Veterans
Veterans
Veterans have shown selfless commitment to this nation in service and sacrifice. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I believe Congress must demonstrate its commitment to our veterans and have dedicated myself to addressing their needs.
Our troops are once again proving their importance to the safety and security of our country. Now more than ever we need to show the soldiers of the United States, past and present, that we realize the sacrifices they have made by giving them the treatment they deserve.
Concurrent Receipt
It is time to completely end the injustice of concurrent receipt. Disabled retired veterans lose a dollar of their retirement pay for every dollar they receive in disability payment. Disabled retirees deserve both their disability and their retirement pay.
I have been a constant supporter of full funding for concurrent receipt since coming to Congress in 2001. I am a cosponsor of H.R. 303, a bill that would allow veterans to get both their retirement pay and disability pay, and I continue to fight to get the president to fully fund concurrent receipt.
As a member of the Armed Services Committee, I have worked with my colleagues to fight for full funding of concurrent receipt in the annual Defense Authorization bill. While there is currently a plan in place that gives concurrent receipt to retired veterans who are 50% or more disabled, the plan leaves out 480,000 veterans and will take entirely too long to implement.
I have signed on to a discharge petition that would force a floor vote on full concurrent receipt fundingnot the system currently in place that has created two classes of veterans, the haves and the have nots.
Last November I held Veterans Town Hall meetings in Oak Harbor, Everett and Burlington to provide veterans with an update regarding the ongoing fight for full funding of concurrent receipt. Veterans signed petitions that I brought back with me to Congress demanding full concurrent receipt.
If you are interested in learning more about the partial funding currently in place for veterans with combat-related disabilities, please go to: https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/crsc.
VA Health Care Funding:
Veterans deserve the high-quality health care that they were promised.
I have fought against any efforts to cut the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) funding. I recently opposed the fiscal year 2004 funding bill for the VA because House leadership did not fund veterans health care adequately and would not let members amend the bill to provide more funding.
I continue to fight for necessary funding for the VA budget in order to adequately take care of America's veterans.
In addition, I have urged the president to increase the funding for health care coverage and make VA health care funding mandatory. I have also fought to eliminate the $1,500 co-payments for veterans and place a moratorium on the increasing VA prescription drug co-payments.
Many veterans have raised concerns over the new Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) process. I am very concerned about what the outcome of this process will be and if it will lead to better care for more veterans. I encourage you to keep track of the program and keep in touch with me. For more info, please go to: www.va.gov/cares.
http://www.house.gov/larsen/issue/veterans.shtml