Your Representatives In Region 4
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This site
is New, and I will do the best I can to keep it updated!
Your
Congressional representatives are listed below.
I will
be putting only Veterans related issues etc on this site.
The first session of the 112th
Congress has ended!
· Public
Law 112-56
VOW to Hire Heroes Act – a comprehensive jobs bill
that improves reemployment rights for Guard and Reservist, expands education
and training programs, requires mandatory Transitional
Assistance Program attendance, and offers employer tax credits for hiring
veterans.
·
Public Law 112-53
Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act
of 2011, increases the rates of VA disability compensation and dependency
and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and
children by 3.6%, which matches the COLA increase military retirees and
Social Security recipients will receive.
·
Public Law 112-37
Veterans Health Care Facilities Capital Improvement
Act of 2011, legislation that authorizes major medical projects
and leases within VA, and expands mental health treatments,
rehabilitation and comprehensive homeless veteran housing programs.
·
Public Law 112-26
Restoring GI Bill Fairness Act of 2011, provides a
fix in reimbursement rates under the Post-9/11 GI Bill for students already
enrolled at private schools.
There are other bills passed by the House
that still await Senate action.
They include mortgage protections for service members,
harsher penalties for misrepresenting a business as owned or controlled
by
service-disabled veterans, sexual assault prevention
measures within VA, and improvements to the disability claims and appeals
process.
.
Older Vets to Get GI Bill
November 21, 2011
The President signed the VOW
to Hire Heroes Act into law on Monday, Nov. 21,2011
The new law has several provisions
that will have a positive impact on the veteran unemployment rate, including
tax breaks for
employers that hire veterans
and improved transition assistance. One of the provisions that will help
older veterans is a new program
that will give veterans over
the age of 35 a new shot at 12 months of the Montgomery GI Bill. This benefit
can be used for finishing
up a college degree, advanced
professional certification, vocational training, On-the-Job Training and
more.
But, there is one provision that will come as great news to the veterans over the age of 35 – a new shot at 12 months of the Montgomery GI Bill.
That’s right, the pre-9/11 veterans who often feel
as if they have been forgotten, may soon qualify for as much as $17,600
for education and training.
This benefit can be used for finishing up a college
degree, certification, vocational training, On-the-Job Training and more.
This new benefit could help about 60 percent of the
current 850K unemployed veterans.
To qualify, veterans must be 35 -60 years old, unemployed,
and not currently enrolled (or within the past 6 months) in a state or
federal job training program.
The remaining question is, how soon can the VA pull
the trigger and start accepting applications.
Stay tuned for updates…
Vets Jobs Bill Passes House; Obama to Sign
November 17, 2011
by Bryant Jordan
In a rare show of bipartisanship for today’s Washington,
the House voted unanimously on Wednesday to grant tax credits to businesses
that agree to hire veterans.
The measure already has passed the Senate 94-1, and
will go next to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.
Obama congratulated Democrats and Republicans for
supporting the tax credits, which advocates say are necessary to help reduce
veterans’ unemployment.
“No veteran who fought for our country should have
to fight for a job when they come home,” Obama said in a statement.
“That’s why I proposed these tax credits back in August,
and I look forward to signing them into law.”
The bill includes two tax credits. Under the “Returning
Heroes” tax credit, employers would get a maximum tax break
of $5,600 per veteran, while the maximum under the
“Wounded Warrior” credit is $9,600 per veteran.
The exact amount is linked to how long the veteran
has been unemployed and whether he or she has a service connected disability.
Vet's Work Act Passes House
Week of October 17, 2011
This week the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the
Veterans Opportunity to Work Act with more than 400 votes.
The bill, known as the VOW Act, aims to help veterans of all eras
by creating opportunities for job training and employment.
The next step is for the Senate to pass this bill. According to
reports, the leadership of the
Senate's Veterans Affairs Committee has indicated it would have
their support.
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 884-11
October 17, 2011
POW/MIA Talks Begin with North Korean Officials
A delegation from the
United States will meet in Bangkok on Oct. 18 to begin negotiations with
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(DPRK) on resuming recovery of the remains of American
servicemen missing in action from the Korean War.
Robert J. Newberry,
deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/missing personnel affairs,
will lead negotiations with a team
including representatives from the Department of State,
the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting
Command, the U.S. Pacific Command and the United Nations
Command-Korea.
The talks will only
address the issue of resuming remains recovery of missing U.S. servicemen
from the Korean War. Accounting for
Americans missing in action is a stand-alone humanitarian
matter, not tied to any other issue between the two countries.
Of the approximately
83,000 Americans missing from all conflicts, more than 7,900 are from the
Korean War with 5,500 of those believed to be missing in the DPRK.
July 27, 2011 Rangel-introduces-resolution-to-repatriate-powmias-and-abductees-from-north-korea.shtml
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, on the 58th Anniversary of the
Korean War Armistice Day, Congressman Charles Rangel introduced a resolution
calling on North Korea to return Korean War POW/MIA(prisoners
of war/missing in action)s and abductees to their loved ones.
“As we pay tribute to the nearly two million Americans
who answered the call to defend the freedom of Korea, we should not forget
about those
who never returned,” Rangel said. “There are still surviving
POWs detained in North Korea who for more than sixty years have been unable
to
return home. I call on North Korea to work with us toward
reuniting the thousands of American and Korean families with their missing
loved ones.”
The U.S. Defense Prisoner of War and Missing Personnel
Office (DPMO) lists more than 8,000 American POW/MIA servicemen who are
unaccounted
for from the Korean War. It is estimated that as many
as 73,000 South Korean POWs were not repatriated. North Korea has consistently
refused to discuss
the POW issue and the exact number of South Korean POWs
who were detained in North Korea after the war is unknown, as is the number
of those still alive in North Korea.
In addition, approximately 100,000 South Korean civilians
(political leaders, public employees, lawyers, journalists, scholars, farmers,
etc) were forcibly
abducted by the North Korean Army during the wartime
have not been admitted, accounted for, nor repatriated by North Koreans.
North Korea has never acknowledged civilian abductions.
“The pain of war is felt not only by those who serve but
also by those left behind,” Rangel said. "This resolution seeks to provide
some closure to the
families and friends of the POW/MIAs who have waited
too long to learn the whereabouts of their father, husband, or brother."
Among the objectives, Rangel's resolution encourages North
Korea to repatriate any soldiers they have held captive since the Korean
War, and
calls upon the U.S. government to resume search and recovery
operations in North Korea which was suspended in 2005.
Joint Field Activities (JFAs) conducted by the U.S government
between 1996 and 2005 yielded over 220 sets of remains that are still being
processed
for identification at Joint Prisoners of War, Missing
in Action Accounting Command (JPAC) in Hawaii.
"God has blessed me and brought me back home. I hope to bring some solace for the families of those who were left behind," added Rangel.
In the resolution, Rangel acknowledged the numerous organizations
that have been working to bring awareness to this issue, including the
National Alliance of POW/MIA Families, POW/MIA Freedom
Fighters, Coalition of Families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIAs, Rolling
Thunders Inc., Korean War Abductees Family Union, and
The International Korean War Memorial Foundation POW Affairs Committee.
June -2011
More Eligible for TSGLI Payments: Servicemembers who suffered a traumatic
injury from Oct. 7, 2001, forward
could be retroactively eligible for as much as $100,000, according
to the VA. Troops who suffered one of several
types of injury, including amputation, brain injury or burns, now qualify
for compensation under the Servicemembers'
Group Life Insurance Traumatic Injury Protection program, regardless
of where they were injured. Previously, servicemembers
were eligible only if they suffered the injuries after Dec. 1, 2005.
The recent passage of the Veterans Benefits Act of 2010
grandfathered eligibility back to Oct. 7, 2001. The traumatic
insurance supplement was a tremendous VFW legislative
ictory back in April 2005, when the proposal went from bill to law
in 27 days.
Tricare Update: The House-passed version of the FY 2012 National Defense
Authorization Act includes a proposal to increase
Tricare premiums for working age retirees by 13 percent, and links
future increases to annual cost-of-living adjustments.
The current Senate defense bill contains no language regarding Tricare
fee increases, which could leave the House
recommendation still on the table when the two bodies meet to reconcile
their differences, or leave open the possibility for
DOD to go ahead with their original plan to tie future increases to
medical inflation, which can range into double digits.
Senate VA Committee Hearing:
Improve and expand existing veterans' programs, as well as to create
new programs.
