Are we doing enough for our veterans?

Are we doing enough for our veterans?
A Q and A with Jim Webb
By: WESLEY P. HESTER
Times-Dispatch
Published: May 14, 2012

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., knows a thing or two about veterans' issues.

A decorated Vietnam Marine combat veteran, Webb served as the first assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs and later as secretary of the Navy.

After being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, Webb introduced the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, which passed Congress and became law in 2008, providing a landmark increase in college aid to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Webb, who is retiring from the Senate next year, spoke with the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week about the current state of services for veterans.

Q: Are we doing enough to help our veterans? If not, what else do we need to work toward?

A: We — as a Congress and a nation — can always do more, but in terms of what we have been able to accomplish in the post-9/11 era, I think we have come quite a long way. I introduced the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill my first day in office, starting with a simple concept: that we owe those people who have served since 9/11 the same type of quality educational benefits that those who served in World War II received. The president's budget request for FY2013 veterans spending is $140 billion — more than double the amount in constant dollars appropriated in 1980, when the veterans' population was larger by a third.

I have worked on many other veterans-related priorities during my time in the Senate. I believe that our nation has a clear responsibility to provide an appropriate level of compensation and outstanding health care coverage to those who have put themselves in harm's way in the service of our country, and I have worked to ensure this as a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee.
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