Veterans & Military Families

 

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Congresswoman Tsongas visits with veterans in Lowell, MA

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OVERVIEW

I am always so honored to represent the Third District of Massachusetts, which has a proud tradition of military service. As the daughter of an Air Force colonel who survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor, my childhood and teenage years were spent moving from one military base to another across this country and around the world, and I know how challenging, rewarding and stressful life in the military can be.

As a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and a member of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, I have made supporting and protecting our servicemembers and our veterans, whose lives have been changed forever by the experience of war, one of my highest priorities since first taking office. One of my first votes as a Member of Congress was in support of the largest single increase in funding for veterans programs in the 88-year history of the Veterans Administration.

But there is much more to be done, especially when it comes to clearing avenues to jobs, preventing and eliminating homelessness and providing other vital resources that our veterans need to transition to civilian life. Legislators and leaders must prioritize protecting the well-being of the men and women who fought to protect our freedoms.

The veneration of our brave servicemen and women is not restricted to once a year commemoration events. According to 2016 data from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the year for which the most recent data is available, there are nearly 350,000 veterans in Massachusetts, including around 34,000 in the Third District.

There is a long-term cost of war and if our young men and women are willing to put their lives on the line to fight for us, providing them with the care they need when they return and into the future is the least we can do.

With my father’s memory in mind, and the memory of all those who have served from the Third District, and across the country, I will continue to dedicate my time in Congress to honoring our commitment to our servicemen and women, past and present.

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VETERANS ASSISTANCE

One of the commitments that I made when I took office in 2007 was to have a dedicated staff person in my district office who would work to serve veterans and military families. 

In 2017, my office helped approximately 150 veterans, servicemembers, or members of their families and assisted the veterans of the district with claims, compensation, pensions, and more. 

If you are a veteran seeking assistance or would like to learn more about my Veterans Advisory Committee, please contact my office at: 978-459-0101.

VETERANS ADVISORY COMMITTEE

In order to ensure that I am able to stay connected to local veterans, their families, and organizations providing veterans with key services in our community, I created a Third District Veterans Advisory Committee. 

I meet regularly with this group, which consists of veterans, military family members, representatives from veteran service organizations, and others. A number of the legislative ideas that I have pursued in Congress were generated or discussed during these helpful meetings, including initiatives to make body armor more functional for troops. I have continued to pursue the goal of lightening the load of our servicemembers to ensure that they have the most capable personal protective equipment possible. In the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (or NDAA), the annual legislation that sets policy and authorizes the budget for the military, I was able to include a provision that would increase funding for advanced research and development for new materials to increase the ballistic protection and functionality of body armor.

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TRANSITION TO CIVILIAN LIFE

As our nation continues to draw down our military involvement abroad and more American heroes return home, it is incumbent upon us to guarantee them the reverence and support necessary for life on the homefront. I have heard from numerous veterans and from discussions with my Veterans Advisory Committee about the difficulties facing our servicemen and women as they seek to transition back to civilian life.

MODERN MONTGOMERY GI BILL

Shortly after I first came to Congress, I was proud to vote in favor of a modernized Montgomery GI Bill that, among other things, restores full, four-year college scholarships to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and has sent more than 600,000 returning servicemembers or their children to college.

This modernized GI Bill offers expanded college benefits to all children of fallen troops since 9/11/2001. It also extended education benefits to veterans seeking vocational and on-the job training, as well as National Guardsmen and veterans taking advantage of online education and distance learning. The bill gives our returning troops access to the training and education they will need to succeed after military service, strengthen our recovering economyand achieve the American dream they risked so much to defend. The valuable education that our veterans receive from this crucial education also allows them to continue serving their country in a civilian capacity.

MENTAL HEALTH CARE

Mental and other cognitive injuries have unfortunately become the signature wounds of war from Iraq and Afghanistan. Though not visible to the naked eye, these persistent injuries will continue to have a long-term impact on our servicemembers and their families for decades to come. With this in mind, I will continue to look for opportunities to provide necessary services and programs to our troops.

Though many injuries that cause long-term mental health and cognitive issues result from servicemembers’ time deployed around the world, I am also concerned with ensuring that we are keeping these issue in mind during state-side training and other non-combat environments.

Knowing that a new generation of veterans would soon be taking advantage of the updated GI Bill, and many veterans would soon begin to fill university classrooms, I introduced legislation to create a pilot program to train counselors at higher education facilities to recognize the signs of PTSD and other mental health conditions affecting the veteran student population. These counselors may be the most easily accessible mental health professionals for veterans taking advantage of their GI Bill benefits and they should be trained and ready to help our veterans succeed and heal.

Language my colleagues and I worked to include in this year’s NDAA created a pilot program to better understand how private medical institutions can provide comprehensive treatment for psychological and neurological conditions that occur in the Military Sexual Trauma survivor population, including PTSD, TBI, substance abuse, and depression. The provision also requires care and support for family members supporting the impacted servicemember.

