America’s veterans have made every sacrifice to protect our country.  Although we can never fully repay the debt we owe our veterans, it is our duty as a Nation to fulfill our commitments to them and this is one of Congressman Sarbanes' top priorities while serving in Congress.  He has worked hard to ensure that veterans receive the compensation, health care, educational opportunities and employment assistance they deserve. 

Over the last three years, the Congress has made an historic investment in the future of our veterans.  We have increased the veterans’ health budget by more than 40 percent.  We have also enacted a new GI Bill for the 21st Century that increases educational benefits so all our veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can attend college and thrive in the civilian workforce.

Personally, Congressman Sarbanes has always enjoyed interacting with the veteran community and has learned much from that relationship.  For example, after working with a disabled Gulf War veteran who was denied Social Security benefits, he introduced the Benefit Rating Acceleration for Veteran Entitlements (BRAVE) Act.  The BRAVE Act would ensure that our disabled veterans do not have to wade through an unnecessary and duplicative benefits approval process with the Social Security Administration if they have already received a 100 percent disability rating from the Veterans Administration.  The bill is all the more important at a time when we face significant increases in Social Security applications as a result of the baby boomer generation and as veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come home.  Congressman Sarbanes will continue to work for its passage.

• He was also privileged to introduce legislation to create a Veterans’ Service Corps that will provide additional resources to our nation’s veterans and Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs).  Signed into law in April of 2009, the Veterans’ Service Corps authorizes grants for organizations that “serve veterans, members of the Armed Forces who are on active duty, and family members of deployed military personnel, or engage veterans in service”.  Eligible uses of funding may include, but are not limited to:
   
• building housing for veterans;
• transporting veterans to medical appointments and other locations not easily accessible;
• assisting with rehabilitative classes such as physical therapy or life skills development;
• creating care packages for current members of the military serving overseas;
• volunteering in veterans’ hospitals;
• pairing younger veterans to work with elderly and / or disabled veterans;
• performing outreach to the veteran community to provide them information and access to services available to them.

For more information about how to apply for Veterans’ Service Corps grants, please visit AmeriCorps or the Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism.