Veterans Benefits Act 2010 Signed
Week of October 25, 2010
President Obama recently signed H.R. 3219, the Veterans' Benefits Act of 2010, into law. The new law addresses the needs of veterans by enhancing employment opportunities, preventing and caring for homeless veterans, ensuring the welfare of veterans and their families by increasing insurance limits, protecting servicemembers called to combat, honoring fallen servicemembers and their families, strengthening education benefits, addressing housing needs of disabled veterans, and investing in research for Gulf War veterans.
Visit the Military Advantage Blog to learn more about this new law.
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Veterans Benefits Act 2010 Signed
There were 111 votes against this bill but we may never know who voted against it.
H.R. 3219:
Veterans' Benefits Act of 2010
111th Congress
2009-2010
An act to amend title 38, United States Code, and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to make certain improvements in the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
Overview
Sponsor:
Rep. Bob Filner [D-CA51]show cosponsors (29)
Text:
Summary | Full Text
Cost:
less than $2 per American in 2010.
Status:
Introduced Jul 15, 2009
Referred to Committee View Committee Assignments
Reported by Committee Jul 15, 2009
Amendments (2 proposed) View Amendments
Passed House Jul 27, 2009
Passed Senate Sep 28, 2010
Signed by President Oct 13, 2010
This bill has become law. It was signed by Barack Obama. [Last Updated: Oct 16, 2010 6:11AM]
Last Action:
Oct 13, 2010: Became Public Law No: 111-275.
Other Titles:
-- Corey Shea Act
-- Veterans Small Business Verification Act
Related:
See the Related Legislation page for other bills related to this one and a list of subject terms that have been applied to this bill. Sometimes the text of one bill or resolution is incorporated into another, and in those cases the original bill or resolution, as it would appear here, would seem to be abandoned.
Votes:
Jul 27, 2009: This bill passed in the House of Representatives by voice vote. A record of each representative’s position was not kept.
Sep 28, 2010: This bill passed in the Senate with changes by Unanimous Consent. A record of each senator’s position was not kept.
Sep 29, 2010: A vote in the House of Representatives to agree with the other chamber's changes passed by voice vote. A record of each representative’s position was not kept.
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Veterans Benefits Act of 2010
But knowing that the GOP have blocked over 100 bills from even being voted on, it does not shock me.
This is part of a game they love to play. There is a list on this site with more bills they blocked but notice when the bill was written, who it was for and who blocked it. It took since July of last year just to be able to vote on this. Yet veterans are not part of their plan. They don't care who pays as long as they defeat Obama even if it means blocking bills to take care of YOU! Still think they earned your support?
GOP blocked these from being voted on. Some of them finally passed with Republican support and they should be proud of that but ashamed these bills were part of a political game some of them could hide behind.
Supporting our Nation's Veterans
H.R. 403, Homes for Heroes Act
Provides special assistant to veteran affairs to ensure that housing and homeless assistance programs benefit veterans.
H.R. 466, Wounded Veteran Job Security Act
Protects the rights of wounded veterans to receive medical treatment for service-connected disabilities.
H.R. 1168, Veterans Retraining Act
Provides assistance for veterans who are in an employment training program that teaches a skill in the demand of the employer. (150 Republicans voted yes.)
H.R. 1211, Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act
Expands and improves health care services available to women veterans, especially those serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. (This bill passed 408-0.)
H.R. 1293, Disabled Veterans Home Improvement and Structural Alteration Grant Increase Act
Increases payments to veterans with service connected of disabilities for improvements and structural alterations to their home.
H.R. 1803, Veterans Business Center Act
These centers would provide veterans and their surviving spouses with entrepreneurial training and counseling.
H.R. 2990, Disabled Military Retiree Relief Act
Provides special pays and allowances to certain members of the Armed Forces and disabled military retirees. (165 Republicans voted for this bill.)
H.R. 3219, Veterans' Insurance and Health Care Improvements Act
Would make improvements in the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs relating to insurance and health care for veterans.
H.R. 3949, Veterans' Small Business Assistance and Service Members Protection Act
Provides a full range of small business ownership counseling, training, financing and procurement programs available to veterans and Reservists. (This vote passed 382-2.)
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Supporting our Nations Veterans
It is amazing how the republican party can do such a good job of repeatedly telling everyone in earshot how patriotic they are while doing everything in their power to defund government and avoid supporting the military ( I mean the troops, not the contractors ). I would like to remind you of some history - when the Germans were overrunning Europe Preston Bush was helping him transfer money thru his bank. The British had been buying equipment from the US, but when they ran out of cash the republican party did not want to extend them credit. FDR was able to make sure they got credit, and the British finally paid back the loan, I believe it was around 10 years or so ago. Despite claiming to support the troops it took Bill Clinton to rehab VA facilities that were falling down, and the Minneapolis VA, which I use was one of those. If you want a republican to stand behind you, I think you will need to dig up Eisenhower.....
ReplyDeleteHi Greg,
ReplyDeleteI am involved with a lot of groups and because veterans are usually the focus of these groups, most are Republicans. One of the reasons why I say I love Republicans but I don't like their politicians. These "friends" have no idea how the GOP politicians really feel about them and that's why they vote for them. They just assume instead of looking up their votes and what they really do.
Clinton did a pretty good job but I had problems with him because there was still very little done on PTSD, homeless veterans and the funds for research were just not there.
This is about 2006 when the GOP were in control,,,
Congress should enact an assured funding formula for VHA’s budget.
The Flawed Fiscal Year 2006 budget process
In 2005, the problems with the current VA budget process made national headlines. Mid-year, the VA acknowledged a billion dollar shortfall in health care funding, caused in part by the use of outdated projections of the number of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Throughout the summer of 2005, the House and Senate debated how much supplemental Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 funding was needed to close the shortfall before reaching an agreement in late August.
While the FY 2006 appropriations approved by Congress in November increased VA medical dollars above the President’s request, the increase was more than a million dollars short of the amount veterans groups projected was needed.
President’s FY 2007 Budget Request – Not much, not much new
reply in two parts
Under the new proposed budget, VA funding would increase by $2.6 billion up front. However, over five years, funding would steadily decline and reduce purchasing power by over $10 billion below the 2006 funding level. The White House proposes to double drug co-pays and institute annual enrollment fees for Priority 7 and 8 veterans – a budget gimmick rejected by Congress for the past three years. There are no additional funds for state nursing homes and the major construction budget would be cut significantly by one-third. Other recycled gimmicks include claims of management efficiencies that cannot be proven and overly optimistic assumptions about third party insurance collections.
ReplyDeleteOn the front lines, budget shortfalls harm patients and worker morale
Across the country, VISNs and hospitals are experiencing significant shortfalls. Their funding is both inadequate and unreliable. This flawed funding process produces many harmful effects:
Denial of care to over 260,000 Priority 7 and 8 Veterans
Growing waiting lists, e.g. over 12,000 veterans were on VISN 16’s electronic waiting list (EWL) for over 30 days in fall 2005
Hiring freezes when facilities are facing hundreds of vacancies
Pressure and/or requirement to work prolonged overtime
Delayed facility construction and repairs, causing veterans to travel longer distances to get care
Delays in equipment repair, requiring costly contracted services
Closing of nursing units and other inpatient units
Delayed CAT scans and MRIs, requiring costly outsourcing of tests
Inability to staff new medical units
Delays in surgery
read more here
http://www.afge.org/index.cfm?page=veteransaffairs&Fuse=Content&ContentID=760
Two wars on making more wounded in need of care they earned but they didn't seem to care very much. Things turned around when the Dems took back control and under Akakka in the Senate and Filner in the House, they have been pushing to do the right thing. If the GOP take back control, they will return to the policy of making veterans suffer because they view the VA as a welfare program.
As it is, they have stood in the way of getting bills even brought to a vote.
Don't get me wrong here. There are some good people in the GOP as politicians but they must be afraid to stand up and put the needs of the people first ahead of just defeating Obama.
Eisenhower was a great president but I think it was Truman with the higher VA budget. Both of them were great friends of veterans. The truth is, so is Obama but no one is talking about that either. He was just the 3rd president to go to the Disabled American veterans convention! Everyone else had better things to do than to honor our disabled veterans.
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