Congressman Allen Boyd, Representing the 2nd District of Florida
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  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 11, 2008
  CONTACT: Melanie Morris   (202) 225-5235  
     

"Making Progress for our Veterans"

By Congressman Allen Boyd (D-FL)

     

Each year on Veterans Day, we honor the bravery of the men and women who have served our country in uniform.  We sing their praises, and we offer our gratitude.  It is important for all of us, as Americans, to come together and thank our veterans for their service and sacrifice, and in Congress, we must go even further and see that our government honors our veterans, not just in words, but in deeds.

I am pleased to report that it is a new day in Congress when it comes to honoring the commitment we have made to our veterans.  Gone are the days of underfunding and lack of oversight.  This Congress has made our veterans, specifically veterans’ healthcare and benefits, a priority, and there have been several achievements, both nationally and locally, that have made good on our commitment to our veterans.

First, in 2007, we passed the largest increase in veterans’ funding in the 77-year history of the Veterans Administration (VA).  Much of this funding was targeted to improving healthcare for the 5.8 million veterans who need and deserve access to quality healthcare from the VA.  This year, Congress followed up by again increasing funding for important veterans’ programs and benefits and continuing to address the claims backlog at the VA by adding new claims processors.  Both of these veterans’ funding bills were part of fiscally responsible budget resolutions, which made possible these unprecedented VA funding increases and reflected this Congress’ renewed commitment to our veterans.

Second, this summer, Congress passed and the President signed into law a new GI Bill that restores the assurance of a full, four-year college education for our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Since I came to Washington almost 12 years ago, I have been calling for a new GI Bill, and this need has only grown with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  In these wars, our guardsmen and reservists have been deployed at a level that we have not seen since World War II.  Many of these guardsmen and reservists were in career professions before these wars, and many will return home unable to continue these professions because of physical or mental injuries sustained during service.  The new GI Bill will make the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan part of American economic recovery efforts, just like the veterans of World War II, and the passage of this GI Bill in Congress was a significant victory for our veterans.

Third, at home in North Florida, we are celebrating the opening of a new veterans’ clinic in Marianna, which opened for care on June 30 of this year.  This is an exciting development in our area, and one that resulted from the hard work and dedication of many parties, most notably the community of Jackson County.  With this new clinic, veterans in Jackson County and surrounding areas will have more convenient access to VA medical care.

Recently, we have made a lot of progress for our veterans, but our work is not over.  As a Vietnam veteran, I will continue to work in Washington to see that we keep the promises that we have made to the men and women who have served our great country.  On this Veterans Day, I would like to thank our veterans and their families.  Through their service and sacrifice, they have made America a better, safer, and stronger country, and we remain indebted and grateful.

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