- Veterans Alert -
From U.S. Senator Patty Murray
http://murray.senate.gov


April 8, 2005


Stand Up for America's Veterans!
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...

- Tell Congress that Veterans Deserve Emergency Funding


- Help Pass "The Murray Amendment"


- Spread the Word – It’s our last chance this year.
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Read This Alert Online at: http://murray.senate.gov/vetupdates/update3.html



Dear Friend:

If you care . . .

about America's veterans,
about overcrowded VA facilities and long waiting lists,
and about our newest veterans returning home from Iraq . . .
. . . then the United States Senate needs to hear from you now.

On Tuesday, April 12th U.S. Senator Patty Murray of Washington state will lead a fight on the Senate floor to boost veterans funding by nearly $2 billion.

It will be the last opportunity this year to increase funding for veterans healthcare.

And right now, it's going to be an uphill fight.

If you care about our veterans, we need you to take the steps outlined in this email in the next 24 hours.

What's At Stake

Tuesday's vote on the Murray Amendment will determine:

whether returning veterans get access to mental health services,
whether the VA will build new community clinics to reach more veterans closer to home,
whether the VA will lift the hiring freeze and hire more doctors and nurses,
and whether every state will get millions of dollars to care for veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Veterans Deserve Better
Anyone who's dealt with the VA in recent years knows that federal funding has not kept up with the growing demand for services.

Facilities have not been upgraded.
New clinics have not been opened.
Veterans face waiting lists for medical care, and
New doctors have not been hired.
Meanwhile, new veterans are coming home every day – to a VA system that can't handle the patients it currently has. We need to pass the Murray Amendment and keep the promise to America’s veterans.

At A Glance - The Murray Amendment
The Murray Amendment increases funding for veterans healthcare by $1.98 billion. It is an amendment to the bill that funds military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and Tsunami aid. This bill is called the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill.


The Murray Amendment provides funding to:

Expand Mental Health Care

$525 million for expanded mental health services. Including $150 million specifically to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Help Veterans Returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom

The current VA budget does not include funding for these returning veterans. Murray’s amendment will provide $610 million to help our newest veterans.

Meet Local Veterans Needs in Every State

The Murray amendment gives $40 million to each VISN (Veterans’ Integrated Service Network). This will allow each region to make long-needed investments in staff and facilities. On average, each VISN has a shortfall of $40 million. The Murray Amendment eliminates that shortfall and puts money where local communities need it most.

Veterans Groups Support the Murray Amendment
Many Veterans Service Organizations support the Murray Amendment, including:

Veterans of Foreign Wars

AMVETS

Disabled American Veterans

Paralyzed Veterans of America

American Federation of Government Employees

An Uphill Fight for Veterans

Over the years, Senator Patty Murray has worked to increase veterans funding, but it has not been easy. Time and again, Congress has passed small, symbolic funding increases -- instead of the major investments that Veterans Service Organizations have called for.

It has been an uphill battle. Just look at the fights that Senator Murray has led in the past month.


On March 10th, Senator Murray offered an amendment in the Senate Budget Committee to increase veterans healthcare funding by $2.85 billion. It was defeated, 10-12.

On March 16th, Senator Murray offered an amendment on the Senate floor with Senator Akaka to increase veterans funding by $2.85 billion in the FY 2006 budget. It was defeated 47-53.
Details: http://murray.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=233759
Video: rtsp://video.webcastcenter.com/srs_g2/murray031505.rm

Who's Against More Veterans Funding?

We know that some Senators will vote against the Murray Veterans Amendment.

That's because Senator Murray previewed her amendment before the Appropriations Committee on April 6th.

Here was the reaction . . .

Several Senators said they are committed to helping veterans, but they don't feel the extra funding is needed right now because veterans funding has already been increased, the VA hasn't asked for more money, and veterans health care is not an emergency.

Friends, these are honest, caring Senators who genuinely want to do right by our veterans.

But if they vote against Murray's Veterans Amendment, it will hurt veterans in every state.

Unless Senators hear from you, they will assume that there is no emergency, and we will lose our last chance this year to boost veterans funding.

No new clinics will be opened.
No major investment in mental healthcare for post-traumatic stress disorder.
No chance for the regional VA networks to relieve their backlogs.
We can't let that happen.

Congress Needs To Hear From You:

If you believe that America's veterans deserve the healthcare they were promised, take these three steps now:

Send this message to everyone who cares about our veterans especially the veterans organizations you belong to. We really need to reach veterans in all 50 states. You can forward this e-mail or share this link: http://murray.senate.gov/vetupdates/update3.html

Share your story with Senator Murray here: http://murray.senate.gov/veterans/comments.cfm

Contact your United States Senators and tell them to support the Murray Veterans Amendment. Tell them that veterans healthcare is an emergency and you are watching their vote on the Murray Veterans Amendment. Contact your Senators here:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_info...enators_cfm.cfm

If you received this email from a friend, get on our update list here: http://murray.senate.gov/vetupdates

About Senator Murray

Senator Patty Murray represents Washington state's 700,000 veterans. She is the daughter of a disabled World War II veteran. During the Vietnam War, she interned at the Seattle Veterans Hospital. She is the first woman to serve on the Senate's Veterans Affairs Committee. Over the past two years, she helped save three VA hospitals in Washington state from being closed.
Details: http://murray.senate.gov/veterans/PM-CARES-Timeline.pdf

In March 2005, she traveled to Kuwait and Iraq, where she met with American troops.




See her personal diary here: http://murray.senate.gov/middleeast

Senator Murray has been named:

“Person of the Year” by Washington’s Veterans of Foreign Wars (2004)
"Legislator of the Year," American Ex-Prisoners of War (2003)
"Legislator of the Year," Vietnam Veterans of America (1998)
Sign Up to Receive Our Veteran's E-Mail Update:
http://murray.senate.gov/vetupdates

Thanks, Dee.