MILITARY SUICIDE

Recent years have seen all-time highs for military suicides. It is imperative for Congress to keep pressure on the DoD and the VA to ensure that they are doing everything humanly possible to prevent these tragedies and be a resource for those in need. It also came to my attention that the epidemic of veteran suicides may in fact be spreading to the family members of service members, given the fact that military loved ones are also often coping with very similar stressors. However, to date very little of this data is tracked by the services. When it comes to addressing suicide and issues of mental health, information is critical. The most effective services can only be provided if we have the most complete data possible. With that goal in mind, I authored legislation that closes harmful gaps in the DOD’s suicide data collection process.

My DOD Suicide Tracking Act, which was successfully included in the FY2015 NDAA, addresses two major areas on which suicide data is not currently collected in a standard way– military families and members of the National Guard and Reserves. The bill requires the DOD to establish a standardized suicide tracking policy for the Guard and Reserves. It also requires the DOD to establish a process to track, retain and assess suicide data for military family members.

I continued working on this issue with my colleague from Massachusetts, Representative Seth Moulton (MA-06), in the FY17 NDAA with language that requires the Secretary of Defense to work with the VA to develop a methodology that measures rates of suicide and attempted suicide to identify areas for prevention and treatment and to report to Congress on efforts toward these goals.

JOBS FOR VETERANS

A major component of the transition to civilian life, which has been discussed many times at my Veterans Advisory Committee meetings, is securing steady employment.

Data released from the Department of Labor in 2017 notes there are around 370,000 unemployed veterans in the United States. As of July 2018, the unemployment rate for veterans is 3%. Although the number of veterans experiencing homelessness in the United States was cut in half in 2016, much work remains to be done. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates there are approximately 40,056 veterans homeless on an average night. These numbers are staggering given the fact that veterans make up less than 1% of our population.

In 2011, I strongly supported the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, legislation that passed in the House and Senate and was signed into law by President Obama. This law guarantees an improved benefits package for veterans as they transition into civilian life and it is very similar to what was proposed as part of President Obama’s American Jobs Act. Tax credits are given to companies for each veteran they hire, training and education programs for disabled veterans have been improved, and new initiatives were created to connect disabled veterans with companies wishing to employ them.

One area I believe we must improve is ensuring that the injuries that veterans sustain while serving do not become barriers to employment when they come home.
 

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GUARANTEEING ACCESS TO SERVICE RECORDS

Veterans and their families have repeatedly expressed frustration with the cumbersome process they have to go through in order to transfer their military records and benefit information from military to civilian life. 

I authored legislation entitled the Improving Veterans’ Electronic Transition Services Act (iVETS Act), which would encourage the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to create an internet based portal for veterans to access their records and benefits information electronically. It would model the web-based portal for veterans after the Defense Knowledge Online system, which all active duty military members use to access their Official Military Personnel File but which they lose access to once they become veterans.

The web based portal that I proposed would have provided unprecedented benefits to veterans.  

For example, if a servicemember received an Army Achievement Medal for their actions when his/her convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device, and as a veteran, s/he later starts to experience TBI symptoms, the award citation – which would be part of his/her personnel electronic records – could help the veteran prove a service related connection and could expedite needed medical benefits. 

After this legislation was proposed, the Veterans Administration took it upon themselves to improve the legacy system, eBenefits, by allowing servicemembers to electronically access their Official Military Personnel Files. My office received a demonstration of the new and improved eBenefits system from the VA, and while progress is being made, the system still has many obstacles to overcome.   As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I will continue to actively monitoring this issue. 

Visit https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits-portal/ebenefits.portal

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VETERANS ADMINISTRATION (VA)

Ensuring the VA has the resources it needs to provide modern, effective support to our returning soldiers is critical to ensuring a productive transition from active duty to civilian life. One of my first votes in Congress was in support of the largest single increase in funding for veterans programs in the 88-year history of the Veteran’s Administration.

Congress and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have taken important steps to increase veteran access to private health care providers in the wake of reprehensible efforts to cover up patient wait times at several VA facilities across the country. Today, under the VA Choice program, veterans who live more than 40 miles from a VA provider or who experience prolonged wait times are able to make appointments with private health care practitioners to address their health concerns. Though much work remains to be done to ensure veterans are not billed for these visits, the option to see a private health provider when faced with difficulty making a VA appointment has been a concrete benefit for our nation's veterans.

The option to see doctors and specialists outside the VA network has led to calls by some to accelerate the privatization of VA health care. Some measures now being debated would have a dramatic effect on veterans’ care by furthering the privatization of the VA health care system. Though I see the benefits the VA Choice program has provided to veterans in rural communities and those experiencing prolonged wait times, I believe that there is a value in keeping health care services within the VA system.

Overall VA patient satisfaction rates and quality of care remain high - and in some locations are higher than with private care recipients - while the VA's integrated system is able to provide veterans with a continuum of care that surpasses that in the private health care market. Serious deficiencies must continue to be addressed in the VA health care system like the overall condition of facilities and equipment as well as the timeliness under which veterans are seen by specialists, but I believe we can seek ways to address these shortcomings without sacrificing quality of care for veterans.

As the daughter of an Air Force Colonel and a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, I have made supporting and protecting our service members and veterans one of my highest priorities since coming to Washington. I will continue to support our veterans and am dedicated to ensuring they are able to get immediate, quality medical care they have earned.

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RESOURCES

For a full list of veteran resources, visit VA.gov.