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ask.heather@mail.house.gov
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In Washington DC
442 Cannon House
Office Building
Washington, DC
20515
202-225-6316 Phone
202-225-4975 Fax |
In Albuquerque
20 First Plaza NW
Suite 603
Albuquerque, NM
87102
505-346-6781 Phone
505-346-6723 Fax |  |
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Congresswoman Heather Wilson, First Congressional District of New Mexico
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| Wilson Reports Progress on Key Veterans Issues |
January 14, 2004 |
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Albuquerque, NM – In a town hall today with veterans, Congresswoman Heather Wilson updated them on important progress on key veterans’ issues.
Last year was a significant year for New Mexico’s 189,000 veterans, Wilson said. Congressional action addressed a number of key issues: increasing veterans health care spending, addressing the concurrent receipt problem, considering a new veterans national cemetery in New Mexico, boosting pay for troops, increasing combat pay for soldiers in hostile areas, and ensuring burial rights for veterans’ spouses.
“New Mexicans have always served our country. It’s a tradition we’re proud of. It’s our duty to honor those who have served,” Wilson said. “We’re focusing on taking care of today’s and tomorrow’s veterans. The men and women who have served their nation, and who serve today, deserve our gratitude.”
VETERAN BENEFITS
Total spending for veteran health care was boosted this year to record levels of $28.6 billion. With an aging veteran population and our future veterans fighting a war on terrorism, our veteran health care system will continue to face challenges. Wilson worked to increase resources for our veterans. Congress has set aside an increase of 40 percent for VA medical care over the past five years. The VA reports a reduced backlog on claims, even as more veterans than ever are applying for benefits.
CONCURRENT RECEIPT
Congress also moved late last year to correct a major retirement and disability pay issue for many of our veterans that has existed since the Civil War, the so-called “concurrent receipt” problem. For decades, many disabled and retired veterans have been denied both retirement and disability pay. For the first time, that unfair policy is changing with a new law passed by Congress and signed by President Bush. Full concurrent receipts will be provided to all military retirees with a Purple Heart or a combat-related disability, including National Guardsmen and Reservists. The new law will also provide concurrent receipt for remaining military retirees who are the most severely disabled – those rated 50 percent and above. Implementation is starting this month, and the full plan will be phased in over 10 years.
This major change will improve the quality of life for many of our veterans, especially those who were wounded and disabled in the service of our country.
NATIONAL CEMETERY
Bringing another national cemetery to central New Mexico is very important for our veterans. That’s why Wilson worked with veterans groups, including the VFW and the American Legion, to lay the groundwork and take care of the long-term needs of our veterans.
The Santa Fe National Cemetery could run out of space within 10 years, according to estimates. This problem has happened in other states, which were left for a time without a national cemetery to bury veterans. By laying the groundwork today, New Mexico can avoid having a problem in the future.
Last year the Veterans Administration conducted a site survey using funding Wilson secured in Congress. The team found three sites in central New Mexico that could serve as a national cemetery. The sites are: Los Lunas I-25 East Side Mile Marker 202 (140 acres), Central and Paseo del Volcan SW (400 acres), and Kirtland Air Force Base robotics area (142 acres).
TODAY’S SOLDIERS, TOMORROW’S VETERANS
Our future veterans are in uniform right now. This year’s defense bill includes an average 4.15 percent pay increase for our service men and women. This marks the fifth straight year that military pay raises have been higher than private sector increases, helping to narrow the pay gap between military and civilian pay.
Congress also significantly increased bonus payments to soldiers separated from their families and in hostile areas like Iraq and Afghanistan. These bonuses can increase a salary by as much as $2,700 a year. In one bureaucratic glitch, some troops were required to pay for meals while recovering from injuries. That problem was quickly resolved.
In the largest military R&R; program in decades, additional funds were made available to fly troops on leave from Iraq and Afghanistan all the way home. Typically, a soldier was flown to one of three cities and then responsible for the remaining travel costs.
Wilson has also taken a lead role in encouraging the President and Defense Department to plan for increased “end strength” to reduce our reliance on Guard and Reserve troops as we fight terrorism.
BURIAL RIGHTS
Important burial rights were restored to some of our veterans and their families this year. A glitch in the law has prevented the widowed spouses of veterans who have since remarried from being laid to rest alongside their spouses in national cemeteries. One Albuquerque woman has waited three years to lay her mother’s ashes to rest until this glitch in federal law was corrected.
Wilson wrote and introduced the change in this law. The VFW endorsed the legislation, and last month, the President signed it into law.
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