 Veteran Affairs
Providing Better Education Benefits and Improved Brain Injury Treatment for Veterans Earlier this year, President Bush signed H.R.4986, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. This law improves veterans' benefits including the enhancement of education benefits for members of the Guard and Reserves. Under this new law, National Guard and Reserve members who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan can now receive full education benefits after three total years of active duty service. With potential additional payments available to them, their benefits could cover over 90% of the cost of a four-year public college education, including tuition, fees, room, and board. The new law also focused on providing additional health care services and research programs for veterans suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) by requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop individual treatment plans for patients suffering from TBI, and to provide long-term case management services for those patients. In March, the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs heard testimony from several family members of servicemen wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom who suffered from TBI. That hearing reminded us again that veterans and their families have tremendous needs, and I believe these initiatives are a start in the right direction. Improving Mental Health Treatment for Veterans I believe that our current VA system is not adequately helping our veterans who suffer from mental health disorders. Currently, the Veterans Health Administration, charged with treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the Veterans Benefits Administration, charged with providing disability benefits, are isolated from one another and many times, a veteran's medical treatment will suffer. To fix this, I introduced the Veterans Mental Health Treatment First Act (S.2573) earlier this year. It aims to place a greater emphasis on treating veterans with mental health disorders by providing wellness incentives for veterans to seek treatment. The voluntary program will give veterans an incentive to get treatment for PTSD and other mental health disorders before worrying about their disability claims. We owe it to our veterans to focus on their recovery and return to productive lives as a first priority! . I believe this bill starts us down that path. Making Progress in Iraq The gains we have made in Iraq over the past year have been very encouraging. Gen. David Petraeus and the brave men and women who are fighting in Iraq are to be commended for the progress they have achieved in the country, and Americans should be proud of their hard work. I am pleased that Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki and his government have recently passed a de-Baathification law that will allow former mid-level Baath party members to re-enter political and civic life. Other encouraging signs from the Iraqi government include the enactment of a pension law for Sunnis who were promised retirement benefits and an announced plan to reform the food rationing system in Iraq. Progress is not just limited to government initiatives, business registrations and investment are up, as is the production of oil. While these are encouraging signs, the reality is that Iraq is still fragile and susceptible to attacks. I want our troops to come home as soon as possible, and I hope to see some U.S. forces begin to come home over the next few months, but it is important that they leave an Iraq that can govern and defend itself and we are closer to reaching that than ever before. |