Below are four of almost 30 bills under consideration:
* S. 769 would allow medical service dogs access to VA facilities.
* S. 894 would authorize an annual cost-of-living adjustment for veterans'
disability compensation and other benefits based on an increase in Social
Security for 2011.
* S. 951, The Hiring Heroes Act of 2011, would improve employment and
transition programs provided by the Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans
Affairs, and make Transition Assistance Program participation mandatory
for all servicemembers.
* S. 1148, The Veterans Program Improvement Act of 2011, is a comprehensive
bill that would expand many VA programs,
to include homeless grants and per diem rates, increased fiduciary
oversight, and streamline the claims appeals process.
May 27, 2011
1. National Defense Bill: The House this week completed its work on
the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2012.
The bill would authorize $690 billion for defense programs, to include
$119 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,
and $18 billion for national security programs at the Department of
Energy. The bill also includes a 1.6% pay increase
proposal for active-duty personnel, and would ban captured terrorists
from being brought into the U.S. The bill does include
a proposal to raise working age military retiree Tricare fees by 13%,
and link future increases to annual cost-of-living adjustments.
The VFW does not support raising Tricare fees, and is now asking its
membership to contact their senators to
urge them to strip the increase proposal from the defense package.
2. Veterans Bills Clear House: The House passed several bills this week,
including a cost-of-living increase
and a fix to the current GI Bill for those attending private schools
under Chapter 33. All the bills now head
to the Senate for consideration – they include:
· H.R. 1381
would increase tuition and fees up to $27,000 for those attending private
institutions who were adversely
affected by changes made to the Post 9/11 GI Bill by the previous Congress.
It would also establish a new process for the
placement of monuments at Arlington National Cemetery, which would
clear the way for a memorial on Chaplains Hill to
honor Jewish chaplains who died in service to our country.
· H.R. 1407,
The Veterans Cost of Living Adjustment Act of 2011, would provide a cost-of-living
increase to veterans’
disability compensation rates and other benefits. It would also provide
a five-year extension to VA adaptive grants program for
severely wounded veterans residing in a family member’s home.
· H.R. 1657
would improve VA’s enforcement of service-disabled, veteran-owned small
business contracting.
Read more at http://veterans.house.gov/press-releases.
3. Senate Examines Transition Efforts: On the heels of last week’s hearing
on VA/DOD transitioning programs, the
Senate VA Committee heard this week from servicemembers and their families
on their views of the process. Several
severely injured veterans told tales of bureaucratic hassles, lengthy
delays, and having to be their own advocates.
Retired Lance Cpl. Tim Horton testified “there are so many programs
and benefits available to assist us, yet often we
are never informed of these programs or the information is delivered
in a time and place that is not conducive for wounded
warriors to absorb it.” Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) took VA and DOD
to task on why injured and ill veterans are
still falling through the cracks. Visit the committee website for more
information at http://veterans.senate.gov/hearings.cfm.
4. House Veterans Employment Bill Introduced: Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
introduced the House version, that
would improve training and employment programs for separating and retiring
servicemembers. H.R 1941 is the companion
bill to S. 951, introduced by Senate VA Committee Chairman Patty Murray
(D-WA). The Hiring Heroes Act of
2011 has received strong bipartisan support among members of Congress.
It would
require VA, DOD and Labor to identify the gaps between military training
skills and civilian licensure and credentialing.
It would also extend VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Education program,
plus authorize government agencies to
direct hire, and make the Transition Assistance Program mandatory for
all servicemembers. Contact your legislators
today and urge them to support and pass this critical bill.
May 6, 2011
Caregiver Applications
Begin Monday: The VA this week published their Interim Final Rule for implementing
the family caregiver program,
which mirrors the intent
of the legislation Congress passed as part of the Veterans Omnibus Health
Services Act of 2010. Beginning Monday,
May 9, veterans can download
a copy of the program application to designate a primary family caregiver
or secondary family caregiver, as needed.
The caregiver would be
eligible for a living stipend, mental health services, and access to health
insurance, among other services.
The House Veterans Affairs
Committee held a hearing Tuesday on VA patient safety failures at several
VA medical facilities
that resulted in thousands of veterans being notified of potential exposure
to infectious
diseases like HIV and
hepatitis.
* HR 1383, Restoring
GI Bill Fairness Act of 2011, which would grandfather veterans attending
private schools who
were adversely affected
by the changes made in the GI Bill that became law at the end of last Congress.
