Turner to Serve on Veterans' Affairs Committee

Turner to Serve on Veterans' Affairs Committee
February 11, 2005

During my first term in Congress I served on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) as well as the Government Reform Committee where I devoted much of my effort to the National Security Subcommittee.
Now with the 109th Congress hitting full stride, Committee assignments are finally being completed. I am pleased to use this forum to announce that in addition to continuing my work on the House Armed Services Committee and Government Reform Committee, I have been appointed to serve on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs reviews veterans' programs, examines current laws, and reports bills and amendments to strengthen existing laws concerning veterans and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), such as for health care, disability compensation, GI bill education and job training, home loan guarantees, life insurance policies, and a nationwide system of veterans' cemeteries.

I am very excited by this appointment because it fits nicely with my work on the House Armed Services Committee. I have made working for Wright Patterson Air Force Base one of my priorities during my first term in office. I've gotten to know many of the brave men and women serving in the Armed Service, in far away places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo. My admiration for these men and women, in the Armed Forces, has risen because of their bravery, discipline, patriotism, unselfishness and sacrifices.

I've also had an opportunity to tour the Dayton VAMC on several occasions and when the facility was considering closing a nursing home, I intervened on veterans' behalf. Therefore, when a seat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee opened, I leapt at the opportunity to be an advocate for the men and women who have protected the United States and our freedoms, by serving the country in the Armed Services.

Ohio has the sixth highest veterans' population among the 50 states and Puerto Rico. The U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs estimates there are currently over 1 million veterans in Ohio. There are over 60,000 veterans in Ohio's Third Congressional District, according to the 2000 census.

Further, I have been entrusted with the Chairmanship of a brand new Subcommittee to be known as the Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census. It is a somewhat unusual honor for a second-term Member to receive a Subcommittee Chairmanship. I appreciate the confidence of House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA).
The new Subcommittee will have jurisdiction over all matters relating to inter-governmental relations and aid to the States and localities, including unfunded mandates, grant management reform, brownfields clean-up and redevelopment, and infrastructure; all matters relating to population and demography generally, including the Census, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and all matters related to the oversight of housing and urban development.

I am excited by the opportunity and challenges of chairing the Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census. Up until now there has been no formal place within the committee structure, where legislation begins in Congress, to take urban issues. This new Subcommittee will provide a place within the committee structure to deal with urban economic development issues.

Serving on three Committees, chairing a Subcommittee and continuing to chair the Speaker's Saving America's Cities working group promises to make this a very busy session of Congress. However, the opportunity to represent and advocate for some important groups and causes also ensures that it will be very rewarding.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/oh03_turner/Veterans_Affairs_Committee.html