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Every day we see the tremendous commitment and sacrifice made by the men and women of our Armed Forces. Our military men and women are among our most precious resources. That is why Congress recently passed the biggest increase in Veterans healthcare spending in 77 years. It included:
- $750,000 for transitional housing loans for homeless veterans
- $41 billion for payment of compensation benefits and pension benefits
- $3.3 billion for payment of readjustment and rehabilitation benefits
- $3.3 million for vocational rehabilitation loans
- $28.9 billion for medical care of veterans, including
- $2.9 billion for mental health treatment
- $130 million for homeless veterans health grants
- $428.9 million for substance abuse treatment
- $100 million for treatment of blind veterans
- $4.1 billion for the maintenance and operation of hospitals, nursing homes and other VA facilities
- $480 million for prosthetics research
- $1.4 billion for construction of new facilities
In Congress I will continue to do all that I can to show our nation's veterans and our troops today that we will commit the resources required to fund the benefits they have been promised. That is why I strongly support the bipartisan Veterans Education Assistance Act (S. 22) which would expand the educational benefits offered to the men and women who have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would resemble the benefits provided to World War II Veterans and specifically, would provide college scholarships to returning service members who served in combat, whether they served in the active-duty military, National Guard, or Reserves. President Bush has voiced his opposition to this new GI Bill, but it is important that we work to give veterans the benefits they deserve, including a college education.
To that end I have joined the Rural Veteran Caucus and cosponsored numerous bills important to veterans including:
H.CON.RES.49 Recognizing the 75th anniversary of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and commending recipients of the Purple Heart for their courageous demonstrations of gallantry and heroism on behalf of the United States.
H.CON.RES.162 Expressing the sense of Congress that Congress and the President should increase basic pay for members of the Armed Forces.
H.RES.326 Title: Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
H.R.23 Title: Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Act of 2007
H.R.303 Title: Retired Pay Restoration Act
HR 327 Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act
H.R.579 Military Retirees Health Care Protection Act
HR 634 American Veterans Disabled for Life Commemorative Coin Act
H.R.1110 Title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow Federal civilian and military retirees to pay health insurance premiums on a pretax basis and to allow a deduction for TRICARE supplemental premiums.
H.R.1268 Title: Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act of 2007
H.R.1632 Title: Improving Veterans' Reemployment Act of 2007
H.R.1944 Title: Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act of 2007
H.R.2005 Title: Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2007
H.R.2219 Title: Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline Act of 2007
H.R.3008 Title: Rural Veterans Services Outreach and Training Act
For more about my work on Veterans' issues, click here.
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