* HR 1657, legislation
that would improve VA's enforcement of service-disabled, veteran-owned
small business contracting.
* HR 1441, a bill to
ban reserving burial and interment locations at Arlington National Cemetery.
* HR 1407, The
Veterans Cost of Living Adjustment Act of 2011, which would provide a cost-of-living
increase to veterans'
disability compensation rates and other benefits.
VETERANS' EMERGENCY CARE FAIRNESS BILL
April 15-2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel
K.
Akaka (D-HI) today praised President Barack Obama's signing of the
Veterans'
Emergency Care Fairness Act of 2009.
"For veterans with limited insurance, a trip to the emergency room should
not result in financial ruin," said Chairman Akaka, who introduced
the bill in the Senate last year. "With this new law, VA will
be positioned to help veterans
who are enrolled in VA care whose insurance does not cover the
full cost of
emergency treatment."
The Veterans' Emergency Care Fairness Act, signed into law by President
Obama last night, will enable the Department of Veterans Affairs to
reimburse veterans enrolled in VA health care for the remaining cost
of
emergency treatment if the veteran has outside insurance that only
covers
part of the cost. Previously, VA could reimburse veterans or pay outside
hospitals directly only if a veteran has no outside health insurance.
In addition to reimbursing veterans for emergency care in the future,
the
bill allows the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide retroactive
reimbursements for care received prior to the passage of this bill.
Akaka
has received correspondence from veterans who were unable to receive
financial assistance under the previous rules, and plans to share their
information with Secretary Shinseki.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this legislation will
cover
approximately 700 future claims per year and as many as 2,000 veterans
retroactively.
This will help veterans who need emergency care and previously would
have
been hit with the bills associated with that emergency care.
Final Rule on Korean DMZ
Agent Orange Exposure
January 31, 2011
Due to a final regulation just issued, VA
officials will now presume herbicide exposure for any veteran who served
between April 1, 1968, and August 31, 1971,
in a unit determined by VA and Department of Defense officials to have
operated in an area in or near the Korean
DMZ in which herbicides were applied. Veterans with covered service in
Korea
who have medical conditions that may be related
to Agent Orange are encouraged to submit their applications
for access to VA health care and compensation
as soon as possible.
Veterans - Use It Or Lose It
The new (112th) Congress has been installed.
The new Chairperson's of the
House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees
have been designated as:
House: Chairman Jeff Miller, Republican
(Florida)
Senate: Chairwoman Patty Murray, Democrat
(Washington)
The official biographies of both House and
Senate chairpersons named above
reveals that although both have long histories
of supporting military and
veterans issues, neither has served in the
United States military. But this
is not a bad thing because sometimes the
best protectors of veterans have
been individuals who never wore the uniform.
However, it is not a good
thing that at this time the number of military
veterans serving in both
houses of Congress is the lowest in American
history. In the future more
veterans MUST become public representatives
in both the House and Senate.
For this reason it becomes more necessary
than ever before for EVERY
American veteran to make sure that you communicate
your veteran-related
concerns to the Veterans' Affairs Committees
as they will be making all of
the decisions about veteran's issues, benefits,
services, access and honor.
Write letters frequently to the Committees
to tell them how you feel about
ANY issue affecting veterans. Provided below
are the mailing addresses of
both committees. The cost to you to tell
these committees your feelings and
concerns is the mere price of a first-class
stamp.
Even if you have no concerns at the moment
to tell the Committees you
should, once in a while, send them a letter
to remind them that you are
monitoring their activities both in the news
media and on their websites:
HOUSE:
http://veterans.house.gov/
SENATE: http://veterans.senate.gov/
Help these Committees to Help Veterans. Write
them often. Tell them what
they should do to help the men and women
who wore the uniform to maintain
our world's leading advocate and sponsor
of Democracy here at home and abroad.
The Committee's mailing addresses are:
House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
335 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
412 Russell Senate Building
Washington D.C. 20510
Department
of Veterans Affairs
Secretary
Eric K. Shinseki
http://www.va.gov
The new (112th) Congress has been installed.