Dynamite Post Dee---for sure. As a Veteran , I appreciate your informative info! Thanks again and hang tough ~

My senators & Reps will be hearing from me on this one for sure ! Thanks for posting.

Source: United States Department of Defense
Date: 14 April, 2005
Disabled Vets Give Thumbs Up to New VA Career Program
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, April 14, 2005 – A new program at the Department of Veterans Affairs is helping disabled troops train for new careers while awaiting discharge from the military, with the goal of hiring them at the VA.
The program, dubbed “Vet IT,” launched as a pilot at the VA headquarters here in October, is winning acclaim as a win-win for everyone involved. Newly disabled veterans get a jump-start on new careers and, ideally, job offers with good benefits and advancement potential.

But Jennifer Duncan, who came up with the idea and oversees the VA program, said her agency gains as well, by attracting young, motivated employees who understand military veterans and their needs firsthand.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime,” said former Staff Sgt. Matthew Braiotta, who was medically retired from the Army after an improvised explosive device attack in Fallujah, Iraq, left him with severe leg injuries in October 2003.

Like many participants in the new Vet IT program, Braiotta said he had hoped to make the military a career, but found his plans abruptly derailed. He had concerns about what kind of job his experience as an Army scout might land him outside the military, but now he’s a mid-level federal civilian employee at VA headquarters here, training as a budget analyst.

“The amazing thing is that I have no skills conducive to what I’m doing here, but they’re giving me a chance to learn them,” Braiotta said.

Former Army Cpl. Tristan Wyatt, another participant in the program, acknowledged that his resume is “short and sweet” and that he has no formal training for his job at the VA, conducting cyber-security for the agency’s computer systems.

Wyatt, who lost his right leg during a firefight in Fallujah in August 2003, said he’s “amazed” that the VA looks beyond this and offers him and his fellow veterans a fresh start in life. “They’re willing to train us and build us from the ground up,” Wyatt said. “It’s one of the huge benefits of this program. I’m still blown back by how giving they are here.”

But Duncan said disabled veterans like Braiotta and Wyatt bring far more to the VA than they realize. “They’re disciplined and energetic, and looking forward to starting new career paths,” she said.

And as they build careers at the agency, eventually to replace its aging workforce, these veterans bring a clear understanding of issues important to veterans, particularly disabled veterans, Duncan said. “Who can better understand a veteran than a veteran?” she said.

The Vet IT program helps disabled veterans, most of them wounded during Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, transfer that understanding into careers where they can help their fellow veterans.

Most enter the program as volunteers while in the process of getting their medical board disability rating and military discharge. By law, the federal government can’t pay them for program participation while they’re still on the military rolls, Duncan explained.

While the program doesn’t guarantee a job, Duncan said it’s been successful so far in identifying permanent positions at the VA for participants.

The agency goes beyond offering steady jobs and valuable work experience, Duncan explained. Working through a wide range of partners, it helps participants move to the Washington area, find places to live, navigate the local transportation system and even get gift cards for work clothes and other essentials if they need them.

“This is an individualized program. It’s not a job fair,” Duncan said. “These are young men and women who were on a career path that due to circumstances beyond their control, they can’t continue. So we’re starting them on a new career path and doing everything possible to help them as they do that.”

Kelly Wilson, who was medically retired as an Army specialist due to a severe respiratory disease he developed while working at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, said he was delighted to find himself in an interesting job with long-term potential.

At the VA, Wilson helps plan the operations that would keep the agency running in the event of a disaster or terrorist attack. It involves reviewing the VA’s essential functions and putting plans in place to ensure they wouldn’t be disrupted.

“It’s certainly interesting,” he said. And even with a college degree under his belt, he’s convinced, “I probably couldn’t have landed this job without this opportunity” provided through the Vet IT program.

So far, 27 disabled veterans have entered the program, with 10 of them being offered fulltime jobs at the VA.

Duncan hopes to eventually expand the program to other VA offices, but said the agency prefers to move slowly to be sure it gets the program right. “We want to make sure we match skill sets (between participants and their VA jobs) and that we don’t make promises we can’t live up to,” she said.

If former Army Staff Sgt. Robert Barden gets his say, many more veterans like himself will get the opportunity to participate in the Vet IT program. Barden received a traumatic brain injury and was partially paralyzed during a mortar attack in Balad, Iraq, in April 2004. Now, thanks to the Vet IT program, he’s a program analyst in the VA’s information technology office.

“It’s a great program that offered me a career in something I never knew I could do,” said Barden. “It can definitely put you on a path to start over and begin something new.”

Thanks for posting.

My husband and father are disabled Vets. If they had to rely on Vet benefits for help, it would be tragic. What most Americans don't realize is that the soldiers returning injured from Iraq may not get the medical help they need (at least long term).

When Bush decided to send our troops to Iraq, he had little interest in what would happen to the injured when they returned home. I really don't think that the neocons in the WH considered how they would pay for the medical treatment needed (for a life time for many) for those soldiers, and I really don't think they cared. The longer we are in Iraq, the numbers of injured soldiers will increase. Where will the money come from to give these injured life long medical help? The money will not be there for all--a few will make it to the top of the list and others will have to seek help elsewhere at their own expense--and those that can't afford the high cost of medical treatment will go without. In many cases medical insurance companies will not cover the patient for war injuries--leaving Vets with no other options.

I really think if Bush or his neocon buddies had ever gone to war--we would not be in Iraq today. They haven't a clue what Vets go through when they return with injuries.