability payments to veterans in Illinois are getting a review.
Obama last week landed a spot on the Veterans Affairs Committee, not a bad assignment at all for the freshman senator from Illinois. Obama wasted no time in asking Jim Nicholson, the president's secretary-designate for veterans affairs, to come up with answers as to why Illinois disabled veterans receive fewer benefits than veterans in most other states. Illinois' other Democratic senator, Dick Durbin, also was at a meeting with Nicholson.
Last year, Illinois veterans received an average of $6,802 in disability pay, putting the state only two notches from dead last nationally, an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times showed. The paper reported that veterans in some states and Puerto Rico have collected nearly double what Illinois veterans have received in recent years.
Most people know Obama as the eloquent speaker who talks in stirring generalities, whose stock has risen faster than any politician's in recent memory. But when he was an Illinois senator from Chicago, he wasn't so concerned with the big picture that couldn't get down and fight for his district's fair share of resources.
Those skills will come in quite handy in Washington.
It could be a long time before veterans who have been shot at, lost their limbs or struggled with mental illness get their due in Illinois. The Senate has not confirmed Nicholson's appointment; he could be telling Durbin and Obama what they want to hear. So we hope the two men keep the pressure on.
http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050112/OPINION03/501120305/1023