ALL Veterans with Accurate Benefit Eligibility Information

Press Release

ALL Veterans with Accurate Benefit Eligibility Information

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro pressed the Department of Defense to take immediate corrective action after giving inaccurate information to veterans about their benefit eligibility and called on them to create a comprehensive and detailed plan that would notify all veterans who may have been discharged with the wrong information. Joining DeLauro in calling for action were Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Giacomo "Jack" Mordente, the Director of Veterans Affairs at Southern Connecticut State University, and John Deluz, a student at Southern.

"It is simply wrong to tell any veteran - whether part of the National Guard or Reserves - returning from the field that they will lose those benefits if they stop drilling with their units on their return. This is not how to address retention problems; nor how to avoid spending funds on basic benefits," said DeLauro. "That is why I have called on the DoD to create a comprehensive and detailed plan to notify all veterans who may have been discharged with the wrong information. Inaccuracies about legally earned benefits, disrespects these veterans' sacrifice and undermines a core, long-held promise of American military service."

At the end of March, DeLauro wrote to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates [click here to view the letter] to take remedial steps to ensure returning veterans are fully informed about the benefits they have earned and deserve. With no answer yet from the DoD, DeLauro commented, "Unfortunately, we have received no response, and so as our veterans continue search for answers, I too will continue to demand the basic truth."

It is unknown how many veterans may not be getting the funds they deserve to pay for school or worse yet, how many may have chosen to not even attend school because they do not have access to benefits they have earned. Of the almost 1.5 million troops who have been deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom since September, 2001, nearly 11,000 are from Connecticut .

To ensure veterans have the support they need, the new majority in Congress passed a 2008 Budget that increases resources for veterans' health care and services by 14 percent. Additionally, DeLauro is a sponsor of the Total Force GI Bill, which would eliminate any confusion by combining all reserve and active duty programs, including education benefits under the direction of one authority: the Veterans Administration,.

Concluded DeLauro, "If our brave troops are not getting the full story about their full benefits, we need to fix this problem now. We owe it to our veterans to say, ‘A promise made is a promise kept' - and to hold up our end of the bargain."

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