The new Chairperson's of the
House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees
have been designated as:
Senate: Chairwoman Patty Murray, Democrat
(Washington)
Democrat
Majority Minority
Patty Murray, Washington, Chairman
Jay Rockefeller, West Virginia
Daniel Akaka, Hawaii
Bernie Sanders, Vermont[1]
Sherrod Brown, Ohio
Jim Webb, Virginia
Jon Tester, Montana
Mark Begich, Alaska
Republican
Richard Burr, North Carolina, Ranking
Member
Johnny Isakson, Georgia
Roger Wicker, Mississippi
Mike Johanns, Nebraska
Scott Brown, Massachusetts
Jerry Moran, Kansas
John Boozman, Arkansas
House: Chairman Jeff Miller, Republican
(Florida)
Republican
Jeff Miller, Florida, Chairman
Cliff Stearns, Florida
Doug Lamborn, Colorado
Gus Bilirakis, Florida, Vice Chair
Phil Roe, Tennessee
Marlin Stutzman, Indiana
Bill Flores, Texas
Bill Johnson, Ohio
Jeff Denham, California
Jon Runyan, New Jersey
Dan Benishek, Michigan
Ann Marie Buerkle, New York
Tim Huelskamp, Kansas
Democrat
Bob Filner, California, Ranking Member
Corrine Brown, Florida
Silvestre Reyes, Texas
Bruce Braley, Iowa
Jerry McNerney, California
Joe Donnelly, Indiana
Tim Walz, Minnesota
John Barrow, Georgia
Russ Carnahan, Missouri
The Committee's mailing addresses are:
House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
335 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
412 Russell Senate Building
Washington D.C. 20510
112th Congress Legislation -Vets Bills
House
Vets Committee Members
House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
335 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-3527
Senate
Vets Committee Members
Democratic Staff
Republican Staff
Senate Russell Building 412
Senate Hart Building 825A
Washington, DC. 20510
Washington, DC. 20510
Majority (202) 224-9126
Minority (202) 224-2074
Wisconsin
Congressional Delegation
Governor
Scott Walker (R-WI)
Senate Members
Herb
Kohl (D-WI)
Ron
Johnson (R-WI)
House Members
Paul
Ryan (R-WI-1)
Tammy
Baldwin (D-WI-2)
Ron
Kind (D-WI-3)
Gwen
Moore (D-WI-4)
F.
James Sensenbrenner (R-WI-5)
Tom
Petri (R-WI-6)
Sean
Duffy (R-WI-7)
Reid
Ribble (R-WI-8)
Illinois
Congressional Delegation
Governor
Pat Quinn (D-IL)
Senate Members
Richard
Durbin (D-IL)
Mark
Kirk (R-IL)
House Members
Bobby
Rush (D-IL-1)
Jesse
Jackson (D-IL-2)
Daniel
Lipinski (D-IL-3)
Luis
Gutierrez (D-IL-4)
Mike
Quigley (D-IL-5)
Peter
Roskam (R-IL-6)
Danny
Davis (D-IL-7)
Joe
Walsh (R-IL-8)
Jan
Schakowsky (D-IL-9)
Robert
Dold (R-IL-10)
Adam
Kinzinger (R-IL-11)
Jerry
Costello (D-IL-12)
Judy
Biggert (R-IL-13)
Randy
Hultgren (R-IL-14)
Timothy
Johnson (R-IL-15)
Donald
Manzullo (R-IL-16)
Bobby
Schilling (R-IL-17)
Aaron
Schock (R-IL-18)
John
Shimkus (R-IL-19)
Iowa Congressional
Delegation
Governor
Terry Branstad (R-IA)
Senate Members
Charles
Grassley (R-IA)
Tom
Harkin (D-IA)
House Members
Bruce
Braley (D-IA-1)
Dave
Loebsack (D-IA-2)
Leonard
Boswell (D-IA-3)
Tom
Latham (R-IA-4)
Steve
King (R-IA-5)
Minnesota
Congressional Delegation
Governor
Mark Dayton (D-MN)
Senate Members
Amy
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Al
Franken (D-MN)
House Members
Tim
Walz (D-MN-1)
John
Kline (R-MN-2)
Erik
Paulsen (R-MN-3)
Betty
McCollum (D-MN-4)
Keith
Ellison (D-MN-5)
Michele
Bachmann (R-MN-6)
Collin
Peterson (D-MN-7)
Chip
Cravaack (R-MN-8)
Email Doc
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